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Thursday 10 May 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012 Posted by Hari No comments
Posted by Hari on Thursday, May 10, 2012 with No comments


Water bills rise above inflation, yet almost a quarter of all water supply is still lost in leaks. Are water firms actually using that extra money to fix the leaks, or make profits? The regulator Ofwat seems incapable of finding out. DAILY MAIL

Paying a living wage is affordable for big companies in UK banking, construction, computing and food production sectors, according to a new report by the think tanks Resolution Foundation and IPPR. The average increase in the wage bill for listed companies in these sectors would be about 1 per cent or less. The living wage is currently set at £8.30 an hour in London and £7.20 outside London. More than 6 million people earn less than the Living Wage - around one in four UK workers.  GUARDIAN

High cost "payday" lender Wonga launches business loans service. Loans of up to £10,000 will be available for up to a year but critics say costly borrowing for small firms is 'irresponsible.' GUARDIAN

Almost all fund management companies refuse to disclose which way they vote in shareholder ballots e.g. CEO pay, strategy. Yet that's our money they're investing (pensions, ISAs, etc)! DAILY MAIL


Summary of shareholder revolts against fat cat pay. Mentions Aviva, Trinity Mirror and Astrazeneca (where the CEOs subsequently resigned) and UBS, Barclays, Inmarsat, Man Group, Citigroup, the New York Stock Exchange, Goldman Sachs (where the CEOs didn't!) DAILY TELEGRAPH

People die from hunger while speculators make a killing on trading in food commodities. Traders include Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, but it's nearly impossible to figure out who is betting how much. 
 GUARDIAN 

Shaming rogue lawyers: List of Britain's worst solicitors to be published for the first time this July. The most common complaint is about cost (a quarter of all cases), while the most commonly complained area of law is family law (18 per cent), residential conveyancing (17 per cent), probate (14 per cent) and then personal injury and litigation (both 9 per cent). DAILY MAIL

One in five wills are faulty, and may lead to litigation and higher inheritance tax bills. Reasons include "sloppiness" and actual fraud (unregulated "will writing" services that charge a cheap fee to write your will, without knowing how to do it). DAILY TELEGRAPH

MPs to ask how taxpayer subsidies helped UK arms firms to sell to dictators. Beneficiaries included Mugabe, Mubarak, and Argentina's 1970s dictators. Another "world beating" UK sector that only succeeds through huge subsidies?
  GUARDIAN

Banks try to blame card fraud on you. Customers are increasingly being refused a refund after their plastic was stolen or accounts hacked. GUARDIAN



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