TOP STORIES
CARTOONS
GOOD DEBT
PENSION CRAZY
BANKSTER PAY
MPs' 2nd JOBS
TAX IS THEFT?!
FAILING SCHOOLS
AFFORDABLE NHS
1m WORK IN POVERTY
JAIL THE ACCOUNTANTS
RICKETS IS BACK
UN-NATIONALISED RAIL
LOW WAGE BRITAIN
BANK OF MUM & DAD
UK: A PRISONER OF CUTS
TAXING LIES
WATER CANNON BORIS
UNIVERSAL C.. OCKUP
FULL TIME JOBS? WHERE!

Sunday, 28 July 2013

Sunday, July 28, 2013 Posted by Jake 2 comments Labels: , , , , ,
Excessive pay in the banking industry has long been justified by the need to 'stay competitive' in the global market. The UK has to pay bankers exorbitantly, we are told by UK bankers, because everybody else does. We can't stop until they do, the bankers tell us. To add insult to injury, banker pay provides cover for executives in other industries (energy; transport; MPs; etc.) to pump up their own salaries and perks. Which they pay for by keeping ordinary workers' salaries down, and pulling off more and more consumer rip-offs. New data on banker pay has exposed the whole "everybody else pays pots" as a fib.

Figures published by the European Banking Authority expose the lie. They reveal that the UK has more than three times the number of bankers paid more than 1 million Euros than the rest of Europe put together. 

"The EBA published today a report featuring data on the remuneration of EU bank staff who received one million Euro or more in total in 2010 and 2011. The report focuses on the gathering of numerical data and provides a first analysis of remuneration structures across the EU. "

Second in the list, after the UK's 2,436 bankers, is Germany with just 170: fourteen times fewer.


Bankers taking more than one million Euros in remuneration
There are always ways of spinning statistics if you choose your survey group craftily. UK bankers can bleat that the average remuneration of the 125 Spanish bankers is higher than the average pay of the 2,436 British bankers.

On this basis they can claim British bankers are only modestly ridiculously paid. Which is statistically true due to the rigged group being surveyed. (For example, if you took a survey of just two people, the Queen and Prince Charles, Prince Charles would be in the bottom 50% in terms of salary and so would have a 'below average' income for the group). 

A more relevant figure is to compare the highest paid 125 Spaniards with the highest paid 125 Brits. In this survey of 125 the Brits would be laughing all the way to the bank, with average remuneration ten times higher (see below). Same would apply if you compared the highest paid 2,436 from each country, because all the Brits would be paid more than a million but 2,311 of the Spaniards in that statistical sample would be paid less than a million.

This graph from a London School of Economics study on extreme pay shows that the top 5% of grotesquely paid bankers are paid much more than the rest of the grotesquely paid bankers:


  • The top 125 Spaniards makes up all, 100%, of Spanish bankers paid more than a million.
  • The top 125 Brits makes up 5% (125 out of 2,436) of British bankers paid more than a million.
We can use the LSE graph to estimate that the average remuneration of this group of 125 is ten times higher for Brits than Spaniards.

The British bankers may threaten they might get sucked out of Europe to the USA, Hong Kong, and Singapore. All we have to say to that is: please proceed to Heathrow Terminal 4. A report by the Independent Banking Commission stated that only 1% of tax revenue would be lost to the UK if the banks moved out. An amount that would be recouped by ejecting recklessly greedy bankers ripping off the rest of the UK economy with scams including Payment Protection Insurance and Interest Rate Swaps.

Excessive pay has been good for the excessively paid. Claims that they have pulled up all of us, or trickled down over all of us, are simply not true. The income of 90% of Britons has stagnated for decades.
http://topincomes.g-mond.parisschoolofeconomics.eu/#Database:

Friday, 26 July 2013

Friday, July 26, 2013 Posted by Jake 1 comment Labels: , , , , ,
Chris tells KJ the answer...
SOURCE BBC NEWS: UK economy 'on the mend' after 0.6% growth, says chancellor
"These figures are better than forecast," said Mr Osborne. "Britain is holding its nerve, we are sticking to our plan, and the British economy is on the mend - but there is still a long way to go and I know things are still tough for families." Shadow chancellor Ed Balls welcomed the growth figure "after three wasted and damaging years of flat-lining", but warned that "families on middle and low incomes are still not seeing any recovery in their living standards" because wage rises were failing to keep up with increases in prices.

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Thursday, 25 July 2013

Thursday, July 25, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels:
Archbishop of Canterbury wants to 'compete' Wonga out of existence
The head of the Church of England, Justin Welby, laid down a challenge to the UK’s leading payday lender after launching a new credit union for clergy and church. Welby, who served on the parliamentary Banking Standards Commission, said he plans to expand the reach of credit unions as part of a long-term campaign to boost competition in the banking sector. There are also plans to encourage church members with relevant skills to volunteer at credit unions. Small, local lenders could also be invited to use church buildings and other community locations with the help of church members. GUARDIAN

New bank rip-off: banks face £1bn bill for mis-selling credit card fraud insurance
Millions of bank customers mis-sold useless credit card theft insurance are set for payouts from a £1billion compensation fund, but there are fears that it could be higher. Customers of HSBC, Barclays, Santander, NatWest and Nationwide will be paid compensations over the next few months. It follows an investigation last year by the Financial Conduct Authority into CPP, a company which sold so-called card and identity theft cover via banks between 2005 and 2011. Not all banks sold these policies. While many high-street operators did, Lloyds and Halifax chose not to. Roughly nine in ten were sold via banks and the rest bought directly from CPP. These policies, which together cost £120 a year, promised cover of up to £100,000 if crooks went on a wild spending spree with a stolen card. But banks already cover customers for this for free. DAILY MAIL

HMRC yet to collect £2bn in unpaid tax held in offshore trusts
The taxman believes approximately 6,500 companies used employee benefit trusts (EBTs) as a mechanism to pay high earners yet dodge tax, particularly in the early 2000s. EBT's are a loan from a trust set up by a company to pay its employees. Usually the loan does not need repayment for a substantial amount of time, some even for 100 years. Around £650m of the total £3bn dodged has been collected, with a further £300m expected. But most of the businesses involved are holding back while the outcome of litigation is known. ACCOUNTANCY AGE

The end of rip-off council parking fees? Barnet residents win landmark court battle against permit hikes
Residents argued price hikes made parking in Barnet's residential streets more expensive than parking outside Harrods. The case could prevent other councils from using parking charges to raise revenue for other transport purposes. The cost of parking leaped from £40 to £100 in 2011 in the north London borough. Barnet council intended to use the additional income to meet projected expenditure for road maintenance and improvements, concessionary fares and other road transport costs. But London's High Court ruled that the 1984 Road Traffic Regulation Act ‘is not a fiscal measure and does not authorise the authority to use its powers to charge local residents for parking in order to raise surplus revenue for other transport purposes’. This is thought to be the first successful legal challenge against the level of parking charges set by a local authority and could see thousands of Barnet residents reclaim millions of pounds in unlawfully collected charges. DAILY MAIL


Atos to lose monopoly after 'flawed and unacceptable' disability benefit assessments
More than 600,000 of the 1.8 million assessments carried out by Atos since 2009 have been the subject of an appeal, at a cost of £60m. Around 30% of those appeals succeeded. The findings mean Atos will be stripped of its monopoly. Other companies will be invited to bid for fresh regional contracts by summer 2014. The disability charity Scope said: “It’s about time the Government told Atos to smarten up its act. But, it’s also strikingly clear to disabled people that the whole £112m per-year system is broken.” INDEPENDENT

A&E crisis plans 'not good enough', MPs say
Just 17% of hospitals had the recommended level of consultant cover, while difficulties with discharging patients and a lack of beds at times meant the flow of patients through the system was disrupted. The four-hour A&E waiting time target was missed across the NHS from January to March - the first overall breach for nine years. More than 300,000 patients waited longer than they should have - a 39% rise on the previous year. Labour said almost 5,000 nursing posts had been cut since the 2010 election and accused the government of taking "unacceptable risks with patient care". BBC NEWS

Bank lending to small businesses falls in 98 of 120 postcode areas
The postcode breakdown – published reluctantly by the banks through the British Bankers' Association (BBA) – has not satisfied the government as it only covers the first two initials of a postcode – such as TR for Truro. Vince Cable, the business secretary, to comment: "It's frustrating that these figures show the declining amount of money going to small businesses from the banks." GUARDIAN

Fracking controls 'removed in dash for unconventional energy resources'
Councils will no longer be able to investigate issues such as seismic activity, venting and potential impact on ground water supplies. Instead the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive will take responsibility for regulation. Critics say the new guidelines - which will not be consulted on - will remove local authorities' right to make decisions independent of central Government energy policy. Friends of the Earth said "This could threaten communities' quality of life and will mean more climate-changing pollution being pumped into our atmosphere - and despite all the hype, there's plenty of evidence that it won't lead to cheaper fuel bills." INDEPENDENT

More than £13bn left rotting in 'dog' funds
The amount of cash investors have in so-called dog funds has soared from £12.1bn at the start of the year to £13.3bn now. To qualify as a dog, funds must have underperformed in each of the past three years and by 10 per cent or more over the three-year period. INDEPENDENT

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

Wednesday, July 24, 2013 Posted by Jake 6 comments Labels: , , , , ,
We can't blame everything on 'Austerity' since the 2008 banker induced crisis. The number of hospital beds available has been dropping for decades, through Thatcher, Major, Blair, Brown and Cameron.

Shortage of beds is compounded by shortage of staff. The Parliamentary Health Select Committee reported in July 2013

  • Only 17% of emergency departments were able to provide 16 hours of Consultant cover in a working day, and even worse than that during weekends.
  • "Emergency staffing at all levels is under strain and a 50% fill rate of trainees is now resulting in a shortfall of senior trainees and future consultants"

Of course, this doesn't affect you if you can afford to go private.

Saturday, 20 July 2013

Saturday, July 20, 2013 Posted by Jake 9 comments Labels: , , , , ,
Would it surprise you to know the greatest perpetrators of the government premium rate phoneline scam, exposed by the National Audit Office, are IDS's Department of Works and Pensions and Osborne's HMRC? (Yes, we know HMRC is supposed to be 'non-ministerial'. But who are they kidding?). 


"Callers to higher rate lines paid £56 million in call charges in 2012-13. Callers spent a total of 880 million minutes on calls of which they spent 402 million minutes waiting to speak to an advisor. Customers incurred call charges of £26 million waiting to speak to an advisor."
  
“Callers do not receive a better service from higher rate numbers and many callers are put off calling government phone numbers altogether. The most vulnerable callers, such as low-income households, face some of the highest charges.”

The worse offenders are DWP (70 million high rate calls) and HMRC (47.4 million high rate calls), scamming money from the "most vulnerable callers, such as low-income households". 



Now there are depressingly many among us who believe the best time to kick a man is when he is down. They may see this £56 million as a decent contribution taken from the poor to save the nation's finances. They would be wrong. The lion's share of the loot goes to the telecoms companies:

See Fig10 of the NAO report
For 0844 numbers the telecoms companies take 73% of the money, and for 0845 numbers the telecoms companies take 96% of the money! The Department of Works and Pensions favours 0845 numbers. The people required to use these numbers are callers for:
  • Disability Living Allowance
  • Incapacity Benefit
  • Bereavement Service
  • Carer's Allowance
  • Maternity Allowance
  • Child Support
  • and many many more (See Figure 15 of the NAO report)
HMRC's targets include
  • BillPay Helpline
  • Child Benefit Helpline
  • Blind Person's Allowance
  • National minimum wage helpline
Did that surprise you? Perhaps not. After all it's all completely in tune with the policy of stealing from the poor (cuts to benefits and pensions) to incentivise the rich (cuts to taxes).

Friday, 19 July 2013

Friday, July 19, 2013 Posted by Jake 1 comment Labels: , , , , , ,
Fee, Chris and KJ reckon it's not just about the money...

SOURCE GUARDIAN: Huge rise in use of food banks since welfare changes, says aid body
The number of people being fed by charity food banks during the three months since the government's welfare changes took effect has risen by 200%, according to the UK's biggest voluntary food aid network.

SOURCE DAILY MAIL: Hidden hungry: More than half a million people forced to use food banks as families seek emergency help to stave off hunger
Shocking figures have revealed that more than half a million people across Britain are now forced to use food banks to stave off hunger, the government was warned today. Up to half of those seeking help were doing so as a direct result of having benefit payments delayed, reduced or withdrawn, a report by Church Action On Poverty and Oxfam said. Other factors behind the increase on those using emergency help - the 'hidden hungry' - include rising food prices, unemployment and energy costs.

SOURCE CHURCH ACTION ON POVERTY: Walking The Breadline

Thursday, 18 July 2013

Thursday, July 18, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels:
Iain Duncan Smith defends himself against ONS claim he mis-uses statistics over success of benefits cap
Duncan Smith has already been criticised by the Office for National Statistics for claiming the cap had led to 8,000 people finding work. He was told by the ONS it was not possible to find any causal link between the cap and those finding work, as thousands of unemployed find work anyway. An unrepentant Duncan Smith said: "You cannot absolutely prove those two things are connected – you cannot disprove what I said. I believe this to be right.” Duncan Smith denied he was punishing people, saying it was "no life to lead to accept the fact that you languish on benefits, trying to avoid ways of getting back to work". But polls show many say their chief barrier to work was the lack of opportunities. GUARDIAN

Poll: the average person thinks 24% of benefits budget is spent on fraudulent claims. It's actually 0.7%
An Ipsos MORI poll exposes gross misconceptions around key political and economic issues. On average the public also thinks: that 31% of the population are immigrants, when the actual figure is 13%; that one in four people are Muslims when it is actually 5%; that 15% of girls under 16 get pregnant each year, instead of the actual 0.6%. More people think capping benefits at £26k will save more money (it actually saves £290m) than stopping child benefits for those earning over £50k (saves £1.7bn) or raising the retirement age to 66 (saves £5bn). TELEGRAPH Ipsos MORI

Serious Fraud Office called in after G4S 'overcharges' by tens of millions for tagging of prisoners
The “phantom” billing is estimated to have cost tens of millions of pounds. Both G4S and Serco have been billing for tracking the movements of people who had moved abroad, already returned to prison and had their tags removed, and even people who had died. Serco has agreed to a forensic audit, but G4S has not, hence the SFO investigation. Cases date back to at least 2005 and possibly as long ago as 1999. GUARDIAN

Drug overcharging ‘scam’ costs NHS £100m a year
Drug companies are exploiting a loophole in the law to hike prices by as much as 2,000 per cent. Big-pharma firms sell on medicines to businesses acting outside the Government’s price-regulation scheme. The purchasing firms are then free to mark up the prices they charge the NHS. The British Medical Association has warned that vital treatments risk being denied to patients if costs rise so much that the NHS can no longer afford them. In one example, Pfizer sold the rights to its epilepsy drug Epanutin to another business, Flynn Pharma. The medication, which is used by around 100,000 people across Britain, originally cost about 67p per 50mg. But after the sale this price shot up to almost £16 for the same amount. INDEPENDENT

Over 2,400 UK bankers paid €1m-plus, more than three times as many as in the rest of the EU put together
Almost three-quarters of the 2,436 who received more than 1m in 2011 were classified as working in high-risk investment banking – some 1,809 – while 85 work in retail banking, 182 in asset management and 360 in other business areas. The European Banking Authority will now publish the data on high earners annually as regulators attempt to analyse the way pay deals are structured, particularly as a new bonus cap is introduced across the EU. GUARDIAN


MPs' pay: watchdog recommends 9% salary rise from £66k to £74k
Politicians are facing a public backlash after the body responsible for setting MPs' pay and perks recommended a deal that would result in their salary increasing by more than £8,000. The raise will be offset it with a crackdown on expenses. Meanwhile the rest of the country is suffering austerity measures, and public sector workers' pay has been held down to a 1% increase. Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg said they would personally shun the extra money – although David Cameron stopped short of committing himself to doing the same as he comes under pressure from Tory backbenchers who want a pay hike. GUARDIAN

Pricing scandal sees NHS pay £89 for accessible cod-liver oil capsules
The NHS is currently paying up to £89.50 for cod-liver oil capsules — identical versions of which can be bought on the high street for about £3.50. Taxpayers are also being hit with inflated costs for vitamin E, evening primrose oil and other over-the-counter products. Despite being freely available without prescription, the products are regularly being prescribed by GPs and NHS doctors — a situation which now appears to be being exploited for commercial gain. TELEGRAPH

Profits soar at Scottish Power following price hike and cold winter
Utility company Scottish Power has reported a doubling of profits while charging customers more for their energy. The group made a pre-tax profit for 2012 of £712m - up from £350m in 2011. The Glasgow-based company also paid its Spanish parent, Iberdrola, a dividend payment of £890m. In October last year, Scottish Power announced energy bills were going up by 7%, with the average annual dual fuel bill increasing to £1,271. BBC NEWS

Chancellor dismisses IFS warning that further tax rises are inevitable after 2015 general election
The Institute of Fiscal Studies warned last week that Osborne would have to raise taxes by £6bn after the election if he was to keep to his existing rule of financing 80% of the government's deficit reduction from cuts and 20% from tax rises. But Osborne told the Treasury select committee that the 80/20 split was only ever a "guide", and that further cuts were possible. The chancellor came under pressure over whether he understood the pain his welfare reforms might have on ordinary people. In reply to a question, he said: "No, I have not visited a food bank." GUARDIAN

Barclays' $453m fine for energy market-rigging upheld by US regulator
Last year US regulators fined Barclays for manipulating energy markets in California and other states from November 2006 to December 2008. Barclays must pay the full fine within 30 days, while one trader must pay $15m and three others $1m each. Barclays must also forgo $34.9m in profits, which will be distributed to low-income aid programmes in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington. BBC NEWS

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 Posted by Jake 2 comments Labels: , , ,
It is, I suppose, some consolation that the 1% are undiscriminating when they rip-off the 99%. Even when you look at the 1% itself: the top 1% of the top 1% get a far greater share than the bottom 99% of the top 1% as is shown by this report from a London School of Economics study "Banker's Pay And Extreme Wage Inequality In The UK". The report states that the top 5% of the top 1% took 23% of the top 1%'s wages. Hope that is clear.

Remember as you read this post that the graphs show data for the top 1% only.

"we rank the top percentile of all workers into 50 equally-sized bins based on total wage. So the workers in the top bin are the top 0.02% of [all] earners. We then compute the share of the top 1% wage bill that accrues to each bin in 1998 and 2008. It follows that the sum of all these shares will be 1. Figure 11 shows the results. In effect we are now focusing on the extremes within the extreme. The top 2% of the percentile took 11% of the wage share in 1998 and 13% in 2008. The relatively large share taken by the very top earners seems consistent with superstar theory, though they by no means account for most of the gains that have accrued over the last decade."

"The evidence also seems to suggest that the financial sector may be more susceptible to superstar effects than the rest of the economy. Figure 12 shows the top percentile of wages broken into 20 equally-sized bins separately for finance and non-finance workers. The top bin now covers the top 0.05% of [all] workers. This top group take 23% of top percentile wages in the financial sector and 21% in the other sectors."

So that's alright then.

Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels: , , , , , ,
Cameron checks whether Jeremy Hunt has got his sums right. He has!..
SOURCE GUARDIAN: Big tobacco has got its way – now let's find what big alcohol is up to
The coalition has dropped plans for plain packaging amid murky circumstances. Public health measures such as this and minimum alcohol pricing deserve better than death by lobbyist.

OUR RELATED STORIES:

Monday, 15 July 2013

Monday, July 15, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels: , , , , , , ,
July 2013 saw the rollout of a £500 per week (after direct taxes) cap on benefits paid to a family. Using graphs produced by the BBC we contrast how far the government will go to help the poor, with how far it is prepared to go to help the rich. 

The impact of this is families on benefits will be pushed out of the South East, while families earning up to £80,000 will be subsidised to buy properties in 99% of the UK.

Our assumptions relate to renting or purchasing a 3 bedroom property at the cheaper end of the local market in each area:

1) Renting family on benefits:
  • can afford to pay 30% of post tax income on rent or mortgage payments. With the benefits cap that would be £600 per month.

2) Buying family: all the below are eligible for government 'affordable housing' policy:
  • can afford to pay 30% of gross income mortgage payments
  • has a deposit equal to twice gross income









    Sunday, 14 July 2013

    Sunday, July 14, 2013 Posted by Jake 1 comment Labels: , , , , , ,
    This graph produced by Bristol University's study on high cost lending shows the cost of borrowing £100 for one month in the form of:

    a) a loan from a group of Payday lenders
    b) an unauthorised overdraft from a group of high street banks
    c) an authorised overdraft from a group of high street banks

    Bristol University coyly declines to name the payday lenders and high street banks.

    Cost of borrowing £100 for one month
    However the report does provide a helpful link to Which?, showing the data from 2011, which does name them:


    You might say charges reduced after all the fuss in the courts. You'd be right. According to an OFT report the cost of unauthorised loans dropped by two thirds between 2007 and March 2011. However the Which? report was in September 2011, so it takes into account the drop. Before that the banks' charges were even more ridiculous.
    How charges dropped when banks were taken to court
    You might say the difference is the 'unauthorised' loan is unauthorised. However the UK Supreme Court would disagree with you. In its judgement siding with the banks the Supreme Court stated of the charges:

    These stonking fees were not 'punishment' for going outside the agreement, but were part of the agreement. Just like the gouging payday lenders.

    The Office of Fair Trading likes to show its teeth every now and then. The British Bankers' Association, watching the OFT's teeth soaking in a glass with a fizzing steradent, expressed its gratitude


    "We welcome the OFT's decision not to refer this issue to the Competition Commission and will continue to work with them to make further improvements for customers and the wider economy."

    When the Archbishop of Canterbury speaking on Payday Loans in the House of Lords said he wanted to "cut out legal usury from our high streets", he should have extended his comments to include High street Banks. 

    Banks decline authorised overdrafts to risky borrowers, leaving them with the option of an unauthorised overdraft. Taking a payday loan is a bad decision, until you consider the alternatives.

    Saturday, 13 July 2013

    Saturday, July 13, 2013 Posted by Jake 1 comment Labels: , , , , , , , ,

    Austerity is being used as a smokescreen to reduce the share of the many and increase the share of the few. It is happening with wages, with benefits, and with pensions. All under the smokescreen of 'unaffordability'.

    Take a look at the three graphs below showing how we are being bamboozled over the cost of pensions.

    Using Data from the Department of Works and Pensions (DWP) you can show how the cost of pensions has doubled in absolute cash terms, but only gone up a tad as a share of GDP:

    The graph below, produced by the National Audit Office shows the increase in real cash terms.



    However, use the DWP data to produce a graph of expenditure on pensions as a percentage of GDP and you get something much less alarming:


    • In real cash terms the cost has doubled from £54 billion to £107 billion. Nearly a 100% rise! (107 ÷ 54 x 100 = 198%. An increase of 98%)
    • The rise from 5.5% to 6.9% is a 25% increase (6.9 ÷ 5.5 x 100 = 125%. An increase of 25%)
    • As a percentage of GDP it has snuck up from 5.5% to 6.9%. Just 1.4% more GDP. (6.9 - 5.5 = 1.4%)
    Of the three figures, the most relevant is the 1.4%, as that shows how GDP is being shared out.

    Remember, the reason for the leap as a percentage of GDP in 2008 is NOT pensions going up but GDP going down due to the banker induced crash. (To explain: if you have an income of £100 and you spend £10 on milk, you are spending 10% of your income on milk. If your income (like GDP is a nation's income) drops to £80 and you still spend £10 on milk you are now spending 12.5% of your income on milk even though you spend the same amount of hard cash).

    The GDP is staying down due to Osborne's Austerity, with the UK trailing behind those we consider our peer group nations (data from Eurostat):
    http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/national_accounts/data/database
    The crash in UK GDP between 2007 and 2009 is the reason expenditure on pension as a percentage of GDP jumped in that period. Crucially you will notice that UK GDP is recovering, which means the cost of pensions as a percentage of GDP will fall in the future. So the government is in a hurry to get the bamboozlement legislated and slash pensions before this becomes known. 

    Retweet this post so people will know sooner.

    Austerity is being used as a cover for cutting the share of the nation's wealth that the rich give to the elderly. Cuts now will impact pensions for decades into the future. Which means every one of us will be ripped-off by this scam when we eventually get to collect our pensions.

    Thursday, 11 July 2013

    Thursday, July 11, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels:
    London loses control of scandal-plagued £350tn Libor market to NYSE
    NYSE Euronext, the New York-based transatlantic exchanges operator, won the right to take over and reform the Libor global interbank lending rate benchmark, which serves as the reference point for more than $350tn in contracts worldwide. The new administrators will be charged with restoring confidence in Libor amid a global probe that has seen three banks pay nearly $2.6bn in fines for rigging the rate. An independent committee, set up by the UK government, selected the NYSE over two UK-based rivals. NYSE Euronext will take over the London interbank offered rate from the British Bankers’ Association by early 2014. NYSE Euronext will pay just $1, in part because the UK government was adamant the BBA should not profit from the scandal. FINANCIAL TIMES

    “Historic” £3.2bn Swiss tax dodge deal will only bring in £347m
    Two years on from the deal between the UK and Switzerland, only £347m has been collected, and little more is expected. The Swiss Bankers Association said: "First indications from selected banks in Switzerland show that there are fewer untaxed UK assets in Switzerland than had been previously assumed. This is mainly due to the fact that many clients have resident non-domiciled status." So confident was the government that the £3.2bn would arrive, it included the sum in its calculation of monies available to spend. The government will now have to find the money from elsewhere. GUARDIAN

    Loyal insurance customers get charged over eight times more than new customers - Insurers to be investigated over renewal 'overcharging' 
    The City regulator has launched an investigation into insurance companies for overcharging customers when they renew their house and car policies. One 83-year-old Money Box listener saw the cost of her home insurance rise to £850, when a similar policy was available to new customers for £200. BBC NEWS

    Vodafone to charge by the minute rather than the second, raising the cost of most calls
    It means a call lasting one minute and one second will now be charged as two minutes - costing 50p instead of 25p. The phone network said the change - which comes into force from 1 August - would "simplify" charges for its pay-as-you-go customers. Other networks, such as T-Mobile and Orange, also apply this billing method. However, O2 and Virgin Mobile still have a per-second model, with a one-minute minimum charge. BBC NEWS

    Mobile phone insurer hit with £2.8m fine for poor handling of complaints from Phones 4U customers who were missold policies
    Thousands of customers are being paid compensation by Policy Administration Services, who insure phones for Phones 4U. Many customers had not wanted to buy the cover and did not receive any documentation about the unwanted policy. They were left ‘unaware’ that they had paid for it until they saw that money had been taken from their bank account. Others took out the policy only to be fobbed off with ludicrous excuses when they tried to make a claim. DAILY MAIL

    Victory for fund managers as EU scraps pay cap
    European politicians yesterday voted against plans to cap city stock pickers’ bonuses, signalling a major victory for the UK fund management industry. “It shows the UK can make its voice heard in Europe when it has a clear negotiating strategy and moves early enough in the EU’s law-making process,” said Vincenzo Scarpetta, an analyst at thinktank Open Europe. But German MEP Sven Giegold, who tabled the original amendment, said the outcome of the parliamentary vote was a “black day” for investor protection. CITY AM


    Wednesday, 10 July 2013

    Wednesday, July 10, 2013 Posted by Jake 10 comments Labels: , , , , ,
    It's astonishing how many rational people believe that an MPs salary is too low to attract good people. We are grateful to @simplem_ths for this simple graph that gives you the facts at a glance. Next time you hear this 'underpaid' nonsense use this to rebut it:



    Those who claim MPs work so very hard they need extra money to console themselves need look no further than the Members' Register of Interests. Here they will see the many MPs who find they have enough spare time to hold second jobs earning them thousands of pounds. Names of MPs in brackets shown in the list below are given as examples. This is just a sample from MPs with surnames starting with an A or a B - there are many many more than just these - taken from data gathered by The Guardian.
    - Broadcasting (Diane Abbot (L))
    - Adviser/Consultant (David Amess (C); Kevin Barron (C); Nick Boles (C))
    - Barrister/Solicitor (Steven Baker (C); Jake Berry (C))
    - Newspaper Columnist (John Baron (C); David Blunkett (L))
    - Dentist (Sir Paul Beresford (C))
    - Local Councillor (Gordon Birtwhistle (LD))
    - Crown Court Recorder (Robert Buckland (C))

    Whatever the reason for our MPs being the sorry lot they are, it isn't insufficient pay.

    Data Sources:
    Teacher: http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/salary/teaching-salary-scales.aspx?sc_lang=en-GB
    Nurse: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/working-in-the-nhs/pay-and-benefits/agenda-for-change-pay-rates/
    Doctor: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/doctors/pay-for-doctors/
    Soldier: http://www.army.mod.uk/join/20097.aspx

    Tuesday, 9 July 2013

    Tuesday, July 09, 2013 Posted by Jake No comments Labels: , , , , ,
    Cameron grills Chancellor Osborne over the embarrassing news...


    SOURCE GUARDIAN: “Historic” £3.2bn Swiss tax dodge deal only brings in £347m
    Two years on from the deal between the UK and Switzerland, only a £347m advance payment has been collected, and little more is expected. The Swiss Bankers Association said: "First indications from selected banks in Switzerland show that there are fewer untaxed UK assets in Switzerland than had been previously assumed. This is mainly due to the fact that many clients have resident non-domiciled status." So confident was the government that the £3.2bn would arrive, it included the sum in its calculation of monies available to spend. The government will now have to find the money from elsewhere.

    OUR RELATED STORIES:

    Here's how the UK's hoped for £3.2billion tax haul from the UK- Switzerland deal disappeared




    Share This

    Follow Us

    • Subscribe via Email

    Search Us