Stockport County recorded their first win at home in the current Football League 1 season. Gary Ablett watched his side dominate the first half against Leyton Orient from the stands, thanks to a touchline ban. The Hatters missed a host of half chances and ended up going into halftime goalless. The game really came to life in the second half with a sweet finish from Nicholas Bignall, only four minutes into the final half. County added another from Greg Tansey 12 minutes from time and looked to be cruising to a first clean sheet at home, as well as a win, but Mkandwire of the Orient had other ideas and slotted home with three minutes to go ensuring a nervous end to a well deserved county win.
Stockport win at home
September 21st, 2009Stockport MP abuses expenses
June 15th, 2009Andrew Stunell (MP for Hazel Grove) is the latest MP to have been caught out in the expenses saga. Stockport Express requested access to the MP’s last 3 years receipts. They discovered he had put all sorts on his expenses including £5,500 for double glazing his flat in London. He also furnished his flat with items from John Lewis including some £30 pillows!
Local Taxpayers pay £5545 for MP’s windows
June 11th, 2009Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell said the £5,545 work had to be done as part of the lease conditions on the London flat which he owns.
Other claims included a £450 beige sofa bed, £377 for a washing machine and £30 pillows all for his flat – and all from John Lewis.
In his defence he claims “I decided I would go for a furnished flat,” he explained. “That’s why mine is a little more expensive than other people’s!”
Hilton in Stockport?
June 2nd, 2009Stockport county have given the Hilton planning permission to build another multi-million pound hotel. This will add to the rather large one in the centre of Manchester, allowing Hilton to boast some of the most spectacular buildings in the area. The Government were required to give the final go-ahead, due to the fact it will be built on land designated for industrial use. Fortunately for the Hilton and Stockport Council the Government obliged, letting the (supposed) £38 million project commence.
Stockport fall into Administration
May 19th, 2009Stockport County have recently entered administration. They have failed to come up with the estimated £250,000 bill from the Inland Revenue and are believed to owe £300,000 to another creditor.
The penalty for not paying up is a 10 point deduction, but fortunately for ‘The Hatters’ this still leaves them safe in the league. They will surely lose out on some money from this 10 point deduction, however they live to fight another day in League 1.
Credit Crunch hits PPC
May 6th, 2009In the first quarter of the year Yahoo missed it’s earning expectations. It wasn’t by a massive margin, but Yahoo had shed 1,500 of it’s workforce at the end of 2008. Yahoo’s profits were down by 78% on last years figure of $1.16 billion. The future isn’t looking brilliant for Yahoo although they are reportedly in talks with Microsoft about making a partnership, which will use Yahoo’s 20% and Microsoft’s 8% market share to compete with market leaders Google’s almost two third share.
However it isn’t just Yahoo that are showing a decrease, Google reported it’s first sales drop in the first quarter of this year. Rather than standing still and waiting for the economy to pick up companies are working hard to make themselves more appealing in this market.
Yahoo have announced they intend to let 5% of their workforce go. They are also working on globalizing its platform to react quicker, building ‘wow’ products on top of that platform and continuing to invest in new advertising products.
Brand New Product!!!!
April 2nd, 2009Seven Communications Ltd, the Stockport-based web developers, have launched a new service particularly aimed at businesses who want to grow their online marketing in 2009 without the need for major investment. In what is probably the first ‘turnkey’ web solution, Seven are providing everything needed to start, or boost, a clients online presence. Included is hosting, email accounts, bespoke web design, content management and SEO.
Says Steve Bower, Managing Director: “We recognise that for many clients the 2 main obstacles to a successful website are the initial investment, and the preparation of content. I believe that they need to be able to focus on their own business and its needs, not deal with a big problem that is not their field of expertise, so we think that we should just take this problem away. We will bespoke design a site, provide hosting, register a domain if required, provide email addresses, register with Google and, to get the site online as quickly as possible, copywrite the pages too if it helps. The best part of the site is that the client can login and edit the text, create pages, and upload changes themselves whenever they want.
Many extras are possible – blogs, search engine optimisation, email newsletters etc, – but we would want to get the site online as quickly as possible first. We can EVEN make it an e-commerce site within the price, for a limited range of products. If the client wants us to handle regular edits, then we can include that too.
The idea is that we create a site that looks great, quickly, so that they have an opportunity to tweak the content afterwards. Its so much easier to edit someone’s work than to create from scratch, yes?”
For a limited time, Seven are offering the package at a starting price of £70/month +VAT to Chamber Members (£99/month to non-members).
For further information, contact Seven Communications on 0161 429 5700, email steve@7comms.co.uk or www.7comms.co.uk
How expensive to live in the UK?
March 15th, 2009SINGAPORE: Singapore is one of the most expensive cities in the world, according to the latest survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which shows the city-state moving up five positions to 10th place.
This means Singapore is now Asia’s third most expensive city to live in.
Claiming the top seat worldwide is Tokyo, followed by Osaka – no thanks to the stronger yen.
But Asia is also home to the least expensive cities, with Manila and Mumbai near the bottom of the list.
Others include New Delhi and Kathmandu.
The Economist says the relative cost of living depends on two factors – local prices and exchange rates.
And the global economic crisis has also led to some dramatic results.
Iceland’s Reykjavik was the fifth most expensive city last year.
Now, using February exchange rates, it has fallen to 67th place.
- CNA/yt
Costliest cities: Singapore’s ranking up
London, European cities relatively cheaper as pound and euro plunge
Robin Chan, Straits Times 11 Mar 09;
DRAMATIC shifts in currency values have propelled Singapore towards the top of a survey of the world’s most expensive cities.
The Republic leapt five places to 10th costliest city in the world in just six months, as European cities like Brussels and Dublin have become relatively cheaper places following the euro’s plunge in value, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of 140 cities.
London fell from 8th to an incredible 27th on the list – reflecting the near 30 per cent depreciation of the British pound against the dollar over a half-year period.
Report editor Jon Copestak said: ‘Two factors drive the relative cost of living – local prices and exchange rates.
‘Normally our ranking of cities by cost of living is relatively stable, but in the current global climate, changes in exchange rates have significantly altered our assessment of the most and least expensive cities.’
The survey, which updates EIU’s findings last September with the exchange rates that applied last month, now ranks Tokyo and Osaka as the most expensive cities in the world.
The euro and pound weakened dramatically during the interim as the financial crisis gained momentum, with markets witnessing a flight to perceived safe haven currencies such as the yen and the US dollar.
A stronger US dollar helped push Hong Kong – whose currency is pegged to the dollar – 17 places higher up to 11th, just behind Singapore.
The cost of living in Chinese cities like Shanghai, where the yuan is pegged to the dollar, rose steeply relative to cities in other countries.
The EIU’s index, which measures the prices of 160 products and services such as food, clothing and utilities, but does not include commercial or residential rent, is designed to help companies calculate the pay packages they give to their expatriate employees.
Economists here caution that the survey’s findings should be viewed in context, and were more a reflection of sharp exchange rate movements than actual changes in living costs.
‘The euro has weakened because of the stress that European countries have come under due to the slowdown – but this is not going to persist,’ said OCBC economist Emmanuel Ng.
‘Over the next three to six months, we should see a fair chance of the major currencies being vulnerable to the dollar. But, once the mess clears and we actually see the bottom, the risk appetite will come back. There will be an interest to shift funds into other currencies to the US dollar’s disadvantage.’
Mr Ng predicted that Singapore will fall back down the rankings as the euro strengthens and consumer prices continue to drop in Singapore relative to other countries.
Inflation here has plunged as oil and food prices have become cheaper. The Consumer Price Index slowed to just a 2.9 per cent gain in January over the same month a year ago. It jumped 4.3 per cent in December.
Costs of living are of increasing concern to businesses, which are keen to prune costs in the light of the economic downturn.
Said the American Chamber of Commerce’s executive director Laura Deal: ‘With the current economic environment and the challenges ahead, companies are looking at their budgets with different perspectives, and are trying to cut costs wherever they can.
‘This could include moving expats to countries where costs of living are lower.’
Printing Money and Deflation
March 14th, 2009
Since the Bank of England’s recent announcement about increasing the money supply, there has been much interest in the impact ofQuantitative Easing - increasing the money supply by the Bank of England effectively creating money.
Many have linked to a post where I explain how printing money can lead to hyperinflation.
However, this is only half the story. In normal times, printing money faster than growth of Real Output does cause inflation (and indeed could cause hyperinflation). But, these are not normal times.
This recession is very deep, therefore, people are holding onto their money and not spending, meaning increasing the monetary base may be necessary simply to avoid deflation.
In more economic terms, the velocity of circulation is falling; this means in the short term at least, an increase in the money supply does not cause inflation. For more details see: Link between money supply and inflation. This is why the US has experienced very low inflation, despite a dramatic increase in the money supply.
- This is a post from December 2008 about US money supply growth and lack of inflation
The problem may occur when velocity of circulation starts to rise as the economy recovers. If there is difficulty in removing excess liquidity we may well get inflation. But, I feel we have to deal with problems in order of priority.
The most pressing and dangerous problem is threat of deflation and the plunge in real output. This is first thing we have to deal with. The prospect of future inflation should not be ignored, but, we can’t give priority to inflationary problems in the midst of a depression, with falling output and rising spare capacity.
- To avoid quantitive easing because we might get inflation in one years time, is like not putting a jumper on at night because next morning it will become hot. The point is you put on the jumper because it is cold, but when it gets hot you take it off again (well, that’s my attempt at an analogy anyway…)
A further complication is the extent to which an increase in the money supply actually increases the money supply. (Basically, it depends on banks willingness to lend and any money multiplier effect).
Sea level could rise more than a metre by 2100
March 12th, 2009
Global sea levels could rise much higher this century than previously projected, raising the threat level for millions of people who live in low-lying areas, new research suggests.
Scientists at a climate change summit in Copenhagen say changes in the polar ice sheets could raise sea levels by a metre or more by 2100. The implications could be severe, they warn. Ten per cent of the world’s population – about 600 million people – live in vulnerable areas.
The new estimate appears to significantly worsen the predictions of a report in 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which said sea level could rise by up to 59cm this century. The IPCC report also said higher increases could not be ruled out, but that not enough was known about ice sheets to predict how quickly they could break up as temperatures increased.
Prof Konrad Steffen, of the University of Colorado, said new studies of ice loss in Greenland showed it had accelerated over the last decade.
“I would predict sea level rise by 2100 in the order of 1m,” he said. “It could be 1.2m or 0.9m, but it is 1m or more seeing the current change, which is up to three times more than the average predicted by the IPCC. It is a major change and it actually calls for action.”
Dr John Church, of the Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research in Tasmania, said: “The most recent satellite and ground based observations show that sea-level rise is continuing to rise at 3mm per year or more since 1993, a rate well above the 20th-century average. The oceans are continuing to warm and expand, the melting of mountain glaciers has increased and the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica are also contributing to sea level rise.”
Prof Eric Rignot, a senior research scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said new studies since the IPCC report showed that melting and ice loss could not be overlooked. “As a result of the acceleration of outlet glaciers over large regions, the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are already contributing more and faster to sea level rise than anticipated.”
Prof Stefan Ramstorf, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany said: “Based on past experience, I expect that sea level rise will accelerate as the planet gets hotter.”
The IPCC estimate had been based largely on the expansion of oceans from higher temperatures, rather than meltwater and the impact of glaciers breaking into the sea.
Ramstorf said research indicated sea levels rising between 75cm and 190cm by 2100. Even if the world manages to cut the emission of greenhouse gases driving global warming, the “best estimate” was about 1m, he added.
Steffen said: “Different groups may come to slightly different projections, but differences in the details of the projections should not cloud the overall picture where even the lower end of the projections look to have very serious effects.”
John Ashton, the special representative for climate change at the Foreign Office, said: “We need to look at what is a reasonable worst case in the lifetime of people alive today.”
More than 2,000 researchers from 80 countries are attending the conference, which is intended to spur politicians into taking action on global warming.
“The huge response from scientists comes from a sense of urgency, but also a sense of frustration,” said Katherine Richardson, head of the Danish government’s commission on climate change colicy, which organised the conference. “Most of us have been trained as scientists to not get our hands dirty by talking to politicians.”
She said the IPCC report from 2007 was an “invaluable document”, but it would be years out of date when negotiators convene in Copenhagen in December to try to agree a new global deal to regulate carbon emissions.
