Valentine’s Day has been dubbed a waste of money with novelty mugs and cheap underwear amongst the worst presents.
More than half of the 2,015 adults polled, said their partner should make more effort, rather than splurge on presents they don’t even want.
Respondents reported the rubbish gifts they had received included ‘wrong’ perfume, socks, candles and even, a car mat.
But while most said the day of lovers is a waste of time, one in three said they’d be gutted if their better half did nothing to celebrate.
Travel together
The research by Railcard.co.uk, found that one in five said a trip away would be the best romantic gesture with the Lake District top destination in the UK.
Relationship expert and coach, Sarah Louise Ryan, said: “Couples who travel together often end up more fulfilled and happier in their relationship.
“There are many reasons for this; inclusive of the fact it encourages communication and can deepen feelings of commitment as they plan their trips ahead of time, looking towards the future.
“Travel allows more opportunities for romance and time outside of the day-to-day routine, meaning romantic sparks can be reignited.
“Where flowers and chocolates can play a part, this Valentine’s Day I’d encourage all couples to carve out some time to book and experience a romantic getaway, whether for a day trip or a long weekend.”
The study also found 36% had considered a trip together as a way to rekindle a floundering relationship.
If you thought you saw a three-metre tall ‘Morph’ of Tony Hart fame this morning, your eyes weren’t deceiving you.
The beloved squawking’ 70’s character could be seen by commuters on Tower Bridge today, while those on Southbank were treated to a rather large illuminated ‘Miffy’.
In Shoreditch, workers were trying to work out where Wally was in the most randomly huge puzzle.
Sky Kids was behind the plans, to celebrate the launch of its 24-hour channel for youngster sunder seven.
Most loved characters
The broadcaster also conducted a survey of 2,000 adults which found Morph was third most loved British children’s TV characters. He narrowly missed out on top spot to Basil Brush and gold place, Sooty and Sweep.
Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear also made the top five.
Blasts from the past
When thinking about their favourite characters, 55 per cent said they fell in love with these characters as they made them laugh, and 46 per cent felt they were always there to boost their mood.
Many of those surveyed owned t-shirts (39 per cent), action figures (38 per cent) and lunchboxes (37 per cent) based on them as kids.
Passing on through families
In fact, of those polled who have kids, 57 per cent have shown their little ones episodes with their characters – and 54 per cent said their children enjoyed it.
A Sky Kids spokesperson said: “What better way to mark the occasion than by bringing some of the most iconic characters to life.
“We know when you fall in love with a show when you’re little, it quickly becomes part of everyday family life.
“We’re excited to have shows that span important themes including emotional resilience, positive well-being, saving the planet and so much more
“It will provide children and families alike with content that both inspires and entertains at all times of the day – as well as introducing new faces that will soon be loved just as much.”
Commuting is set to be that bit easier with the announcement that contactless payments are to be extended in the South East.
Today Mark Harper, transport secretary, will also announce plans to expand single leg pricing across the entire London North Eastern Railway (LNER) network.
Since the use of contactless payments for travel was introduced in London nine years ago, they now pay for more than 60 million journeys each month.
But lots of rail passengers travelling in and out of London from the South East still need railcards or paper tickets to ride.
Mr Harper is expected to confirm how the pay-as-you-go will be expanded across the South East.
He is also to announce a plan whereby the price paid by passengers will be determined by how many seats have been filled on a train.
His plans to extend single leg pricing across the entire LNER network, which runs between London King’s Cross and Scotland via the East Coast Main Line, will also be discussed.
That means a single fare will always be half the cost of a return.
Some single fares currently cost less than a return.
UK charity, The Teaching Awards Trust, is calling for the local community to nominate school staff in London for a prestigious national teaching award, televised by BBC One’s The One Show.
With the 2023 Awards now open for entry, it’s the perfect time to recognise those unsung teaching heroes in London and surprise them live on TV. Entries will be judged by a panel including The One Show host, Alex Jones.
Last year, Kensington Headteacher Andrew O’Neill, was surprised in a school assembly by TV presenter Matt Allwright, who presented him with his award. Andrew Sanders of Moorcroft, in Bramble Close – an outstanding school for students with severe learning difficulties – won Gold in the ‘Award for Excellence in Special Needs Education’ category for being “so much more than a headteacher.”
Andrew said:
“This award is so important to me because I have a real passion for supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to reach their potential. This is wonderful recognition of the work that we do.
I love seeing the teachers I work with grow and develop. That’s why it’s so wonderful to see so many teachers getting the recognition they deserve as part of these fantastic awards.”
The Unsung Hero award spotlights everyday heroes working in establishments providing full-time education to children aged 3-18. And it’s not just for teachers.
You can nominate any member of staff, including office staff, caretakers, lab technicians and all support staff. It gives them some of the recognition they deserve for all their hard work.
Silver winners enjoy a celebratory afternoon tea reception in July, followed by the annual awards ceremony in November for both Silver and Gold winners.
As well as attending the ceremony at a London venue, winners get an overnight stay in a top London hotel, and a trophy to recognise their contribution to a profession that changes lives.
Winning Gold last year in the ‘Headteacher of the Year in a Secondary School’ category for his leadership at All Saints Catholic College, Mr O’Neill said:
“When I saw Matt Allwright on stage in assembly to present me with my award, I couldn’t believe it. I’m delighted and humbled by the whole experience. There are so many headteachers doing an amazing job and I feel very lucky to have won.
“What we have achieved in the last six years has been the most remarkable team effort. My talented senior leadership team and staff have proven again and again they can rise to any challenge. So this truly feels like an award for everybody.”
Now the Pearson National Teaching Awards is calling for entries in London for the 2023 awards.
With over 3000 schools and colleges in London alone, there must be plenty of unsung teaching heroes out there who deserve a bit of recognition.
If you know a teacher or anyone who works in your local nursery, school or college that deserves an award then don’t miss this opportunity!
Sir Michael Morpurgo, celebrated author and former Children’s laureate, and President of the Teaching Awards Trust, said:
People of all ages will always remember that amazing teacher who made such a difference in their lives, whether that’s igniting a fire for their favourite subject or the support they’re received outside the classroom. Teachers and school staff will never know how many lives they have changed, or the impact they have made on so many children and their families, but our hope is that these awards help show them our gratitude, how much we owe them, how much we value their dedication.”
Ongoing pressure on household incomes is leading to a much slower housing market, according to Halifax.
The lender’s new stats show that house price growth dipped to 1.9% in January, from 2.1% in December, marking the lowest rate since October 2019.
And the trend is set to continue this year as higher interest rates lead to reduce demand for people to buy houses.
Those in South West England saw annual house price growth slow right down to 2.7% compared to 6.0% in December.
In London, house prices fell from £541,000 to £530,000 in January, with annual house price inflation at 0% compared to 2.9 per cent in December.
The average house price is now £281,684.
The housing market has slowed across all nations and regions and is expected to slow further this year, and many forecasters expecting price falls of up to 20%. Halifax predicts a drop of 8% this year.
Director of Halifax Mortgages, Kim Kinnaird, said: “We expected that the squeeze on household incomes from the rising cost of living and higher interest rates would lead to a slower housing market, particularly compared to the rapid growth of recent years.
“As we move through 2023, that trend is likely to continue as higher borrowing costs lead to reduced demand.
She said that lower prices could make it more affordable for people to get on the housing ladder as the year went on.
“For those looking to get on or up the housing ladder, confidence may improve beyond the near term. Lower house prices and the potential for interest rates to peak below the level being anticipated last year should lead to an improvement in home buying affordability over time.”
New figures show two in three small business owners have implemented cost-saving methods in a bid to reduce energy-usage.
The study by Smart Energy GB found that 500 respondents had made an average of six changes at work.
A third of bosses said they had encouraged staff to adopt more energy-friendly behaviours, 20 per cent had gone paperless, while 29 per cent had turned their boiler temperature down.
A quarter (26 per cent) have turned off radiators in some rooms, while 24 per cent have lowered their thermostat.
More popular ways of reducing energy costs among those surveyed included not printing, only running the dishwasher when full and working from home where possible.
Furthermore, 19 per cent are reducing their opening hours and 33 per cent are ‘very likely’ to consider actively moving premises.
Smart Energy GB director Victoria Bacon said: “As business owners continue to reduce their energy usage wherever possible, actions such as changing to LED lightbulbs and turning off the lights when rooms are not being used are now increasingly commonplace.”
Considering a budget
The research went on to reveal that investment in new technology, such as accounting software, had helped almost nine in ten businesses.
Nearly a third say they would think about energy efficiency credentials more than ever when upgrading equipment, with 51 per cent also buying more ‘smart’ appliances.
Almost three in ten (29 per cent) check their energy usage at least once a day, with just under a third (32 per cent) checking several times each week.
Of those surveyed, 58 per cent admit they’re still not sure of the most efficient ways to cut costs in their business, with 35 per cent saying there isn’t enough information available.
Nearly four in 10 (39 per cent) use so much equipment that it’s hard to keep track of energy use, while 34 per cent can’t afford to upgrade their gear.
But 72 per cent said if they cut back on their costs any further, their businesses wouldn’t function well.
Smart meters
Victoria Bacon from Smart Energy GB added: “A smart meter measures energy usage in near-real time, providing accurate bills.
“This means businesses only pay for the energy they actually use, which can help business owners to manage their cashflow and budgets.”
Two thirds of small business owners have adopted more cost saving working practices over the last 12 months to reduce their energy usage.”
Limassol, Cyprus – Your Bourse has added two new features to its premier execution engine and risk management platform, named floating leverage and floating commissions.
These new features will increase the flexibility brokers have in their trading conditions and decrease the market risk they face.
Floating leverage allows brokers to change the leverage offered to their clients dynamically. The feature allows for greater flexibility in terms of the trade conditions provided as it can also be to change the leverage before market close/open, as well as during the news events; this means that brokers can respond quickly to market changes and adjust their leverage automatically based on the predefined rules.
Floating commissions, on the other hand, give brokers the ability to adjust their commission rates on a trade-by-trade or client-by-client basis in real-time. Depending on their business model, retail and institutional brokers can use this feature. This feature is accessible on the MT4 bridge.
These features are easy to use and are available to all clients already using Your Bourse, as well as in the form of standalone plug-ins. They can be accessed and configured via the cloud portal.
In a statement by Andrey Vedikhin, CEO of Your Bourse, “We are always looking for ways to improve our platform and offer our clients the tools to grow their business and improve the trading experience for their clients. The introduction of floating leverage and floating commissions provides both.”
About the company:
Your Bourse offers software solutions for retail and institutional MT4/MT5 brokers. Including MT5 gateway & MT4 bridge, multi-asset liquidity aggregation, risk management, client profiling, real-time and historical reporting, MT4/MT5 hosting in all Equinix data centers with 99.999% SLA, plugins for MT4 & MT5 and FIX API connections for the B2B clients. Visit https://www.yourbourse.com for more information.
Contact: George Jubran, Your Bourse [email protected] +35799629961 Cyprus Office: 2nd Floor, Thalia 3, Office Number 212, Limassol 3011, Cyprus
Shoppers are urged to change their trolley habits as food bills rocket by almost £800 a year.
Families are already feeling the pinch with the cost of living crisis and surging energy payments, and now face the biggest shopping bills since 2008 when records began – having to find on average, an extra £788 for food each year.
Data group Kantar shows grocery inflation is running at 16.7 per cent – that’s a monthly jump of 2.3 percentage points and a figure in excess of the official CPI rate of inflation of 10.5 per cent.
Recession likely
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently warned that Britain would be likely to fall into recession this year as it battles higher taxes, interest rates and energy bills.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Late last year we saw the rate of grocery price inflation dip slightly but that small sign of relief for consumers has been short-lived. Households will now face an extra £788 on their annual shopping bills if they don’t change their behaviour to cut costs.
“Across the market the move is towards everyday low pricing, with many supermarkets offering price matching and using their loyalty schemes to help shoppers save.”
The IMF said Britain’s economy would contract by 0.6 per cent this year — a near full percentage point downgrade on its last forecast in October — and a stark contrast with other G7 economies such as the United States, Japan and France which are all set to grow.
Even Russia, which has been hit by Western sanctions following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, is set to increase GDP by 0.3 per cent after a contraction of 2.2 per cent last year.
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Amid the latest gloomy forecasts, government minister Richard Holden, insisted that the IMF had been “wrong” before. He told Times Radio: “They’ve been wrong in the last two years, the OECD were also wrong over the last two years. I think Britain can beat those predictions.” He added on GB News: “I’m not saying there aren’t headwinds, internationally, there certainly are, but I think Britain can outperform just like we have done and beat these forecasts just like we have done over the last couple of years.”
But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves tweeted: “This points to difficult times for our economy. Britain has so much potential. But we’re being held back and lagging behind.”
Although the IMF said the UK is likely to bounce back with growth of 0.9 per cent in 2024, it painted a dark picture for the rest of this year contrasting it with the better than expected performance of other advanced economies.
The IMF said: “Growth in the United Kingdom is projected to be –0.6 per cent in 2023, a 0.9 percentage point downward revision from October, reflecting tighter fiscal and monetary policies and financial conditions and still-high energy retail prices weighing on household budgets.”
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, director of research at the IMF, said the global outlook was “less gloomy” than its October forecasts, adding it “could represent a turning point, with growth bottoming out and inflation declining”. But, he warned that Britain was set to face a “sharp correction”this year.
Three years on from the UK’s departure from the European Union, Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said the country was being held back by the “continuing challenges from Brexit”. He told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are a few things which are affecting us more than other countries. One in particular, actually is the loss of people from our labour force… we’ve lost half a million plus people from work — people retiring early, immigrants not coming in from the European Union and so on.
“That’s not affecting any other country in Europe. So that’s a particular challenge for us. Higher interest rates are feeding very quickly through to mortgages in the UK and we’ve got, of course, the continuing challenges from Brexit.”
Meanwhile, Tesco on Tuesday announced a wide-ranging overhaul of its stores which will impact around 2,100 jobs. The supermarket chain said it will extend changes to store management roles, shut remaining counters and hot delis and shut a number of in-store pharmacies as part of the shake-up.
The Kantar research found shoppers have been switching away from branded products and opting for supermarkets’ own-brand equivalents to save money. Sales of own-label products have risen 47 per cent over the last year, according to the figures. However, consumer spending on promotions, such as two-for-ones, is at a record low, accounting for just 23 per cent of spending in the four week period studied by the market research firm.
While the grocery sector is “incredibly competitive”, Kantar’s Mr McKevitt told the BBC that food “is not something we can choose whether we buy or not”. He added that people have been cutting back on streaming services — “that’s something people can choose to cut back on, but if you need to feed yourself, feed your family, you’re going to have to go to the shops”,
The research found that Aldi was the fastest-growing grocer for the fourth month in a row, with sales up 26.9 per cent year-on-year and now holding 9.2 per cent of the market. Lidl’s sales jumped by 24.1 per cent to give it a 7.1 per cent market share. Tesco remains the largest retailer with a 27.5 per cent share while Asda holds 14.2 per cent.MORE ABOUTKANTARIMFECONOMY
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Ambulance staff from five services will strike on February 10, in new strike action by Unison.
Ongoing disputes over pay and staff are yet to go resolved, resulting in walkouts for workers in London, the South West, Yorkshire, the North East and the North West.
There will be NHS strikes every day next week except Wednesday.
Unison urged the government to stop “pretending the strikes will simply go away” and act now to end the dispute by boosting pay packets.
Calls for “actual talks”
The union also said that unless the government agrees to “actual talks”, it could announce more walkouts in March.
The latest strike announcement comes as ministers are braced for the biggest day of industrial action in over a decade on Wednesday, February 1 when teachers, university lecturers, train drivers, civil servants, bus drivers and security guards all stop work.
Staffing emergency
Unison’s head of health Sara Gorton said: “Ministers must stop fobbing the public off with promises of a better NHS, while not lifting a finger to solve the staffing emergency staring them in the face.
“The government must stop playing games. Rishi Sunak wants the public to believe ministers are doing all they can to resolve the dispute.
“There are no pay talks, and the Prime Minister must stop trying to hoodwink the public. It’s time for some honesty. Ministers are doing precisely nothing to end the dispute.”
Deeply concerning
Downing Street said the latest strike announcement by ambulance workers is “deeply concerning”.
“We are putting in place significant mitigations that have previously helped reduce some of the impact from these strikes,” the PM’s official spokesperson said.
“But first and foremost we would ask the unions to reconsider that approach and continue discussions.”
