Money Category
Money in the news and how you are going to pay and pay and pay
More Train Fare Hikes Expected On Arriva, Stagecoach And Go-ahead
DON’T pollute the atmosphere by driving, they say. Come into London in your car and we’ll fine you, they warn us.
Yet when we do leave the car at home and take a train instead, we are hit by crowded carriages, stupid rules and ridiculously high fares which are about to get even higher.
With the beardy Richard Branson and his Virgin Trains losing out to Arriva in the bidding war to take over the Cross Country rail franchise, the humble commuter is set to take a hit, as the jubilant Arriva, along with Stagecoach and Go-ahead are planning to raise fares by 3 and 3.4 per cent.
The fare rises, which have been agreed with the Government, will affect the Cross-Country and East Midlands franchises as well as Go-Ahead’s London to Northampton route.
While fares such as season tickets are regulated by the Government, ‘unregulated fares’, which make up over half of the revenue for rail companies, will be affected by the price hikes.
Shadow Transport Secretary, Theresa Villiers, points her well-bred finger at the Government. Says she: “The Government must come clean and admit that it is responsible for these endless fare hikes, which are looking more and more like yet another form of stealth tax.”
And one, unbelievably, Gordon Brown didn’t think up first…
Ronnie Biggs Cashing In In Prison
YOU can’t keep an old cheeky chappy Cockney ducker and diver down, according to the Mirror.
The newspaper reveals that Great Train Robber and celebrity villain Ronnie Biggs is still on the make, the old East End Pearly… sparrow!
The 77-year-old was moved from the hardcore Belmarsh jail to the gentler environs of Norwich Prison last week, and the famous robber is making the most of his celebrity status.
Biggs is reported to be selling his autograph to fellow lags in return for tobacco and sweets.
A prison source is quoted as saying: “Biggs has been quick to cash in on his notoriety by signing autographs in return for extra treats like baccy, Mars bars and toilet paper. Ronnie might not be as strong as he was but he is a wily old fox and he knows he is a big name to the rest of the lags and he is making the most of it.”
Biggs is now partially paralysed and can barely speak after suffering several strokes and according to the prison source: “He is not well and spends most of his time asleep in his cell.”
Maybe he’s just too full after eating all those Mars bars.
Posted: 11th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (6)
Lotto Winner Jenny Southall Keeps It In The Family
IF you won the lottery, you too would probably move to a swanky new house, but would you bring all your relatives with you? That’s exactly what the family-oriented Jenny Southall has done after scooping the £8million jackpot.
The 43-year-old mum-of-three bought a swanky £1million five-bedroom house in Newport, Gwent, for herself and she has also snapped up a number of houses nearby for thirty of her relatives.
After living on what the Sun calls “a rundown council terrace”, Southall says: “The best thing I could do with my money is take us out of here. I want us all to be near each other.”
She is now in the process of buying nearby homes for her brothers David and Andrew and sisters Janet and Angela, while mum Jeanette will also get a house in the area.
The lucky winner goes on: “We’ve always lived near each other. We’ll be doing that again, but in a better place with nicer houses.”
And her family hovering over her every minute of the day for help with the bills and the holiday and the school fees. How lucky is she?
Posted: 11th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Tracker Funds: Halifax Wants To Give You Money
WHAT a nice bunch of people the Halifax are.
With £50million of unclaimed cash laying dormant in their accounts, the bank has decided to call in credit reference agency Experian to track down the 110,000 forgetful customers who own the funds which haven’t been touched for 15 years or more.
Halifax began its search back in February after the Government announced plans to donate any unclaimed money to charity. (One wonders if the Halifax would be going to all this trouble if they could keep the money themselves?)
With most of the investors having moved home without giving the bank their new contact details, Experian have a challenge on their hands, although Halifax spokesman Jason Clarke is confident that everyone will be found.
Says he: “We’ve called in Experian because they are experienced at tracking people down.”
Details of dormant accounts in all banks are being posted on the Unclaimed Assets Register website – www.uar.co.uk – for all to see, so hopefully there’ll be plenty of people about to get a rather nice surprise.
According to Keith Hollander, founder of the Unclaimed Assets Register, there is still a whopping £15billion left unclaimed overall.
So make sure you aren’t overlooking any accounts. After all, we wouldn’t want all that money going to charity, would we? Although, knowing the Government, it would probably be spent on the 2012 Olympics.
Posted: 10th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
NHS Pen-Pushers Snatch George Michael Tickets
ONE imagines that when George Michael, he of the grey designer stubble and penchant for sleep-driving, gave 400 free tickets for his concert to Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and another 620 to Plymouth Primary Care Trust, they were meant as a thank you to the nurses for the care his mother had received before her death in 1997.
Well, according to the Mirror, a large number of the tickets for his Plymouth gig were hijacked by the Trust’s admin staff.
“Admin snatched hundreds”, says a livid nurse. And she’s not the only one… But she is the only one quoted in the paper.
However, in true bureaucratic fashion, the Trusts replied to the criticism, saying that the pop superstar had requested that the tickets “go to all staff”.
So did the parking attendants, cafeteria staff, flower sellers and cleaners also get to go? One imagines not.
Posted: 10th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (3)
20,000 Leave First Direct Over £10 Bank Charge
IT is only five months since First Direct bank decided to introduce a £10 a month fee on current accounts, but already 20,000 customers have decided to leave the bank for another competitor.
The charge only targets those customers who pay in less than £1,500 to their accounts each month, leading to rather justified criticism that it is nothing more than a tax on the lower paid. However, now it has emerged that 20,000 First Direct customers have left the bank since the fee was introduced.
Now according to the BBC, that number represents “an exodus” from the bank.
However, the Guardian, on the other hand, sees the figures as “only 20,000”. Not surprisingly, First Direct agree with the newspaper. A spokesman says a “small number of people out of our 1.3 million customer base have closed accounts following our decision to charge, but we are pleased with the numbers given that it was a significant move for us.”
Expect other banks to now follow suit.
Olympics 2012 – A Financial Odyssey
WITH the original 2012 Olympic budget already trebled to a whopping £9billion, it comes as no surprise that a new report from the Public Accounts Committee is rather critical of the Government’s handling of the Games. (Pic: Beau Bo D’Or)
The public spending watchdog says the Government has left itself “financially exposed” over the Olympics and is at risk of letting costs spiral out of control.
Central to the criticism is the report’s claim that no single individual has overall responsibility for organising the Games.
Edward Leigh, the committee’s Tory chairman, points the finger at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which he sees as being ultimately responsible for overseeing all the relevant bodies.
Says he: “It is worrying, therefore, that strong arrangements for monitoring progress and managing risk are so far not in place.”
The Shadow Culture Secretary, Hugh Robertson, is equally concerned at the situation. “This report highlights two important areas of concern,” he says. “Firstly, the issues surrounding the coordination of the Olympic project highlight that the Government’s new reporting lines, with the Olympic executive in one department and the Olympics Minister in another, are a total shambles. London 2012 needs simple and accountable Government support structures to ensure successful delivery and these are not in place.”
With an extra £675million already plundered from the National Lottery fund to meet the rising costs of staging the Games, expect the Government’s hand to dip into the fund a few more times before the Olympic Flame is lit in East London.
Talking Turkey: Benefit Fraudster Exposed
YOU think you’ve got away with the crime of the century. Then, as your coach motors on to a sunny location, the driver loses control and the vehicle nearly plummets down a rocky ravine.
Suddenly, you’re in trouble.
That may sound like the final act of The Italian Job, but for Barry Marsh, it was the beginning of the end of a lucrative deception.
Marsh, from Portsmouth was on holiday in Turkey with his family when the coach he was travelling by overturned. The 45-year-old, who was apparently living on £82-a-week benefits due to a “bad back”, then spoke to a local newspaper about his holiday ordeal.
However, poor old Barry somewhat lost the run of himself and let slip to the journalist that he had, in fact, visited Turkey regularly over the past seven years and that he loved sipping cocktails in the evening.
When Jobcentre staff back in Portsmouth read about Marsh’s sun-loving activities, a fraud inquiry was immediately instigated.
The Department of Work and Pensions eventually found that the builder had thousands of pounds stashed away in secret bank accounts and thousands more hidden at his house. He had also set up home with the wage-earning Tracy Johnson, despite claiming to live alone.
Marsh now faces the possibility of jail, where he won’t get many opportunities to sip on a cocktail, when he is sentenced next month.
Posted: 10th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (3)
Where There’s No Will…
HAVE you made a will yet? Well, have you? Best hurry. Before they come.
If you haven’t, then you are not alone. A new survey from Axa Sun Life suggests over half of adults in the UK have yet to make a will, risking the distribution of their assets when they die.
In all, 1,007 adults were questioned in the survey, which also found that one in five people over the age of 45 had yet to make a will.
While spouses and close family members will still be first in line to inherit if no will has been made, the likes of long-term partners and close friends could be left out in the cold, as they have few legal rights if a will hasn’t been drawn up.
So get it sorted.
The survey also finds that nearly half of adults expect their family to pay for their funeral. A presumptuous lot, the dead.
Posted: 10th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Darling To Tackle Housing Crisis
WITH Government ministers now settling down after their recent Gordie-inspired game of musical chairs, it’s back to business – back to the business of keeping the voters sweet.
One doesn’t have to be a political genius to realise that the current mortgage and housing situation is one of the nation’s most pressing issues, but don’t fret, for new Chancellor Alistair Darling is on the case, ready to sort out of the mess.
The Chancellor wants to tackle the problem of mortgage lenders and their penchant for short-term fixed-rate deals by increasing the number of fixed-rate mortgages lasting up to 25 years.
Says the Government’s new Darling: “When you look around the rest of Europe, it is more common to have longer-term fixed rates. We need to look at that. We need to reduce the volatility. Brokers want you to come back every two years, rather than every ten or 20. The Financial Services Authority has identified this as a problem.”
Indeed, a review from leading UK economist David Miles into Britain’s lack of long-term fixed-rate mortgages was commissioned by the Treasury three years ago. However, only now, is New Labour (apparently) preparing to seriously tackle the issue.
The Chancellor also wants to tackle the housing crisis in the country by simplifying the planning system and increasing the number of new houses built. Whether he’ll actually do anything is another question.
Paul Potts Gets Revenge On Barclays
BARCLAYS has lost a customer. Britain’s Got Talent winner Paul Potts has decided to change banks.
The day after Potts won the dubious talent show, the chubby everyman was £15 overdrawn at his bank. With direct debits due, the 36-year-old asked Barclays for a £500 overdraft to tide him over. Yet despite his burgeoning fame and beckoning wealth, the bank refused his request.
Says the Port Talbot crooner: “I could not believe it. Barclays refused to give us a £500 overdraft for three fays. They were rude too. They paid one bill but charged us £30. Then they charged £35 for bouncing another two, even though we had £100,000 coming.”
With Paul Potts expected to earn millions with his ‘untrained” talent, and despite his apparent lack of confidence, directionless and low self-esteem (he was a Lib Dem Councillor), Barclays seem to have scored yet another own-goal.
“We’re in the process of changing banks,” adds Potts. “If it wasn’t for that I’d have stayed. I believe in staying loyal if there’s good service.”
Let’s see what kind of loyal and good service Potts gets from Simon Cowell…
Posted: 9th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Hooray For Murray (N): Mugger Wins National Lottery
THE Sun is livid. And Bitter. Bitter and Livid, as nothing less than a convicted mugger claims his £4million lottery prize.
And Neil Murray is not even a decent kind-hearted mugger. He robbed an 88-year-old woman, snatching her purse which contained just £6 before apparently pumping the cash into arcade fruit machines.
So he is a gambling addict. To the Sun, he is a beast who doesn’t deserve his jackpot winnings. The fact that the crime took place eight years ago also doesn’t seem to matter to the Sun. A crime is a crime. Rehabilitation is not an option.
We are told that Murray was sentenced to 150 hours community service for his sins and ordered to attend Gamblers Anonymous.
A “family friend” says: “He is very ashamed of what he did. I believe he now has his gambling under control, though he obviously must still have a liking for it.” What a succinct analysis of the psyche of a gambler.
Murray is also apparently a cannabis smoker. Could he be any less deserving for his winnings?
However, Murray, who was working as an assistant manager in a Costcutters when he bought the winning ticket, is now using the money to go back to university to finish his Masters. In what, we are not told. Maybe Advanced Granny-Bashing.
The Sun also gleefully provides its readers with a list of former criminal winners of the Lottery, from uber-yob Michael Carroll who was wearing an electronic tag when he bagged £9.7million to Lee Ryan, jailed for handling stolen cars after winning £6.6million.
A spokeswoman for lottery peddlers Camelot says: “Everyone is allowed to win.” Including honest causes like the Millennium Dome, Olympics, Camelot…
Posted: 9th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (5)
Debt Lessons For School: Ed Balls Plays Penny Up The Wall
A NEW subject called “Economic wellbeing and financial capability” is to be introduced into the nation’s schools to teach teenagers how to handle financial pressures. (Pic: Beau Bo D’Or)
And they might as well start learning now as in years to come the poor buggers will still be paying off their parents’ debts.
The new course, aimed at 11 to 16 year olds, is part of an overhaul of the Key Stage 3 curriculum, which is being overseen by the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, Ed Balls. Says he: “Money plays a crucial part in all our lives. I want teenagers to start learning early how to make the most of their money and savings once they start work.”
And the subject couldn’t be more relevant. With home repossessions up 10 per cent in the pat year, debt is dominating our lives and the future doesn’t look any brighter for Britain’s next generation of benefits slaves.
Lib Dem education spokesman, David Laws, says: “This generation of young people is certainly going to need financial education to cope with the huge debts from a combination of high tuition fees and skyrocketing house prices. Young people will also need to cope with one of the most complex pensions systems in the world, which they will find themselves automatically enrolled into not long after they start work.”
According to Government research published in the Leitch report, around five million Britons are considered functionally innumerate while apparently 17 million struggle to work out their change in a shop.
Most of them are believed to vote for New Labour…
Posted: 9th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Flood Bill To Top £1.5billion: Al Gore Flies In
IS it all down to global warming? Or is it just a case of really bad freak weather? We have no idea. Go and ask Al Gore. (Pic: The Spine)
Of course, Father Al is no doubt up in a plane (that’s a big flying machine with wings, kids). He’s wearing size 25 clown boots stamping his carbon footprint all over the earth he loves.
He does it for us, because he cares, and we alone are too infantile to understand that burning things cause smoke and that gets in the sun’s eyes (the sun is a ball of burning gas that gives light and heat).
Unless it’s raining.
This summer’s horrendous weather is set to keep the UK insurance industry busy, as claims relating to the June floods are now estimated to eventually reach an incredible £1.5billion.
The figures come from the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjustors who have calculated that domestic claims will reach £825million while those from business should total £680million.
The CILA has also revealed that there have been £27,500 domestic claims so far, with an average value of £30,000, while 6,800 claims, averaging £100,000, have been made by businesses.
New PM Gordon Brown has pledged to help the flood victims with “a comprehensive programme, not just to deal with the immediate problems but also with the recovery”. You may suppose that recovering was part of the immediate problem. But we are not here to argue, just to listen.
For parts of the country affected by the hideous weather, a long arduous clean-up process awaits.
Perhaps multi-millionaire Al Gore should drop by and help with the clean up? Imagine hwo much water two massive jet engines and a pontificating Gore set to “blow” can shift…
One Million Hit By Taxman Errors
MAKE sure to check just how much income tax you are paying, as our old friend the Taxman is back in the news, but this time for making quite a large hash of income tax collection. (Pic: Hack)
According to the National Audit Office, HM Revenue and Customs calculated the tax correctly in 95 per cent of cases in the 2006/07 tax year. However, that still left one million people paying the wrong amount of tax, with £125million uncollected and a massive £157million overpaid.
Indeed while the average underpayment per person was £250, the average overspend was around £290.
John Bourn of the NAO says: “HMRC has improved its processing of income tax returns, but there are still substantial numbers of taxpayers who are affected by processing errors. Vulnerable groups such as pensioners are likely to be disproportionately affected.”
As well as OAPs, people with more than one job are also likely to have been affected.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Edward Leigh MP, is concerned by the findings. Says he: “Errors don’t only cause financial problems, they also result in anxiety and wasted time and effort in putting matters right. Many of the people who are affected are vulnerable members of society and deserve better.”
The NAO did find, however, that the Revenue’s plans to computerise its clerical work had led to a decrease in the number of mistakes made.
But not a big enough decrease, apparently. Perhaps they need anew and more expensive system? Or more management consultants..?
Posted: 6th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Richard And Judy Fined £150,000
WHERE would we be without Richard and Judy, daytime telly’s Tony and Cherie?
We all have a deep need to laugh at someone.
The phone-in scandal involving their You Say, We Pay quiz has been a high point in a dual-career already crammed full of embarrassing and entertaining gaffs. And now the premium rate services regulator Icstis has decided to slap a £150,000 on the company behind the quiz, Eckoh UK Ltd.
Eckoh have also been ordered to provide refunds to all the competitors who were affected by the dodgy phone-in shenanigans.
Yet, that still isn’t the end of the matter as Icstis has now referred the case to the broadcasting regulator Ofcom, who may well investigate the actions of the people involved in the phone-in scandal under the Broadcasting Code.
All this beats even a dreadful Ali G impersonation or an inadvertent eyeful of bra.
It’s a rip-off Judy…
Posted: 6th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
French First Lady Sarkozy Cuts Up Credit Card
SHE is only reported to have spent a total of £277 on it, but Cécilia Sarkozy, France’s first lady, has decided to hand back her presidential credit card after nationwide criticism over her right to use state funds. (Pic: Beau Bo D’Or)
Sarkozy received the credit card back in May after her husband, Nicolas, took power, and according to a government spokesman, she had only used the card twice, for two “professional” dinners in restaurants, at a total cost of £277.
However, with the press and various politicians alike, questioning whether the first lady had the right to dip into state funds, Mrs Sarkozy has decided to cut up the card “to avoid any controversy”. Knowing what the French are like, they’d have probably dumped 10 tonnes of flaming elephant dung on her doorstep in protest.
At the moment, the French presidential palace receives an overall budget of £22million for “the institution and the personal expenses of the president.”
One wonders how much money Cherie Blair blew in her time at No. 10, discounting the contents of her shopping trolley, naturally…
Posted: 5th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (3)
Taxman Wants Access To Accounts
ONE often wonders what the infamous ‘Taxman’ actually looks like – a mixture of the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and John Major, perhaps? Anyway, whatever he looks like, he is now pushing to have direct access to the bank accounts of both individuals and companies, without having to obtain a court order.
According to the Guardian, HM Revenue and Customs wants to be able to plunder bank accounts to recover unpaid taxes without having to go through the often time-consuming process of asking a magistrate or county court to first give them the all-clear.
The British Bankers’ Association is concerned with the plans. A spokesman tells us: “Banks will need assurance that HMRC has gone through due diligence processes, that they’ve got the right person, and assessed potential hardship. Our main concern is, if you remove the courts who is going to be the independent arbiter?”
Mike Warburton of accountants Grant Thornton is equally worried. Says he: “This shifts the balance of power away from the taxpayer and in favour of the Government”
The HM Revenue and Customs’ proposals are open to public consultation until September 17. So, go and get publicly consulted, before it’s too late.
Of course if the Government’s plans really work we’ll all be working for the state and tax and pay will fit into a neat cycle…
Benefit Fraud Lancashire: Ex-Mayor McGowan Dodges Jail Sentence
JOHN McGowan is a lucky, if rather unethical, man.
The former Mayor of Clitheroe, Lancashire was found guilty of defrauding the benefits office, but still managed to miss out on a trip to prison, instead earning himself a 36-week jail term, suspended for 12 months.
McGowan had been claiming £13,000 in benefits for a bad back but fraud investigators secretly filmed the dodgy ex-local official playing golf and delivering newspapers with all the gusto of an Olympic gymnast.
In sentencing the mischievous ex-Mayor at Preston Crown Court, Judge Beverley Lunt says: “These offences were a dishonest detraction of taxpayers’ money. There are genuinely ill people in our society who rely on the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] in order to get through their day-to-day lives. You have diverted money from those worthy people.”
As well as copping a rather cushy suspended sentence, McGowan also was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service. As long as his back holds up, of course.
Bank Branches Could Be Set For The Chop
BEFORE you know it, Britain’s once colourful and thriving high-streets will have disappeared forever, replaced by identikit thoroughfares with room only for an All-Bar-One, a Tesco Metro and a Clinton’s Card Shop.
Personally, that would do me fine – you can have a pint of luxury lager, pick up some groceries and buy a greeting card or two, just to have, in case of birthday or anniversary emergencies. What’s not to like?
Anyway, for the more discerning Briton, this destruction of the English high-street is a crying shame and according to experts, even our local bank branches are now under threat.
With banks pushing their customers towards online and phone banking, new research from Deloitte reveals that customers may have only have five years to prevent the death of bank branches. The consultants are now urging customers to use their local branches more regularly in order to stop the rot.
However, while banks are continuing to close local outlets around the country, they actually do make a profit from branches, as much as £3.2billion a year.
The Campaign for Community Banking Services estimates that an incredible 850 communities in the UK have lost all their bank branches with a 1,100 having access to just one.
Spokesman Derek French says: “If you don’t want to lose your local bank branch, you must visit it as much as possible.”
But what if you don’t have any more in your account? Should you just go in and loiter by the bureau de change for the afternoon?
What would get you in the bank?
Posted: 5th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
Jobless Physiotherapists Trained At Cost Of £2million
YOU’LL see gangs of them hanging around street corners during the daytime, massaging each other’s backs and stretching their muscles – the nation’s student physiotherapists, trained by the NHS at a cost of £2million, struggle to find work.
According to the Mirror, seven out of ten physios who graduated last year in the UK are still looking for work with many now pondering a move abroad.
In Northumbria University, Newcastle, the 75 newly-fledged physios were trained at a cost of £29,000 each, but not one has managed to secure a full-time position in the field.
Says unhappy graduate Linda Finn: “I applied for one job recently and there were more than 350 applicants. It is a terrible situation. I’ve done 1,000 hours of placement during my course. Local NHS services and many physiotherapy departments I worked with were short staffed. There is clearly a need for us but the NHS is not investing in physiotherapy.”
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists claim that there are no jobs for nine out of 10 graduates. Chief executive, Phil Gray, says: “To have a trained workforce sitting idle to save NHS money when they ought to be at the heart of the health service helping patients is totally unacceptable.”
It could be worse. They could be trying to kill us…
Posted: 4th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
The High Cost Of UK Living
JUST what is going on in the UK? With another interest rate hike now expected from the Bank of England, we humble Britons are getting hit from all sides. (Pic: Beau Bo D’Or)
With massive mortgages to pay and mountains of debt to contend with, things aren’t looking too good for the common or garden British tax-payer, and now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development tells us that food prices and energy bills are rising faster here than almost anywhere else in the world.
The OECD figures show that UK shoppers are paying 4.9 per cent more for their weekly groceries compared with a year ago, a substantial increase that is almost twice the EU average and over five times more than in France.
The British are also paying 4.4 per cent more for their electricity and gas and with yet another interest rate increase imminent, things will only get worse.
The Nationwide’s chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, says: “The fall in confidence in June reflects some weakening sentiment about the economy and jobs, both now and in the future. Higher interest rates are likely to be a major factor behind this as consumers recognise their impact on the wider economy as well as on their own pockets.”
Of the 30 industrialised nations that form the OECD, only Hungary, Mexico and Turkey are suffering from higher levels of inflation that the UK.
Thanks for that, Gordie.
Posted: 4th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comment (1)
BBC Repeats, Repeats, Repeats…
THE cash-strapped BBC is planning to cram even more repeats into their schedule, according to director general Mark Thompson. Although they do make money.
Shows will be broadcast again, often on a different channel, shortly after their first screening as the corporation looks to make its money go even further.
The Beeb is currently facing a £2billion shortfall, so expect to see the same episode of EastEnders repeated on the hour every hour. Every day.
They’ve been recycling the same plot for years…
Posted: 4th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (2)
Abersoch A Lot For A Mobile Home
A MOBILE home in the Welsh resort of Abersoch on the Lleyn Peninsula is up for sale with a rather large price-tag of £500,000.
Half a million for a mobile home does sound rather a lot, and it is. However, this particular 42ft by 20ft property, situated in an uber-fashionable part of the Wales, does boast three bedrooms, an en suite tiled wet room with underfloor heating and a built-in blow dry system.
Still, there is a rather huge catch – while the purchaser will own the chalet, the site beneath the property is only on a renewable 20-year-lease.
Although, you could always pack the home on a lorry and move it somewhere else.
Posted: 4th, July 2007 | In: Money | Comments (3)
Not Tonight Geri: Buying Napoleon, Halliwell And Hemingway
HE may have craved global domination, he may have had an enormous ego, he may even have been rather short, but when it came to the ladies, Napoleon Bonaparte knew how to speak the language of love.
According to the BBC, a love letter from the infamous Gallic leader to his then future wife, Josephine, has fetched £276,000 at an auction in London.
The letter is thought to be one of only three sent to Josephine by the sizeable French emperor and contains an apology by the pocket-sized military genius after an argument he had with his lover.
“I send you three kisses – one on your heart, one on your mouth and one on your eyes”, says the letter, with words that will no doubt now be copied by teenage boys across the world desperate to impress their girlfriends and invade Russia.
The letter had originally been valued at £50,000, but ended up fetching five times that price.
Other missives by famous people sold at the auction include letters from Sir Isaac Newton, Queen Elisabeth I, Ernest Hemingway and a message to Jim’ll Fix It from a young Geri Halliwell.
Dear Jim, will you fix it for me to… Tells us what you think Geri asked for…
