Posted by Jake on Thursday, April 30, 2015 with No comments | Labels: Roundup

Network Rail's own
staff 'choose to fly within the UK because it is cheaper than the train'
Network Rail bosses travelling on business spent £1.3million
on UK flights in the last year because it was cheaper than taking the train. Employees
of the public sector body took 8,353 flights from April 2013 to March 2015. The
figures, revealed following a Freedom of Information Request submitted by The
Sun, show around 90 per cent of the domestic flights were to Scotland. The data
revealed Robin Gisby, former operations managing director of NR, spent the most
on domestic flights during the time period. He travelled on 15 flights between
January 2013 and September 2014, which cost £2,250. A spokesman for NR said if
staff have to attend a meeting in Scotland it is “cheaper to fly than take the
train” and spend money on accommodation. He said: “For the majority of staff
travel, rail is much the better way to go. A total of £1.3 million was spent on
flights in 2013/14 and 2104/15 but £32 million was spent on rail travel during
that period... Network Rail's 35,000 people have to pay the going rate for all
travel, be it air, rail or car. Our people are also obliged to use the cheapest
method available, sometimes that means by air but mostly we travel by
rail." A spokeswoman for the rail passenger watchdog Transport Focus
(formerly Passenger Focus) said: “It is no surprise that so many
longer-distance journeys were made by air. Unless passengers can book weeks in
advance, rail can be prohibitively expensive for many people”. GUARDIAN
200,000 "revenge" evictions by landlords: UK in breach of its own UN human rights commitment
The report by Just Fair suggested that so called “Revenge
evictions”, where tenants lose their homes when they complain about standards,
are so widespread that as many as 200,000 happening in 2013. That, Just Fair
argued, amounted to a breach of the UN covenant’s prohibition against arbitrary
eviction. Just Fair’s members include Crisis, Oxfam, Amnesty International,
Save the Children and Unicef UK. They warn of “profound issues of lack of
supply, increasing housing costs, lack of security of tenure and homes of such
poor quality that they are unfit for habitation”. In a 40-page report, Just
Fair concluded: Private rents are at double the level of council properties, at
£163 a week, and a quarter of those renting rely on housing benefit to meet the
cost; A third of homes in the private rented sector do not meet basic standards
of health, safety and habitability; Rough sleeping in London increased by more
than a third between autumn 2013 and autumn 2014, while funding for shelters
fell; Last December there were almost 62,000 households in England living in
temporary accommodation, the highest number for five years, and 280,000
households are at risk of homelessness; The number of families living in bed
and breakfasts more than tripled from 630 in 2010 to 2,040 last year. GUARDIAN
Poundland is NOT such
a bargain: you often end up paying more because you are getting less product
Once the preserve of the poor, nowadays the shop — founded
25 years ago by Dave Dodd and Stephen Smith — is a magnet for the middle
classes. Almost every item is sold for £1 in each of its 575 stores in Britain
and Ireland. But a report claims Poundland charged up to 50 per cent more than
other stores and that while its goods may have the lowest price, they are often
sold in smaller amounts. Here are some typical examples: Poundland’s Heinz
Beanz cost £1 for 150g, but Tesco’s costs £1.25 for 200g. You get more Beanz
for your money at Tesco. It's a common ploy, so you should always check how
many kilos or grams you're getting for your money. Poundland’s Quaker Oats cost
£1 for 500g, but Iceland sell 1kg for £1.50. Same product, but slightly
different packaging, so you can be assured the taste is the same. If you're
looking for a bargain, Iceland's pack is twice the size of Poundland's. Poundland’s
Bernard Matthews Wafer Thin Turkey Ham costs £1 for 200g, but Asda sells 400g
for £1.48. Poundland's packaging claims there's 42 per cent extra free. But buy
the Asda pack that's double the size for just 50p more and you'll find it a
much better bargain. DAILY MAIL
Britain's biggest
banks face further £19bn of fines and charges to pay for financial scandals
The UK’s ‘big four’ banks – HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking
Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – have already racked up a £42billion bill
over the last five years. This represents 88 per cent of the industry wide
total of £48billion in charges faced by 13 banks and building societies in
Britain. S&P said it now expects the UK’s four biggest lenders to face
further penalties in 2015 and 2016 of £19billion – taking the total for the big
four to £61billion. The bill has been driven by the mis-selling of payment
protection insurance (PPI) as well as interest rate hedging products to small
and medium-sized businesses. ‘We think that conduct and litigation charges are
now a way of life for the UK banking industry,’ said S&P in the report. DAILY MAIL
Deutsche Bank in
record $2.5bn fine over interest rate manipulation
The German bank has been fined $2.1bn by US regulators, and
£227m by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority. The fine relates to manipulation
of the Libor and Euribor inter-bank rates. It is a record penalty for such
misconduct because Deutsche tried to mislead regulators and could have hampered
investigators. The FCA said that in one instance, Deutsche in error destroyed
482 tapes of telephone calls that should have been kept. "Deutsche Bank
also provided inaccurate information to the regulator about whether other
records existed," the FCA said. The misconduct involved at least 29
Deutsche Bank individuals, including managers and traders, mainly based in
London but also in Frankfurt, Tokyo and New York. It took place between 2005
and 2009. Deutsche said in a statement that it had "disciplined or
dismissed individuals" involved and tightened governance controls.
However, US regulators have demanded the dismissal of a further seven senior
individuals still employed. Last year, six banks were fined £2.6bn over their
traders' attempted manipulation of foreign exchange rates. A report this month by
accountants KPMG estimated that the UK's largest banks have paid 60% of their
profits since 2011 in fines and repayments to customers. BBC NEWS
Centrica (British Gas)
shareholders revolt over executive pay plans
Some 34 per cent of the group’s investors refused to back
its pay plans because of a controversial share award handed to boss Iain Conn
when he joined at the start of the year. And Centrica’s board had cut the
annual dividend to investors by a third on the back of falling energy costs,
which has seen the price of oil halve since last summer. One investor said:
‘You have cut our dividend by 30 per cent. I can understand that. But has the
board taken a reduction in their salary?’ This question was met with rapturous
applause. Centrica plunged to a £1billion loss amid a £1.6billion writedown of
its businesses. Influential advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services
had told shareholders to vote against a joining share bonus for Conn, worth up
to £2.7million. At the meeting, shareholders said they were worried about the
prospect of a Labour victory in the General Election. Analysts have previously
warned that Centrica’s share price – which yesterday rose 4.6p to 269.1p –
could fall by up to a third if Ed Miliband wins power. The Labour leader has
pledged to freeze bills if he becomes Prime Minister. Speaking afterwards, Conn
refused to comment on specific party policies, but admitted that investors are
‘worried’. He also said that there is a ‘big difference’ between what
politicians say when they are campaigning and what they do once in power. DAILY MAIL
Transport for London
boss attacks commuter trains into the capital as 's***', like the 'wild west'
and with Gestapo-like inspectors
Transport for London boss Sir Peter Hendy, who is in charge
of London's tube, bus and overground rail network, picked out Southeastern and
South West Trains for special treatment in a rant that will be music to many
commuters' ears. Hendy said: 'People hate the suburban rail service, they hate
it. If you make a mistake on your Oyster card on the tube, we'll refund it. On
South West Trains, they'll fine you. That's a big philosophical difference.' Passengers
have long bemoaned the conditions they suffer on London's packed commuter
lines, with high ticket prices, a lack of seats and delays among the chief
complaints. But some travellers may feel the comments are a bit rich coming
from a man who oversees London's tube service, which often comes in for
criticism. Hendy and the mayor, Boris Johnson, have ambitions to run more of
the national rail services into the capital. TfL already runs some suburban
rail services under the London Overground banner. At the end of May, TfL takes
over the suburban services of the Greater Anglia rail franchise, and is seeking
to run more of the capital's southern rail lines, building on the success of
London Overground. TfL also faces an uphill task improving the quality of
services currently run by Abellio Greater Anglia, inheriting old, unreliable
trains and crumbling stations. DAILY MAIL
Annuity firms slash
rates to worst level EVER as new “pension freedom” law causes slump in
purchases of retirement income product
The average annual income from a standard single life
annuity for a 65-year-old with a £10,000 pension pot, that does not rise with
inflation, has fallen 5.9 per cent to £476 since the beginning of the year, according
to comparison website Moneyfacts.co.uk. And the income the same person can get
from a £50,000 pot has dropped by 6.4 per cent to £2,550. Someone with this
annuity would have to wait almost 20 years just to get the original cash value
of their pension pot back as income. Annuity rates have been hacked back even
more on joint life products, which include death benefits for spouses, over the
same four-month period. For a 65-year-old with a £10,000 pot, annual income was
6.7 per cent lower at £399. On a £50,000 pot, income was down 6.8 per cent to
£2,185. This shows annuity rates have collapsed to all-time lows within weeks
of pension freedom reforms which removed the need to buy the unpopular products
to provide an income for life. Pension freedom reforms launched on April 6 have
allowed over-55s to take control of their own retirement pots and spend, save
or invest them as they wish - meaning they can avoid buying annuities, which
are out of favour due to their poor value. This reduced customer demand has led
to providers charging more to compensate for the loss. These drastic cuts are also
being driven by a sharp drop in the yield from gilts (UK Government bonds that
are used to produce annuity income). DAILY MAIL
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