Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 18th October)

Wonga caught advertising on Talking Ginger children's game
The Talking Ginger smartphone app, which teaches children how to get ready for bed, has been carrying adverts for Wonga and online casinos. App users can only remove the adverts if they pay for "virtual toothpaste" – 69p gets a user 100 squirts of toothpaste and no more adverts. The game teaches kids that a foul smell means you’ve not been brushing your teeth. GUARDIAN

(...or you've stumbled into the offices of Wonga and Talking Ginger.)

George Osborne: Workers of the world unite... and give up your rights
Companies to give people shares worth as little as £2,000 in exchange for worker rights. But employers will then be allowed to hire people under contracts that exempt them from the right to claim unfair dismissal, a redundancy pay off if the firm goes under, and any right to demand flexible hours or time off for training. The idea has been widely condemned by employers. "When I pay someone, I want them to get on with the job, not worry about all the complicated and unforseen consequences," complained one employer. TELEGRAPH
("Likewise," said one Tory party donor as he wrote out another £1m cheque.)

PPI: claims continue to rise, and it's not due to fraud

The Financial Ombudsman Services (FOS) has taken on 66,882 new complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) in the last three months. Banks say many claims are down to bogus claims resulting from the modern trend towards "compensation culture". But the FOS dismissed fake claims as the reason for the rising number. TELEGRAPH
(Meanwhile the Oxford Dictionary has updated its definition of "compensation culture" to include 'shameless demands by fat cat bankers for massive bailouts for a crisis they caused themselves.')

Amazon: £7bn sales, no UK corporation tax
The online retailer's British operation is "owned" by a company in Luxembourg which receives all payments for books, DVDs and other goods. The total tax dodged could be around £100m. GUARDIAN
(£100m is the unit of measurement in the corporate tax dodging world, otherwise known as ‘a hospital.’)

Starbucks: £1.2bn sales, no UK corporation tax
Over the past three years Starbucks has reported no profit and paid no income tax on sales of £1.2bn pounds in the UK. It has been telling investors the business was profitable, while consistently reporting losses to the taxman. This tax avoidance sheds light on perfectly legal tactics used by multinationals the world over. Starbucks stands out because it has told investors one thing and the taxman another. REUTERS

Economy boost as unemployment falls again. But most new roles are part-time and half are in London
The unemployment rate is down to 7.9% of those eligible for work, 0.2 points lower than the previous period, leaving 2.53m Britons unemployed. But pay rises remain below the rate of inflation. Also, there are 355,000 fewer full-time workers than 2007, before the credit crunch hit, and 724,000 more in part-time roles. Total unemployment is still 883,000 higher than before the crisis. Said one business owner, “The only way out of this deep recession is through employment, not by sacking people." DAILY MAIL
(...unless it's the Chancellor!)

Government's pension pot-switching scheme could cut pot value by a quarter

'Pot follows member' funds can move from well-run, low-charge schemes into higher-charging, poorly-run schemes, losing money in bank fees. A better solution would be to automatically pool small pots in large-scale, low-cost pension plans that are not tied to the workplace. But the pensions minister said the existing overly complex system had gone on too long and needs a big shakeup to make it safe, cost-effective and easy to move your pension pot around. GUARDIAN

(...and around and around... until all your savings are lost in bank fees!)

Whisper it, why pensions can be a waste of time
For hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers, pensions of any description are bad advice. Many of the people whose pay is now being docked through forced saving will not be £1 better off for every £1 they put in. TELEGRAPH

David Cameron vows to crackdown on rip-off energy tariffs

In an announcement that took the regulator Ofgem and even his own energy department by surprise Mr Cameron promised that the big six providers would be forced to charge their customers at the lowest rate for their type of use. INDEPENDENT