Author Archive

Public cuts to bring private pain: Belfast Telegraph

A cut in corporation tax for Northern Ireland of perhaps 10% is on the cards should the Conservatives win the general election.  But the sting in the tale is that this would be matched by spending cuts that would be additional to severe reductions government departments already face.
 
Shadow secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Owen [...]

Dire interest rates see few saving: Belfast Telegraph

Fewer people are saving and those who do are saving less.  Figures from the Government’s National Savings & Investments arm make worrying reading.  Average monthly savings have fallen from £90 a year ago to £82 now.
This should be no surprise.  Savings rates are low and will remain so following last week’s decision by the Bank [...]

Co-ops for everyone?: Co-operative News

 
A recent policy statement from the Conservative Party on ‘Broken Britain’ grabbed the headlines. In some of the country’s most deprived areas, half of all teenage girls were pregnant or already mothers.
 
It was a shocking symbol of a serious problem. Except only in one sense. A Tory researcher had got the decimal point in the [...]

Questions of Cash: ‘My laptop went wrong during warranty, but I can’t get it repaired’: The Independent

 
Q. We purchased a laptop online on 1 January 2009 from Portable Universe.  In October we experienced problems with the laptop screen and contacted the company. It issued a returns number and an address to send it.  The computer was still operational - the screen flickered occassionally - and as we are teachers and use [...]

Economic future is bright for city with culture: Belfast Telegraph

 
Liverpool’s year as European Capital of Culture earned the city around £800m in extra income – half of which came directly from tourism. If Londonderry becomes the first ever UK City of Culture in 2013, the economic benefit will not match Liverpool’s – but should be substantial nonetheless.
As part of the bidding process, the city [...]

Why going to the Ombudsman is worth it: Belfast Telegraph

 
The latest figures on financial services complaints make interesting reading – and should concern financial services companies and consumers.
 
Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service - which can require finance firms to compensate consumers for monetary loss or poor service – rose by18% in the second half of last year. The grim economic conditions have made [...]

Questions of Cash: ‘Flight time was changed and we didn’t know!’: The Independent

 
Q. We booked a holiday in September last year through Expedia, flying EasyJet. The outward flight from Luton to Krakow with EasyJet was fine. We stayed in Krakow for five nights. We were worried that heavy snow might cause our return flight to be cancelled, so we checked the EasyJet website and found our flight [...]

Wide disparity in rates increases: Public Finance

Northern Ireland’s 26 district councils have agreed their domestic and non-domestic rates for 2010/11, with variations in the increases imposed ranging from zero to more than 8%. 
Dungannon & South Tyrone Borough Council has avoided any rise in either category, while Moyle District Council has increased domestic rates by a mere 0.03% and non-domestic by just [...]

Icelandic legacy: Local Government Chronicle

 
Iceland may not have changed everything as far as local government investment policies are concerned. But the collapse of the country’s three banks certainly had a big effect on councils, their finance directors and elected members, who have no intention of being caught-out the same way again.
 
CIPFA responded to the Iceland-related crisis by revising guidance [...]

Shine a light: Belfast Telegraph

 
Often the best business ideas come from trying to overcome challenges that seem to have no existing commercial solution. This was the case with Shane Meehan, founder and partner of Newry’s Media Lightbox.
 
“I was working in marketing at the time and the idea came from a problem we had in finding images and distributing them,” [...]