UK Sunday Times round-up (28 Dec 08 )
By: Alexa Williamson
Found this edition more exciting than most (recently) although I was disappointed that they didn’t do proper Culture or Home magazines.
Articles I found good this week…
House price slides expected in the new year
Nutshell: an interesting article summarising the house price falls of 15% last year, plus estimates over the next year of drops in prices… many bodies estimate the drops to be about 10%.
Pay cuts and freezes loom for millions in private sector
Nutshell: Companies are expected to cut employees’ wages to avoid mass redundancies. British Chamber of Commerce also calling for minimum wage to be kept at £5.73 due to recession.
Tories plan to unveil tax cuts
Nutshell: the Tories plan to reduce taxes in the following ways… reduce National Insurance, reduce income tax on savings, reduce tax burden on over-65s. In rebuttal, Labour thinks that this will mean cuts in public spending.
Ministers urged to lift cap off university fees
Nutshell: a report urges that universities should be able to set whatever fees they like to improve the quality of teaching.
Comment: hopefully this won’t happen – who would be able to afford to go then?
Virtual West End for Cyber Shoppers
Nutshell: a computer company hopes to create a virtual Oxford Street where people can ‘virtually’ browse many retailers. This comes after online sales are up 16% since last November. It would include links to Facebook and MySpace, plus the weather would change with what really happens on Oxford Street.
Not an interesting article, but noteworthy…
Cultural heads-up…
Turandot - on till 23 January at the Royal Opera House
Also, the advert for Demons, a TV series that starts of Saturday 3 January, looks cool. Kind of like a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series on the up ; )
Style Guide
Mrs Mills was good as always, the rest was a bit blasé.
From the Money section…
Mortgage rates are finally falling, best fixed deals are now under 5% for those who have a 40% deposit … eg Cheltenham and Gloucester are offering 4.29% (again, a 40% deposit needed) for a two-year fixed deal.
News review tidbits…
- Doctors to set up memory clinics across the UK to help those with the disease as over 700,000 in the UK have it.
- Amusing… California’s public health department is investigating a plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills who used the fat from liposuction operations as fuel in his car. Authorities also closed down the site http://www.lipodiesel.com. Made me chuckle that the owner, Bittner, had written – “Not only do they [patients] get to lose their love handles or chubby belly, but they get to take part in saving the Earth.” – on the site.
- British playwright Harold Pinter, sadly, has died from cancer.
The Times obituary, reprinted in ST. - Also, a fantastic obit done for Earth Kitt. What they wrote about her completely intrigued me. She had an interesting life and made me wish I had seen her sing – and know her quite frankly. Definitely worth reading.
