Jul/090
House of Commons transport committee: Higher ticket fares on the way
The House of Commons transport committee has criticised privately owned rail franchises for increasing ticket prices, up to 11% in the recession. The consensus amongst the committee was that the current relationship between rail companies and commuters is unfair, with passengers being treated unfairly. The franchising system means companies bid to run trains on a particular route and those that bid the highest premium payments win the contracts. The rise in ticket costs on regulated rail fares including all season tickets rose on average 6% which is contrary to negative inflation and disproportionate to the real economy.
Lord Ardonis, Transport Secretary reiterated that the report backed a policy by the government to limit fares to no more than 1% above inflation. The consequence being lower fare rates by January 2010. In reply to the criticism the Association of Train Operating Companies stated that the existing system offers a punctual service and that passengers are satisfied.
Jul/090
Pandemic flu figures direct gov to take action
A 26 year old pregnant British woman is critically ill with swine flu has been transferred to Sweden for specialist treatment after suffering an extreme reaction to the potentially fatal Swine Flu virus.
The woman was admitted to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, Scotland with H1N1 last week, but after complications, the hospital recommended a procedure in which her blood would be circulated out of her body and oxygenated.
The Leicester unit that carries out this procedure was so full that she has been sent to Sweden.
The procedure is known as extra corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and involves a machine taking over the functions of the individuals heart and lungs.
The UK has a national ECMO unit in Leicester, however with only 5 beds all of which are taken.
A similar bed was found in Stockholm, where the woman has now arrived .
“Doctors are pleased with how she has coped with the journey, which is obviously good news, but the patient is critically ill, which is why she had to be transferred for this highly specialised procedure.
Jul/090
Unemployment figures in the UK top the 2.3 million mark
As the recession takes as strong a grip as ever, more and more firms are cutting costs in every way possible and the most effective way of doing that is of course to cut jobs. A “worse than expected” set of figures indicated that unemployment has rose by a new record 281,000 to 2.38 million, in the three months to May. The statistics released by the Office for National Statistics said.
The jobless rate increased to 7.6%, the highest in more than 10 years.
But the number of people claiming unemployment benefit increased by 23,800 in June to 1.56 million which was less than analysts had forecast.
Jul/090
Local Governement: One in Five Local Authorities Report Growing Pressure on School Places
There are a few reasons for this but the recession seems to be the cause of most of them.
1) Parents are turning their backs on private education for their children, choosing instead to use the money they have saved up as a contingency for bills and general living costs.
2) The housing market slump has meant less people are moving house meaning a miscalculation in the size of the catchement area.
As a result, the government has announced that they are to throw £200m into the education kitty to combat this shortage. The government is set to announce £200m to overcome the shortage of places as well as a sharp rise in free school meal requests.
The LGA’s survey indicates that that 20% of councils are experiencing this pressure currently and another 13% are advising that they too will soon be experiencing the same situation.
Jul/090
New Bill to stop Shares Short Selling
The Short Selling and Bank Accounts Bill is being brought to the commons for debate in June, and is hoped will stop short selling and under hand tactics by lenders. Those who sell shares in a bid to later buy them back at a cut price will hopefully be banned if the bill is brought in. Ministers who are backing the bill say that short selling is an immoral practice, and if the bill is brought in it will require banks to offer retail customers current and savings accounts free of charge for holding the accounts when they are in credit.
Jul/090
UK Recession - The facts and figures
The UK is officially in recession for the first time since 1991, according to official government figures.
These latest figures show that the UK’s GDP fell by just over 1.5% between the start of October and the end of December 2008. This followed a dip of 0.6% in the previous 3-month period.
So, for those who were not sure whether to believe the country had entered a recession at that time, the definition of having 2 back-to-back declining quarters had been achieved - and with ease.
Not since 1980 had the UK seen such a big decline in the economy from quarter to quarter. From the same period in 2007 there had been a decline of 1.8%.
Head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, added: ‘There are genuine concerns about how quickly the recovery will pick up. Uncertainty over the global economy makes it very difficult to be confident of a rapid recovery.’
Jul/090
Stock Markets and Exchange Rates
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All data is updated every 10 minues so is as accurate as you will find anywhere.
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