wheresitgone

I have to say that it isn't just banks with rip-off charges. I needed to renew my car insurance and with the quote came a long list of charges to be levied under the heading of 'administration fees'. £20.00 for any amendment (on top of any increase/decrease to price should the change render it so), £15.00 for duplicate certificate etc etc.

Yes, this man should be at home sorting out the mess he got the UK in to instead of thinking he's a world leader. This country is too small to have any real influence now and it is time it became a little selfish. Why not spend taxpayers money on something to benefit UK citizens and the country in which we live.

Looked on Rightmove today and was horrified that several of the cheaper homes were Sold subject to Contract. My search was for property registered in the last 24 hours.

From what I can remember, the unions didn't help and British car manufacturing just wasn't competitive. Perhaps if the UK citizens supported the manufacturing base that was in this country by buying the products, they could have survived. However, we have shown that price is a strong inducement to buy.

Apparently my mum's ex neighbour says he has never been so much better off since becoming bankcrupt. What I can't understand is that there is equity in the house he is trying to sell. Rumours are that his wife has left him and it is she who would receive any monies remaining after the mortgage is settled.

Just goes to show, what is the point of being patriotic when our government ***** all over its people.

Would part of that 'economy' be made up of house prices

Perhaps Mr Brown should be encouraging those British citizens who have left, to return. And with the news that unemployment is rising, why is he looking to increase immigration? A better policy would have been to look at the needs of the country and ensure the correct education and training of students and workers were implemented years ago. Didn't this government have a Strategic Plan, or was it just to acquire cheap labour from abroad?

Yep, don't you see the irony of it. Technology hasn't really helped the workers - just put some of them out of jobs. Will we see a revival of the Luddites

I believe that in reality there are too many people in the world for all of us of working age to be in gainful employment. Years ago it was possible for there to be just one breadwinner in a household. Perhaps the standard of living was not quite as good as some now experience but neither was our perception of how much better things could be!!

Query is basically as the title suggests. With the recent news, does this make the bank a safe haven for your money?

Don't forget 'hard working families'. Nobody else matters, I guess

With sterling having lost a good deal of its value recently (used to be worth about 67p to the euro a few months ago), why is there very little mention of this in the press? Although a weak pound is supposedly good for exports, we import so much nowadays.

I tried growing some tomatoes once. The plants were free, the growbag 99p and the liquid feed more expensive. I got a total of five tomatoes but they failed to turn red and tasted horrible!

I can remember many years ago, when Labour (not Nu) was in power, hearing how factory roofs were being removed to avoid paying taxes. In Sheffield the industrial heartland was derelict.

I could understand why people would prefer to live in Scotland, (weather excepted) rather than England, as their Parliament seems to look after its electorate so much better. Did I hear something the other day about free prescriptions?

I'm sure they'll come out before the BoE meets to deliberate about the base rate. I guess Halifax believe it will have more impact on their decision.

Surely the government has a duty to ensure tax payers money is spent wisely. Won't this sort of thing have to be means tested? As it is a perk to anyone who receives low rates, will they have to pay income tax on it? Exactly how much money is going to be needed to bail out those coming off fixed rate mortgages and is it fair to expect those on variable rates to pay more? Time for Mr Brown to recruit some more civil servants.

What I fail to understand is, that if money is scarce, why are interest rates for savers so low?

Perhaps they should serve a probationary period? Possibly, all candidates who put up for election should state how much they want to be paid over the period they are in government. That way, those voting will be able to compare the value for money component.

What we need is a better alternative government as I fear most who represent us at the moment are in it for themselves. I don't know how the electorate can stop MPs from continuing their disgraceful behaviour.

My geography has never been good but are you referring to Brunel?

Exactly. On Newsnight last night the advertising bod thought that the interest rates should come down a small amount and someone from Dragon's Dem thought that A Darling should reduce stamp duty and decrease tax on petrol to help struggling Brits. It took a couple of promptings before the Labour chap would divulge the amount of tax that is paid on petrol - 70%! All he could say was that Gordon had been to Saudi to ask them to sort out the escalation in costs!

To my mind, it is such a shame that they can't raise the money and many face redundancy. And yet, there is the Labour Party, given extensions on their loans and money from doners. I know which of the two I'd rather see supported.

Pres Bush seems to say a lot but where is the action. He said he wouldn't allow the commodity bubble to continue and the US had ways to sort the situation out. I think he also mentioned later about opening oilfields in America. Then there is talk of US interest rates going up. It gets to the stage when you can't believe anything these heads say and lack of credibility is a serious issue.