Graphs at a glance: Data shows how successive governments, both left and right, have enriched a tiny minority at the expense of almost everyone.

The 2014 European election result was shaped by the anger of ordinary people who have been misused to pay the price of the banking crisis. In the UK the Tories threw them out of the basket, the LibDems assisted with a sheepish smile, and Labour promised that if they were in power they would be doing the same thing in any case. The banking sector continues to be caught up in scandal after scandal, with no sign of reform or retribution beyond piffling fines. Other sectors, such as the energy industry, chase the banks’ scandalous profit levels...

Read More

OFGEM to investigate British Gas for paying salesmen bonuses for inflating business customers’ bills

Including the Royal British Legion! KJ learns more from his mate, a British Gas salesman...SOURCE DAILY MAIL: British Gas salesmen who double your bills 'were treated like celebrities and given free helicopter rides for ripping off customers'- British Gas paid staff bonuses for inflating business customers’ bills – and churches and charities were targeted because they had fewer resources to shop around. Employees who made the highest profits by ensuring customers were sold the most expensive deals possible were sent on holidays to places such as...

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 29th May)

Back to the drawing board: Duncan Smith’s Universal Credit redefined as 'new project' after successive delaysUniversal credit, the government's recasting of the welfare benefits system, has had to be reorganised so fundamentally that the government watchdog responsible for grading its implementation has judged that it is now an entirely new project. In its annual assessment of the implementation of nearly 200 major infrastructure projects, the Major Projects Authority (MPA) has listed universal credit as "reset", the only one to be listed as going...

Read More

Graphs at a glance: Financial Reporting Council (FRC) says just 2% of bank and building society audits were up to scratch.

In April 2011 the US Senate held a hearing on "The Role of the Accounting Profession in Preventing Another Financial Crisis". Kicking off the hearing the chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Jack Reed, commented: Normal 0 "Prior to the collapse or rescue of nine major financial institutions in 2007 and 2008, they each received unqualified audit reports within months of their demise from various major accounting firms. So this hearing is not about one company or one auditor. This is about systemic weaknesses in the audit process that...

Read More

Is a vote for UKIP a vote for its policies? Or is it a protest vote?

 SOURCE BBC NEWS: UK European election resultsSOURCE BBC NEWS: England council election resultsOUR RELATED STORIES:Graphs at a glance: The effect of political fibbing exposed by Office of National Statistics report showing fewer than one in three of us 'tend to trust' governmentGraphs At A Glance: NI and Income taxes make hiring costs too expensive for employers? Ours are the lowest in the EU, bar Malta, Ireland and CyprusGraphs at a glance: Workers driven from full to part time work is the only reason employment is holding upGraphs at a glance:...

Read More

Will the Tories and Labour learn the secret of UKIP's success? It's all about Trust.

Normal 0 Trust isn’t about knowing someone will do the right thing. It is about knowing what someone will do. UKIP seems trustworthy because what the party says is such a mix of keen insight as well as crass stupidity that they can’t be making it up. If UKIP were crafty and untrustworthy they wouldn’t be quite so crass. Whether we agree with them or not we trust them to mean what they say. Which means we know whether or not to vote for them.  On the other hand we don’t trust the Tories because of the things they do. And we don’t...

Read More

Will the Tories and Labour learn the secret of UKIP's success? It's all about Trust.

Normal 0 Trust isn’t about knowing someone will do the right thing. It is about knowing what someone will do. UKIP seems trustworthy because what the party says is such a mix of keen insight as well as crass stupidity that they can’t be making it up. If UKIP were crafty and untrustworthy they wouldn’t be quite so crass. Whether we agree with them or not we trust them to mean what they say. Which means we know whether or not to vote for them.  On the other hand we don’t trust the Tories because of the things they do. And we don’t...

Read More

A guide on how to overcome the servant problem. A salutory read when you are selecting or electing domestic or public servants.

As we move from election to election we offer you this useful guide, published in 1899, to dealing with [public] servants. Pay particular attention to the sections warning what happens when you select someone without well checked references! Truly awful!For those of you with no eyes to see, the book has an audio function - i.e. it will read itself to you (go to the full screen mode to hear this, it is very clever!)....

Read More

A guide on how to overcome the servant problem. A salutory read when you are selecting or electing domestic or public servants.

In the aftermath of local and European Parliament elections, we offer you this useful guide, published in 1899, to dealing with servants. Pay particular attention to the sections warning what happens when you select someone without well checked references! Truly awful!For those of you with no eyes to see, the book has an audio function - i.e. it will read itself to you (go to the full screen mode to hear this, it is very clever!)....

Read More

Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 22nd May)

The rich get richer: Britain's wealthiest DOUBLE their fortunes since the financial crash and are now worth £519billionThe fortunes of the 1,000 richest men and women in the UK rose by 15.4% in the last year. It also means that total wealth has doubled since 2009, when the top 1,000 were worth a measly £258billion. The figures were revealed in the Sunday Times Rich List. The list is based on 'identifiable wealth' - including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes...

Read More

Gary Barlow OBE caught using a scheme, designed to promote the arts, to dodge tax

SOURCE BBC NEWS: Take That star Gary Barlow should keep OBE - CameronDavid Cameron has rejected calls for Take That singer Gary Barlow to hand back his OBE after it emerged he had put money into a scheme ruled to be set up for tax avoidance purposes. Mr Cameron said he was against "aggressive tax avoidance schemes". He said: "If people go after these schemes and aggressively avoid tax they're making it the case that everyone else has to pay higher taxes as a result... We should be very clear: tax evasion is illegal, you can be prosecuted...

Read More

Regulation in Britain: Compare and contrast regulation of Citizens and of Companies. Company executives pay piffling fines, ordinary citizens do jail time.

In May 2014 the energy regulator OFGEM boasted about its latest ‘record fine’: £12 million inflicted on E.on. OFGEM’s press release stated:E.ON’s large scale mis-selling results in biggest supplier payout to consumers  Ofgem found management arrangements were insufficient to protect against mis-selling OFGEM has the power to fine upto 10% of revenue. E.ON’s UK revenue in 2013 was £9.9 billion. The £12million fine, about 0.1% of revenue, is not even a drop in that ocean of cash. Money is the one thing that is not in short supply for Energy...

Read More