We are 20% Neanderthal? It's all starting to make sense...

KJ and Fee put two and two together...SOURCE GUARDIAN: Fifth of Neanderthals' genetic code lives on in modern humansThe Neanderthal traces in our genetic makeup are the lasting legacy of sexual encounters between our direct ancestors and the Neanderthals they met when they walked out of Africa and into Eurasia about 65,000 years ago.OUR RELATED STORIES:New Year Message: Time to stop ordinary Britons being subtly divided by mistrust of ordinary BritonsGraphs at a glance: 9,836 prosecutions for benefit fraud v 617 for tax fraud. Yet benefit fraud...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 30th January)

RBS payouts to UK staff expected to total £500m despite an £8bn lossThe bank is now expected to show an £8bn loss after announcing that mis-selling scandals and legal bills in the US were forcing it to take a £3bn hit. Analysts at Credit Suisse calculated the bank's total losses since the 2008 bailout would reach £43bn, almost as much as the £45bn pumped in by taxpayers to buy shares in RBS to stop it collapsing. The top management team have waived their bonuses for 2013 but other staff will expect to receive payouts, including Rory Cullinan, who...

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The debate on decades of stagnant incomes for the bottom 90% – even when the economy grows – is heating up

Chris gets shown round the workplace...SOURCE BBC NEWS: Are we really any better off than we were?The government has released figures which claim to show that real take-home pay has increased for most people in the last year. They are using the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which shows that take-home pay between April 2012 and April 2013 outstripped inflation for most people. But as well as producing its Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the Office of National Statistics produces figures for average weekly earnings. Whereas ASHE...

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Graphs at a glance: Government policy of cutting the cost of Justice risks denying justice for the innocent and the guilty

Being beastly to foreigners seems to be back in vogue. At least to foreigners without much money. In its pursuit of popularity the Tory Party proposed stopping printing welfare leaflets in foreign languages and stop providing translators at benefits offices for those who don't speak English.According to an un-named 'Tory insider' quoted by the Daily Mail, "The vast majority of voters will think this idea is plain common sense. It is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to spend huge sums on translators when people should be learning to read and write...

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Graphs at a glance: Government policy of cutting the cost of Justice risks denying justice for the innocent and the guilty

Being beastly to foreigners seems to be back in vogue. At least to foreigners without much money. In its pursuit of popularity the Tory Party proposed stopping printing welfare leaflets in foreign languages and stop providing translators at benefits offices for those who don't speak English.According to an un-named 'Tory insider' quoted by the Daily Mail, "The vast majority of voters will think this idea is plain common sense. It is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to spend huge sums on translators when people should be learning to read and write...

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BIJ Story: Crown Prosecution Service criticised for ‘wilful, calculated and prolonged disobedience’ in trial

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that cuts in staffing and funding at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is resulting in prosecutions being thrown out of court.January 14, 2014 by Maeve McClenaghan (Bureau of Investigative Journalism)The Crown Prosecution Service has once again come under fire by a top judge for failing to prepare properly for a serious trial, and for citing financial constraints as the reason for that failure.The judge told the court that the case ‘raises serious issues about the practice of the CPS in cases...

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Are we being overcharged by up to £4bn? OFGEM, the energy regulator, says they have no idea

But Chris, KJ and Fee think they do...SOURCE TELEGRAPH: Energy costs 'deliberately inflated' by £150 per householdThe so-called Big Six, British Gas, SSE, E.ON, EDF, npower, and Scottish Power, paid £4bn more for power than market rate, according to shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint. She accused the companies of paying over the odds to increase profits in other divisions of their companies or doing deals that were bad for customers. She added: "The time has come for a complete overhaul of our energy market. Labour will break up the big energy...

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Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 23rd January)

Former head of bank regulation says growth is thanks to too much borrowing, of the kind that caused the bustThe former head of the Financial Service Authority, Lord Turner, has compared Britain's rapidly recovering economy with the "hair of the dog" treatment for a hangover. Turner, who was on the shortlist to be governor of the Bank of England before Mark Carney was chosen for the job, told an HSBC breakfast that the economy had reverted to its pre-crisis model of growth. He said: "We have spent the last few years talking about the need to rebalance...

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Benefits are so high they disincentivise working? Even a minimum wage job for one adult in a two-parent two-child household makes you £138/week better off than benefits

SOURCES:Benefit and Tax Credit fraud = £1.6bnUK government figures for 2012 estimate benefits overpaid due to fraud is £1.2 billion and tax credit fraud is £380 million. So just under £1.6 billion in total; less than 1% of the overall benefits and tax credits expenditure and less than benefits underpaid and overpaid due to error.All UK fraud = £73bnThe UK government estimates that total fraud (public, private and business) across the whole of the economy amounts to £73 billion a year.SOURCE: HM Government National Fraud AuthorityTax dodging...

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Graphs at a glance: Whose afraid of affordable housing in London? London councils take money from developers in lieu of affordable houses.

Normal 0 George Osborne’s championing a rise in the minimum wage is like the Big Bad Wolf championing better straw for little pigs' houses. Will his earnest “little pig, little pig, we’re all in it together!” convince us he is not a heartless cad after all? Or will we suspect the motivation for his sudden change of mind on this minimum pay increase? On the 10thJanuary Osborne said it would be self defeating and job destroying, then on 16thJanuary he said with a purr "I want to make sure we are all in it together, as part of the recovery,...

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Academies caught paying millions of taxpayer money in fees to firms owned by the school directors and trustees

KJ, Chris and Fee get to the heart of the public/private debate...SOURCE GUARDIAN: Revealed: taxpayer-funded academies paying millions to private firmsTaxpayer-funded academy chains have paid millions of pounds into the private businesses of directors, trustees and their relatives, documents obtained from freedom of information requests show. The payments have been made for a wide range of services including consultancy fees, curriculums, IT advice and equipment, travel, expenses and legal services by at least nine academy chains. Critics...

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