rented

Which is great if you can remain employed for 2 years so you can claim for dismissal.

Sure, but you'll need to have been employed for at least 2 years before you can claim constructive dismissal. Source

Yep. Casual contracts are good as they include the freedom to choose/pursue additional work. On a zero hour contract the employee is reliant on JSA long term and will notify the job centre of the hours they work when there is some. If they're lucky they'll get to sign off as they have near full time hours but when the hours fall away they'll sign on again until the employer decides they need them. The employer could have a giant pool of people on zero hour contracts if it wanted since there is minimal cost to itself. The employer doesn't need to take any risks employing people on contracts with defined hours since it can off-load that onto the taxpayer via JSA.

Up for auction is this25m2 studio in Sheffield. Not overpriced (well, 10k would be all I'd want to part with for that) but the image surely has to be a contender for unsettling property image of the year.

Making or selling those lattes is what passes for a trade these days. £2.65 an hour to 'train' as an apprentice.

There are jobs, just not enough jobs for everyone to have one. Would be interested to know whether accommodation is free or whether deductions are made from wages for it (presumably NMW).

Yes, the expectation that you will not turn work down as you can be easily replaced was something I experienced. I had a contract for a few token hours per week and was contractually obliged to be available to be called in to work on any day of the week without prior notice (no pay for the inconvenience). I also had to ask the employer's permission if I wanted to take employment elsewhere, which if it interfered with their ability to call on me at any time they pleased they would not permit.

If you were on Incapacity Benefit you were not expected to seek work.

It doesn't help the people one iota but it saves the government a small amount of money when it can transfer people back onto JSA.

23 people died. Wikipedia - Versailles wedding hall disaster

Under 25 JSA is £56.25 a week which, if you only need to pay for food and heating with that, should be more than sufficient.

It's amazing no one was seriously hurt or killed. More photos here.

Except that people that have been red lighted and have a long history of unemployment (which is in itself a barrier to finding work) really are left alone and 'parked' by the jobcentre or work programme providers. Neither are interested in investing the considerable time, money and personal support the unemployed person would need to get/keep a job. Token courses that the job centre/providers send people aren't of any use.

Telegraph live blog indicates the banks could remain closed for another week... is there any way a resolution to this can be fudged? Regardless of whether there is or isn't a tax, whether there is or isn't a bailout, there will be increasing numbers of people needing to withdraw money when the banks open again.

And no window for the en-suite despite it having external walls on two sides! What a cheat!

Couldn't see anything in the T&Cs about resale (thought they might have covered that). So... win, 'move in', pose for pictures for Barratt catalogues/promo activity, leave it a few months, sell at reasonable price, put money towards a place you actually want to live in.

It would seem more logical to be suing the perpetrator for destroying the value of their building rather than the victim's relatives.

With the caveat that to qualifiy workers need to earn £10 or 12k+ a year regardless of whether they work full or part time to discourage companies giving people low hours/zero hour jobs which would still require significant government support.

Ouch. I note that airmail world zone 2 (inc Australia, New Zealand and Singapore iirc) has started to pull away in cost from previously only being pence or tens of pence more expensive to being a pound plus more expensive than standard zone 1 airmail. Always assumed that would happen eventually since they bothered to introduce the separate zones.

Given the volume of applications these days I thought that any application without a well thought covering letter specific to the company and the job went straight in the shredder. Does Universal Job Search allow a covering letter? Now people can 'apply' for every job going within 20 miles (100s or even 1,000s) and it wouldn't take them more than a couple of hours of clicking. What employer would bother making their HR people/person sort through that kind of deluge of unsuitable applicants?

My local local jobcentre proudly displayed their G energy rating EPC in the lobby between their near enough permanently open electric sliding doors.

Clearly the shrubbery in the second picture is the reason for the price. Who cares what the flat looks like when there are shrubs outside?

Genuine voluntary work demonstrates at a minimum, work ethic, repeated ability to turn up on time and team working skills. Being forced to stack shelves for two weeks demonstrates that she can stack shelves, she didn't get any customer service or cash handling experience that would have been genuinely useful for a supermarket job from her time in Poundland. Voluntary work can actually provide the person with a reference too. Try getting that out of a workfare boss.

I don't think it was quite as explicit but anything the jobcentre told you to do in the form of a Jobseeker direction instructing you to do x,y,z (e.g. work experience) was mandatory and you were sanctioned if you didn't comply.

Yes, that attraction for the government is not to be underestimated. Now everyone not on JSA atm (working over 16 hrs) but less than full time is now subject to conditionality I wonder why they haven't changed the way they count unemployment to be those working less than, say, 5 hours a week.