Calls to protect private tenants from eviction have been raised, as more landlords struggle with debt problems and fail to keep up with mortgage repayments – leaving tenants increasingly closer to eviction than they realise. Campaigners, including the charities Shelter and Crisis along with debt advice organisations, want new laws to be introduced that give [...]
March, 2009
Only in England!
It started off as just another immigration case. In August 1996 a man going under the name of Shaqa Shatri arrived in the UK with his tale of woe. He told immigration officials that he was a Kosovan refugee fleeing from the Serbs and that he wanted to come here to avoid persecution. Being the [...]
Fishy Business
Times appear to be changing as the recession forces people to rethink their priorities, especially so in Iceland which has been hit so severely that the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. Surprisingly enough though, their situation is apparently leading to better times in Grimsby! Back in the 70’s relations between Iceland and Great [...]
Bad debt
Everybody has debt these days – what with credit cards, store cards, overdrafts, catalogues and personal loans – but what’s the difference between a good debt and a bad debt? Unless you are very good with money, there‚Äö√Ñ√¥s rarely ever a good debt. Mortgages were considered quite a good debt whilst the housing market was [...]
Irresponsible Lending v Irresponsible Regulating
It looks as if the Financial Services Authority is going to find that its plan for capping mortgage loans is going to meet with some fierce resistance from mortgage lenders who are already mounting a campaign against its proposals under The Turner Review. The FSA have said that they will look at capping loan to [...]
Above The Law 2
Will I ever get used to the double standards of this Government? The Competition Commission has ordered BAA to sell 3 of their 7 airports as their present holdings have caused a complete ‘absence of competition’ and are therefore detrimental to passengers and airlines in Scotland and the South East of England. BAA have been [...]
Clampdown on credit card debts
The government has plans to try and stop people developing credit card debts by clamping down on the industry. New legislation to be introduced will put a stop to credit card firms raising customer’s credit limits when it hasn’t been requested. Ministers will also request that the unsolicited credit card cheques sent by these companies [...]
Tent City, Ca.
How times have changed, especially for the Californian capital, Sacramento. America has long been famed for its affluence and high standard of living, especially in the ‘Golden State’ of California, but all that is rapidly changing and nowhere is this more obvious than in Sacramento’s new suburb – Tent City! There are 300-400 people living [...]
A Load of Bull and Hot Air?
Isn’t the European Union a fascinating place? Just when you think you’ve heard it all they surprise you yet again. The latest weird and wonderful measure they have come up with is a tax on cow flatulence! No, it’s not April the 1st, it is completely true! According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation [...]
Fair Winds
After reading so much about how the recession has hit Spain, causing high unemployment and the resulting debt problems, it is nice to read something positive for a change. When you think of the Spanish region of La Mancha (the provinces of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Cuenca and Albacete) it is hard not to bring to [...]
Secret Weapons
After banning mis-shapen fruit & veg (unfair discrimination surely?) and proposing a tax on cows breaking wind I thought I had heard it all but, oh no, the Europrats have done it again! The latest Euroidiocy to come to light is the ‘annex to airline security regulations’, a list of prohibited items from cabin baggage [...]
Reassuringly Expensive?
Anheuser-Bucsh InBev, the brewer of famous beers such as Budweiser, Becks and Stella Artois, has reported an eye watering 95% drop in quarterly profits. It is claimed that the cause of this lies in the takeover of Anhueser by InBev which cost $52bn. They state that this mainly covered redundancy payments and yet they are [...]
Solid as the Rock
Spain has been badly hit by the recession, construction has virtually ground to a halt and unemployment is at an all time high leaving increasingly more people struggling with debt problems. So what about Gibraltar? Funnily enough Gibraltar seems to be doing OK out of all this because the currency there is still sterling and [...]