Damian Wilson
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Easyjet passengers have had enough
Filed under: Travel
The never-ending row between airlines is sort of funny when viewed from the sidelines. If easyJet and Ryanair were humans instead of airline companies, you would expect to see them on Jeremy Kyle, screaming insults at each other and scrapping while the audience brayed and hooted.
British Gas profits not just a rip off
Filed under: Economiser, House and Home
While we were all freezing during the coldest winter for 30 years, Centrica bosses were rubbing their hands together, not to keep warm, but in glee as their company's profits soared.Centrica is the parent of British Gas which posted a surplus of £585 million – 98% ahead of last year – as shivering households cranked up the heating and gas usage rose 8%.
House prices peak at Shakira's hip level
Filed under: Property, House and Home
Pint-sized Colombian warbler Shakira, partnered by Wyclef Jean, dominated the charts in summer of 2006 with Hips Don't Lie as she topped the pops for five non-consecutive weeks.If you can remember back that far, which even I can, then that is when average house prices last achieved the same level at which they currently sit. And while that slice of Latino rubbish plays on a loop in your head, I can also tell you that June's Land Registry data revealed the average price of a property in England and Wales stood at £166,072 in June, which is 8.4% higher than a year ago.
City Spotlight: Five's new owner, Macca's profits rise
Filed under: City Spotlight
Richard Desmond's purchase of Channel Five has been completed for just over £103 million. Now the hunt starts for viewers, and for programmes that they will watch.Already he's saying that he might buy Big Brother from Channel Four to add to the wall-to-wall CSI and Neighbours. Memo Richard Desmond: No-one watches Big Brother. If he wants to build on the paltry 5% of audience share that Five presently enjoys, he's gonna have to do better than that. A lot better.
City Spotlight: China go Burberry mad, BP's cap fits and FSA show muscle
Filed under: City Spotlight
Fashion favourite of the chav, Burberry, is buying out its franchise stores in China in a £70 million deal that will see it take control of marketing, IT strategy and customer services for its 50 outlets in 30 cities across the country.The luxury goods brand also plans to open more stores as the label-mad Chinese show a strong taste for Burberry, which saw profits last year of more than £14 million. It's a promising move for the business and the stock market agreed as Burberry shares rose 3% on the news.
How the north-south divide shows up at the petrol pump
Filed under: Travel
The AA's announcement today that petrol prices in the south of Britain are around 2p higher than those in the north comes as no surprise to me at all.While en route to the South West this week, I lost a windshield wiper completely in a sudden torrential downpour. This incident distracted me for about half an hour as I continued on my way in the driving rain with one bare wiper scraping across the windscreen making a toe-curling scratching noise.
Are footballers worth the money?
Filed under: Entertainment, Work & Careers
Four weeks ago, the nation was full of hope and the overpaid prima donnas we'd sent to South Africa carrying our hopes and dreams were the adorned ones.Now, as Spain and the Netherlands – not England – contest the final of this year's World Cup, the sight of a fishy-belly white Wayne Rooney relaxing on a beach in Barbados with his missus and kid on a holiday he apparently booked before England was embarrassingly dumped out of the tournament by Germany, just makes me feel as if we've been taken for a ride.
Investments you need to make now for your kids to play in the World Cup
Filed under: Investing, Entertainment, Work & Careers
So you want your little 'un to play for England in the World Cup? Well, you cannot exactly pay to guarantee that happens, so supporting their ability, if they have any is the best way forward.Even while they're young, buy a soft football that they can play with and get used to. The way it bounces, where it goes when they kick it, that sort of thing. Then if that interests them, they'll pay attention to how other people play with a ball. So far, this has cost you a fiver.
We give up! New despair at ever owning a home... in the UK
Filed under: Mortgages, Property
Talk about chucking the towel in! Nearly three-quarters of potential first-time buyers have given up hope of ever owning their own home according to a new survey.
Around 70% of people who do not own a property said they abandoned plans to buy one in the UK because of high house prices, while a third of first-time buyers also said they were wary of getting on to the property ladder because of the volatility of the UK market Key words here: UK market.
Tate & Lyle sell off sugar business in a very sweet deal
Filed under: Food and Drink
Back in 1878, Henry Tate opened a sugar refinery on the banks of the Thames in Silvertown, East London, after he bought up the rights to the newly invented sugar cube.Abram Lyle, who opened his own refinery in nearby Plaistow in 1883, first began putting Golden Syrup into its famous green and gold tins in 1885 after it proved an instant success with customers. The syrup is made from by-products in the sugar refining process.
