Archive for August, 2008
NI health takes legal services back in-house: Public Finance
Legal services for Northern Ireland’s health bodies taken back in-house
Legal services provided to health bodies in Northern Ireland are being brought in-house as part of the fallout from a massive fraud committed by a firm of solicitors against the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.
A report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office, published [...]
Questions of Cash: Co-op Bank fails to deliver: The Independent
Questions Of Cash: The ‘co-operative’ bank that failed to deliver when it was really needed
By Paul Gosling
Saturday, 30 August 2008
Q I have had a bank account, credit card and debit card with the Co-operative Bank for many years. I am now in the Philippines, a trip about which I pre-advised the Co-operative Bank to ensure [...]
Questions of Cash: On track for First Great Western refund: The Independent
Questions Of Cash: On track for a refund at First Great Western
By Paul Gosling
Saturday, 23 August 2008
Q. I bought eight rail tickets from the First Great Western ticket office at Stroud station in March to be used for a holiday with friends a month later. I didn’t notice at the time that the clerk only [...]
Farewell out of town?: Co-operative News
The Paul Gosling Column
The Co-operative Group’s decision to abandon the out-of-town hypermarket sector is being made to look very clever indeed with the massive jump in energy prices. True, prices are beginning to fall back – but the world is getting used to the idea that energy will always be expensive.
Retail leaders are talking not [...]
Questions of Cash: Smarter investors quit Alliance & Leicester: The Independent
Questions Of Cash: You’re a smarter investor if you can close Alliance & Leicester’s accounts
By Paul Gosling
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Q. I have written to Alliance & Leicester three times with no reply. My son had a “young worker” account that A&L changed to a premier current account, despite his already having one. My son requested [...]
High energy costs here to stay: Co-operative News
The Paul Gosling Column
The price of a barrel of oil had just fallen from $147 to $124 a barrel when this sentence was written. But that is no cause for celebration. Almost at the same moment, one of the largest suppliers of energy in the domestic UK market – France’s EDF – raised its prices [...]
Questions of Cash: When Tesco’s bills seem not to add up: The Independent
Questions Of Cash: When Tesco’s bills seem not to add up
By Paul Gosling
Saturday, 9 August 2008
Q. A few weeks ago I placed an order with Tesco’s online grocery service. There was an error in the pricing and I was charged more than 10 per cent over the prices stated online. I queried this with Tesco, [...]
Where now for Derry’s airport?: Derry Journal
A Personal View
Where now for the airport?
By Paul Gosling
Derry City Council is commissioning a master plan for the development of land at the City of Derry Airport. This is part of a flurry of activity around the future of the airport. A new operations manager will take up position soon and the council is in [...]
NI Water ordered to clean up its act: Public Finance
NI Water ordered to clean up its act
Northern Ireland’s government-owned water company, NI Water, has been ordered by the utility regulator to improve its business planning and corporate governance, following errors predicted to cause an annual £20m shortfall in income.
An investigation by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation followed disclosure of the mistake in [...]
Questions of Cash: I can’t transfer my money: The Independent
Questions Of Cash: ‘I have been unable to transfer money’
By Paul Gosling
Saturday, 2 August 2008
Q. I opened a Lloyds TSB cash ISA in April and arranged to transfer £11,903 from my 30-day Tessa-only ISA at the Britannia Building Society. Ten days later, Britannia asked me to call at a branch to verify my signature with [...]
