As the recession continues and everyone’s purse strings tighten even further, more job losses have been announced.
In the news today, Staples Promotional Products are eliminating 45 jobs. The job losses come from the Iowa, Hawarden and Marcus plants, all job losses are blamed on the economy.
Last year, Staples Promotional Products became the largest US supplier of promotional products after they acquired Corporate Express Promotional Marketing in 2008. According to reports the two companies earn more than $400,000,000 in sales annually, yet are still heavily affected by the current recession.
After the print of the Sunday Times rich list, it has become apparent that the music industry have been hit hard by the credit crunch too. Reports have said that some of the wealthiest British individuals have seen massive dips in the fortune.
The list has shown that Paul McCartney has apparently lost £60 million from his wealth since the list was published last year. Though, still in 3rd position on the music industries wealth list it is hard to feel too sorry for him. His fortune still stands at an estimated £500 million!
Elton John has seen a 26 percent drop on his fortune, from £235 million in 2008 to £175 million this year.
All looks good for Andrew Lloyd Webber who tops the music industry rich list.
The rest of us can watch on in envy, as they lose more than we could ever hope to hold in our accounts!
Is It All Over For The Magpies?
April 28, 2009
Time is running out for Newcastle, as they fight to stay in the Premier League. The Magpies only managed to take a draw from Portsmouth last night and hope is now starting to run out.
Newcastle are 3 points away from fourth place Hull, with matches against Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Fulham and Aston Villa left. The game against Middlesbrough will be dog eat dog, as surely the winner of this match will inevitably stay in the Premier League.
All is left to play for, for those at the bottom of the table.
New Premier League arrivals Stoke City after a slow start have done themselves proud, currently in 12th position.
The next few weeks will decide the fate of those left in the balance and all is yet to be decided!
Bee Shortage
April 28, 2009
Four years ago Vince Cable was attacked by Gordon Brown for supporting more funding into bee keeping and diseases associated with the British and furthermore European bees.
Now years later, it comes to light that the European beekeeping industry could potentially be wiped out in the next 8 to 10 years. The causes are disease, insecticides and intensive farming.
In 2008, a third of Europe’s hives died, that’s around 13.6 million hives.
The long term affect of this is that farmers will struggle to farm, as the Bees will not pollinate the crops.
Vince Cable was also the person that predicted the collapse of Northern Rock. Perhaps Labour and The Conservatives should start listening to the Lib Democrats; they may actually know what they’re talking about!!!
Earthquake Hits The Lake District
April 28, 2009
In the news, Cumbria was hit by a 3.7 on the Richter scale earthquake. Reports of the quake hit Twitter users in Lancaster just moments after the quake.
According to residents, the tremor shook windows and houses in the area rattled.
Resident, Richard Henderson said that the quake lasted between 5 and 10 seconds. Another resident, Jane Barker said that it felt like a van had hit the house.
There has not been another quake in the UK sine last February, which was centred in Lincolnshire.
The British Geological Survey confirmed that the quake occurred 5 miles beneath Ulverson at 11:22am.
Mexican Flu Goes Global
April 28, 2009
The Mexican swine flu death toll has hit 149 and The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised the pandemic alert from phase three to four. This indicates that there is now risk of a deadly global outbreak.
The main question is; why cases outside of Mexico, so far have been relatively mild, with the only deaths in Mexico.
The disease is being spread from human to human, but as yet no borders have been closed and there are no travel restrictions. Mexicans are wearing masks, airlines are checking travellers for symptoms and people are being advised not to travel to Mexico unless it is essential.
In Mexico City restaurants, stadiums, bars and cinemas are closing, including certain government buildings in an attempt to prevent the flu from spreading further. In airports, thermal sensors and cameras are being used to spot signs of the illness.
MP Expense Saga Carries On!
April 24, 2009
As the general ager towards MP’s continues from all average Joe’s in the UK, Gordon Brown has had his proposal for MP expense reform thrown out of the arena.
Committee Standards in Public Life (CPSL) Chairman, Sir Christopher Kelly has said:
“This is not something that should be left to politicians to sort out for themselves. This the single most damaging issue for public trust in politicians in the last 15 years. There must be reform and it must be done properly. If public confidence is to be restored, there needs to be an independent inquiry by people with no political agenda of their own which can look hard at all the evidence and that is open to anyone who wants to contribute.”
Brown has looked to get second home allowances scrapped and a daily attendance allowance paid instead. Surely, as with any job, anywhere in the World, a daily allowance for work is a salary, which for MP’s is already more than triple the average UK salary.
Why do MP’s feel they need to be paid twice?! When they take on the role as MP, they must know that they will have to work from London some of the time. Why do I pay more that 50% of my salary, one way or another to tax, for MP’s to reap benefits on top of benefits?!
The whole situation makes my blood boil and I have no faith in the useless politicians, put in place by hard working British folk. Let’s face it; they spend more time bitching about each other, than fixing the mess that is the British economy. Things like our immigration policy clearly hasn’t worked and our education and health care systems are falling apart at the seams.
Politicians should get paid their salary; if they need to recoup the expense of nights in hotels then they should produce receipts. There should be a cap on the amount they can claim per night, or let’s face it; the likes of Jacqui Smith will be in the most expensive hotel in London every night.
With the recent budget taking even more money off the UK, politicians need to get real and under no circumstance should they decide their own pay and expense policies!
Google Street View Technology Controversy
April 23, 2009
The UK Information Commission has ruled that though Google’s Street View Technology brings a small privacy invasion risk, it should not be stopped.
Google Street View Technology shows photos of locations on maps but received complaints that it breached the Data Protection Act.
A privacy watchdog spokesperson said that removing the technology would be:
“Disproportionate to the relatively small risk of privacy detriment”.
According to reports residents of Broughton, near Milton Keynes blocked the Google View vehicle and prevented it from taking pictures of the village. Residents said that they should have been consulted and that the vehicle was intrusive.
Google have said that they obeyed UK laws and only took pictures from public places.
It’s all very controversial!
Unhappy British Children
April 21, 2009
Reports in the news today say that British children are among the unhappiest in Europe, according to a well being study done recently.
The report suggests that there are large numbers of youngsters with parents not working, living in rough areas with many not in education.
In the report Britain came 24th out of 29, and considering that Britain is allegedly one of the wealthiest and developed countries in Europe, this is not good to hear.
The study gave Dutch and Scandinavian children as the happiest, with Germany in eight and France in fifteenth.
Other reasons resulting to the British low score was that UK children are more likely to report ill health and have a poor ability to communicate with their parents.
The government are saying that they’ve sorted it as usual, but I think we all know they’re pretty incompetent regardless which party they’re on.
The Future Is Electric…
April 16, 2009
The government have announced this week that they are encouraging people to buy electric or hybrid plug in cars to lower carbon emissions. The £250 million investment plan, seeks to give people subsidies of up to £5,000 for swapping.
Eligible cars are unlikely to get to showrooms until 2011 so it is won’t take affect for a while. The strategy which will see £20 million invested into getting charging plants and other infrastructure set in place are somewhere in the pipeline.
The feeling is that though this is a gesture in the right direction, the fund is nowhere near enough to generate a real culture change. Hybrids currently on the market, such as the Toyota Prius are not eligible for the scheme as it only involves fully electric and plug-in electric hybrids. Basically, any such cars on the market now are not included in the scheme.
Electric cars on the market now have been held back by poor performance. The range is limited to approximately 40 miles, they take around 7 hours to charge and mainly have only two seats. Top Gear ripped them apart! However, the government seem to think that the real technology will be available on the market in two years.
Gibsons Set For Divorce
April 15, 2009
After 28 years of marriage Mel Gibson’s wife has filed for divorce, apparently because of irreconcilable differences.
Under Californian law Robyn could be entitled to half of the stars reported £432 million wealth.
The couple were married in 1980 and have 7 children together, with one less than 18 years old. There was never a prenuptial agreement, so now splitting the Gibson assets will be left to the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The couple gave a joint statement saying:
“Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so.”
The couple do seem to be amicable, they both attended church with family over the Easter period and just days before Mrs Gibson filed for divorce.