The UK Supreme Court will this week rule on the validity of prenuptial agreements and whether the parties involved should be bound by what can in many cases be fairly old agreements. The situation has come to a head because of a high-profile and highly expensive divorce hearing where an initial prenuptial agreement saw the gentleman in question receiving £1 million upon divorce although his ex-wife has since confirmed her fortune to be in excess of £100 million.
Frits Seegers, the former head of Barclays retail and commercial banking operation, is in line to receive almost $250,000 a month from the company until at least the year-end 2010 even though he left the business in November 2009. He was one of the more high-profile victims of a management and structure shake up although under his contract he is entitled to the above monthly payment until at least the end of 2010 or until he is able to find another position.
Despite reservations from the UK public and an array of consumer protection associations the UK government seems determined to push through its ID card program. This is a program which has ballooned in cost and been delayed and amended on a number of occasions but still appears to be central to the UK government's future policies. The government has asked the business arena to suggest more uses for the ID card which would eventually dictate that everybody in the UK would need one.
Slowly but surely UK local authorities are moving towards a much stricter and controversial recycling policy which could see traditional "black bins" taken away. The authorities have announced a 12 week consultation period regarding the introduction of yet more recycling bins forcing households up and down the UK to recycle literally everything which they are about to throw out. But what are the consequences for those who fail to recycle?
In a blaze of glory, Alex Salmond has today confirmed a massive £5 billion project which will introduce 10 new wave and tidal power stations to the waters surrounding Scotland. Is hoped that the multibillion pound project will be able to provide power for 750,000 homes across Scotland at a time when energy costs in the UK seem to be spiralling ever higher and higher.
Even though UK motorists are bracing themselves for a significant increase in the cost of petrol and diesel over the next few weeks, it has been revealed that the UK government is ending subsidy payments to biofuel companies in the UK. When you consider that biofuels account for 3% of petrol and diesel in the UK the extra cost after the subsidy is ended will be passed immediately onto UK motorists.
UK drivers will again be hit in the pocket with expectations that the price of a litre of petrol will hit £1.20 over the next few weeks. A report issued by the AA has confirmed what many in the UK had feared, that a mixture of increased taxation on petrol and an increase in the wholesale cost of petrol is leading to a nightmare scenario for UK motorists. When you also consider a new increase in petrol duty will come into play on 1 April, adding three pence to the cost of a litre of fuel, the situation is becoming dire for UK motorists.
The Bank of England has this week warned UK households to expect a reduction in their standard of living in the short term. This comes amid signs that softness in the UK employment market, with concerns that unemployment has not yet peaked, could lead to pay cuts, pay freezes and below inflation rate pay increases in the short to medium term. When you also consider that the price of goods in the shops is rising faster than the average household income it is easy to see where the squeeze will come from.
Keith Owen, a former provider of free range eggs to the UK supermarket industry, has today been convicted of fraud and sentenced to jail. His crime was to sell eggs from his battery hens as free range, a fraud which took in the likes of Sainsbury's and Tesco. It is believed that the 44-year-old made profits in excess of £3 million over the two-year period in question and has been forced to surrender these proceeds to the authorities.
In line with the rest of the sector Scottish Power has today announced an 8% reduction in gas prices from the end of March. This comes at a time when the UK energy sector seems to be realigning itself after recent price reductions in the wholesale market and criticism that these reductions were not being passed on to the retail market as quickly as they could have been.
