Cost of living unprecedented increase

According to a study called Squeezed Britain commissioned by the independent think-tank the Resolution Foundation, middle income households will have to wait until 2020 to return to pre-recession living standards.

Rising bills and pay freezes mean the living standards of UK workers have fallen by up to 28% over the past four years.

The 5.8 million low to middle income households earning no more than £22,000 a year are currently struggling to pay essential bills and cannot afford many pleasures. In fact almost half of them have declared they have no enough money to go on holiday, enjoy night life and buy clothing and shoes.

According to the Resolution Foundation study, these families also face a 22-year wait to raise the deposit for their first home, while those owning their own home in the under 35 bracket have fallen from 51 per cent to 34 per cent over the past six years.

This scenario will be outweighed by further government deep cuts to tax credits due this  April.

West End welcomes parking fee victory

Plans to make drivers pay for evening and weekend parking in central London have been scrapped for good.

Night workers, high-street business leaders, residents and Government ministers united in celebration after Westminster council leader Colin Barrow announced the parking charge scheme has been shelved.

The council’s final decision comes just five weeks after a High Court challenge which had initially delayed the parking rules until after the Games and brings to an end one of the most divisive rows in the recent history of London local Government.

A coalition of businesses, workers and residents had condemned the measure among fears it could have hit the central London economy. In fact, Mr Barrow wanted to abolish free parking on single yellow lines and parking bays after 6.30pm during the week and between 1pm and 6pm on Sundays.

An official commission will be now set up to establish measures to combat congestion in central London, while not damaging businesses.

Bad news about unemployment

Today UK unemployment reached another new high, raising fears that the economy is already back in recession.
 
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the jobless total across the country reached a 17-year high as it rose by 118,000 to 2.68 million in the last three months, giving the UK a jobless rate of 8.4 per cent.

Also youth unemployment hit a record as the number of jobless increased by 52,000 to 1.04 million, the highest since records began in 1992.

British economy has not being growing for a year and is not moving forward.

Those who are lucky enough to get a job are often forced to take temporary or part-time positions as there is not enough growth in the labour market to absorb the numbers being laid off during the last three years.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne declared in November that far more jobs will be lost from central and local government than previously admitted and economists fear that the present economic climate could send unemployment soaring to 3 million by 2013.

Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB-British General Union said: “This rise in unemployment was made in Downing Street. The truth is that jobs are haemorrhaging in the public and private sectors and no one in the Government seems to know what to do to stop this.”

Up and down the UK in no time

High Speed trains travelling at more than 200mph will connect London to Birmingham by 2026 and to other British cities and towns by 2033.

Today transport secretary Justine Greening gave the official authorisation to the first phase of the controversial High Speed 2 (HS2) rail scheme, amid disapproval from Tory MPs and local residents in Chilterns, where houses could suffer from noise or be demolished.

Ms Greening said that the over £32 million railway project will benefit the whole country as it is going to support jobs and prosperity in the future by creating both thousands of jobs and more space on existing routes.

HS2 was first put forward by Labour in 2010 and has been supported by the coalition Government, the rail industry and big businesses since then.

The High Speed train will travel at 225mph from 20126, slashing the journey time from London to Birmingham to 49 minutes and it will have stations in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and the east Midlands.

About 36Km of the route’s first phase will run through tunnels meant to connect London to Birmingham, while a second phase would see HS2 continuing on a Y-shaped route up to Leeds and Manchester. Services will also reach Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh by 2033 and double-decker trains will be introduced, eventually. 

HS2 trains will carry more than 25,000 people per hour.

Happy New Year!

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I wish you all a prosperous and blissful 2012!

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