Last chance to grab tickets for the Olympics

Early next month one million people who missed out in the Olympic ballots will be given the chance to buy tickets for the Games.

According to Justin King, who is Mayor of London representative for Locog board, during the first part of the process anyone who has previously applied in the first two rounds more than a year ago and still did not get any tickets, will get first bites at  them before they go on public sale.

However, once applicants have been awarded a ticket, they will not be able to re-enter.

The sale will last for a week and seats will be available across all sports.

There are also a million football tickets and 1.5 million Paralympics tickets still unsold. Overall, there are at least 3.5 million tickets still available.

Locog has rejected claims that it had held back seats to stimulate panic-buying. In fact, the last Olympics ticket race will be happening soon as venue capacities have been finally set.

There is a chance specific sports tickets like the athletics ones will be taken by those who have priority access to the final ballot, while only less popular sports tickets will effectively be on general sale.

100 days to go

It is a gold stamp

First-class stamps will increase from 46p to 60p while second-class ones will soar by more than a third from 36p to 50p.

Royal Mail will be raising prices from April 30 in order to return the universal service to sustainability.

The government-owned postal service in fact, is under threat from 25 per cent drop in postal volumes and losses of about £1billion over the last four years. Volumes are expected to continue to fall as electronic alternatives have replaced letters both within companies and private households.

Despite the current economic climate, price increases are needed to safeguard the UK’s postal service.

Royal Mail (RM) chief executive Moya Greene said that the increase will restore RM finances and maintain the universal, six-day-a week and high-quality service.

Posting a large letter will cost 90p for first class and will go up to 69p for second class. The overall rise is the biggest since the mid-Seventies and customers are joining the queue at post offices and outlets across the country to secure a reasonable allocation of stamps before the end of the months.

However, according to the Communication Workers Union, the move comes directly from the government and is the natural progression towards full competition and privatisation.

Tube drivers welcome the Olympics

London Underground staff could make a massive income from working during the Olympic Games.

According to a senior Aslef source a driver working all the opening ceremony, all the weekend shifts and late nights could earn an extra £6,200.

The offer was made by London Underground (LU) following months of tense negotiations with the drivers’ union and terms are due to be agreed next week.

Payments include up to £1,000 for reporting for duty, £400 extra for key shifts such as the opening ceremony and up to £285 for shifts which extend beyond 1.30am.

Also the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RTM) has agreed Olympic payments of £500 for Network staff and £600 for London Overground workers. Meanwhile, more than 500 members of Docklands Light Railway (DLR) staff will get a 25% rise in the standard overtime rate during the Games.

The overall offer covers nine weeks to the end of the Paralympics and was made despite pressure for public sector pay freezes.

It shows the power transport unions have in London this summer as drivers will be required to transport most of the one million spectators travelling from and to the Olympic venues everyday.

The cost of Tube Olympic bonuses alone for all 16,000 staff on duty is expected to be about £20 million which will be paid with the taxpayer-funded £9,3billion budget for 2012.

London Ambassadors go to Wembley Stadium

Nearly 3,000 London Ambassadors have gathered at Wembley Stadium today to watch the rugby match between Saracens vs Harlequins.

The Big Team of Ambassadors got together for the first time ahead of the Olympics and enjoyed the biggest game of the English rugby union season.

A Team LA (London Ambassadors) mobile pod was parked outside the stadium from 11.30am to give Co-Ambassadors the chance to know each other.

London Ambassadors are people from all walks of life who will be acting as the face of the capital during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, providing visitors with all the information and support they need.

The Ambassadors, who will be located in 43 different areas of the capital, are characterised by different cultures, ages and professions but there is one thing they all have in common: a love for London.

Mei Suen is a business administrator who moved to London very young. She is quite enthusiastic about this once in a lifetime experience and said:

“I love London, so, being a London Ambassador means I can share that love with everyone. I grew up in the capital and I know this city really well. I am so excited about this experience and I am very proud to have the great opportunity to be the face of London”.

Many Ambassadors will be coming from all over the UK and even further in order to volunteer.

Bridget Jones, who works in marketing, will be travelling from Berkshire to London.

“Being a London Ambassador is my way to be part of the Olympics. I do not want to be sat at my desk for two weeks and let this big event pass me by. I am very excited and also glad we received both the free theatre ticket and the rugby match one. Cannot wait for July to come,” she said.

There will also be countless students volunteering to be the face of London during the Games.

Kevin Lamaro is a computer science student and also a writer from Kingston, in South West London.

“I love London, as it is so vibrant and full of energy. So many visitors from all over the world will be coming during the Games and I had applied to be an Ambassador in order to directly  experience the Olympic energy and being part of the most fantastic event ever,” he said.

The 3,000 London Ambassadors who have attended the Saracens vs Harlequins match today were just part of a bigger crowd of 83,761, a world record for a club rugby match.

However, most Ambassadors were disappointed with the fact that Mr Boris Johnson could not take part in the event as scheduled.

A loan may be needed to pay for our commuting

British households spend 14 per cent of their income on transport.

According to the RAC Foundation, in fact, 21million households spend more than 10 per cent of their income on private and public transport for their commuting and have no option other than to go to work.

It has been calculated that while the lowest-earning households pay out 9 per cent, the highest-earning spend a total of 15.5 per cent.

Keeping a car on the road is highly expensive and the director of the RAC Foundation Prof Glaister urged chancellor George Osborne to help motorists by reviewing the rate of the fuel duty of the next UK budget tomorrow, March 21, 2012.

Meanwhile train commuters are worried for their future as transport secretary Justine Greening is planning to extend peak hours and introduce ‘super-peak’ rates at the busiest times.

The RTM Union called the plan ‘a recipe for exploitation’ that would ‘rob passengers blind’.

Without a doubt, transport is currently the single biggest expense for the average household in UK.

Find a job out of London

According to new figures unemployment in London has risen at twice the national average over the past 12 months to more than 10 per cent.

In fact the capital was hit hard with 11,000 more unemployed, taking its jobless figure to 433,000.

Worst hit are the IT and finance with new permanent vacancies down by nearly 50 per cent year-on-year and the impact of cuts on the public sector also deepened.

According to the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo) the sharp fall in City recruitment has fed an increase in those working as interim managers or on contract. There are also portfolios executives who meet short-term need for staff so that a permanent vacancy does not need to be filled.

Overall the UK unemployment stuck at 17-year high as 8.4 per cent of people are still out of job. Even the number of unemployed young people has not changed.

According to employment Minister Chris Grayling the figures showed that the labour market is stabilising.

However, there is still a big challenge ahead and most of the new jobs being created recently are part-time.

First-time home buyers must be aware of the new Government plan

First-time home buyers could afford to clamber on to the property ladder by owing a deposit as low as 5 per cent rather than the 20 per cent typically demanded by lenders since the credit crunch.

The New Buy Guarantee is the latest Government backed plan to tackle the worst housing crisis in a generation and boost demand for newly built homes.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the scheme on Monday and declared that it will help up to 100,000 first-time buyers achieve their dream.

Security for the deal will be provided by the Government through a 5.5 per cent guarantee and by the developers. They will put 3.5 per cent of the purchase price into an indemnity fund for each property sold and those involved so far include Barratt, Bellway, Bovis, Linden Homes, Persimmon, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey.

With this kind of security in place lenders have declared to be ready to start offering 95 per cent deposit. In fact, even if property prices fall and the borrower falls into negative equity and defaults, they will still be able to get their money back. Barclays, Nationwide Building Society and Nat West Home have already signed up.

Council of Mortgage lenders director general Paul Smee said that New Buy Guarantee will contribute to both housing supply and to economic growth in the UK.

However critics warned that a combination of 95 per cent mortgages and a significant rise in interest rates could lead to homebuyers being unable to pay back their loans.