Unemployment ranks continue to swell

As the recession continues to bite more and more companies are going into administration or reducing the size of their workforce.

Yesterday shoe sellers Barratts and Priceless went into administration threatening the jobs of more than 5,000 people. The administrator Deloittes has stated that the shops are all currently open and trading as normal although shares in the companies have been suspended.

Also the steelmaker Corus has announced that it intends to cut around 3,500 jobs and of this around 2,500 will be in the UK.

One of the few companies who have announced positive news recently has been McDonalds who intend to open 1,000 new stores in 2009.

Unfortunately whilst some people are claiming to see the green shoots of recovery I think they are seeing things and expect more jobs to be lost over the coming months as more businesses that have been teetering on the edge suddenly fall off the cliff or are pushed by their banks!

Not that the banks themselves are immune with Barlcays having announced it is to cut around 4,000 jobs, Ulster Bank expects to lay off around 750 staff and fairly soon Lloyds will start to streamline their new Halifax and Bank of Scotland operations making possibly several thousand people redundant.

The only good news seems to be that next year should be a better and I'm not referring to 2010 not the Chinese New Year which has just started or am I talking a lot of ox!

Mousewife

An article in the Daily Mail caught my eye at the weekend as it made reference to mousewives and I had never heard this expression before.

A mousewife is a mother who uses her home computer to boost her household income. She does this by completing online surveys, mystery shopping, selling items online through ebay and Amazon and other internet based activities.

Apparently 1 in 20 stay at home mums is estimated to earn over £200 a month from these extra online activities.

No Cash in the Attic?

Lorne Spicer, presenter of Cash in the Attic has filed for bankruptcy.

As you would expect the irony that her show helps people to cash in on any valuables they have squirreled over the years and yet the preseter has no cash has been found amusing by numerous posters on internet forums.

Other famous individuals who have been embarrased publicly include Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com and Rachel Elnaugh of Dragons Den and Red Letter Days.

Martin Lewis missed the deadline for filing the annual accounts of moneysavingexpert on August 31 2008 and was fined £100 by Companies House as a result. Rachel Elnaugh's Red Letter Days business went into administration assets and goods were bought by fellow Dragons' Den judges Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis.

Gas price cut

British Gas has announced that it will cut gas prices by 10%.

Unfortunately the price cut will not come into affect until 19 February 2009 which will mean that the winter will almost be over (hopefully) by the time the price cut comes into force. There are hopes that the price cut will lead other power companies to reduce their prices in the near future.

Strangely the power companies used the high price of oil as an excuse to increase their prices significantly but although the price of oil has fallen significantly from its peak in the summer British Gas is the first company to introduce a price cut.

Britannia Co-operative

The Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial Services intend to merge to create a super mutual.

Some information on the merger is available on the Britannia website although more details of the proposed merger are expected to be sent to Britannia members in March 2009 and they will be asked to vote on the merger during April 2009.

In these troubled times especially with the lack of confidence in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank then a new super mutual may be a unique and an ethical alternative to the traditional banking system who have been blamed for much of the current economic decline.