There’s not a great deal of good news for us today – and amongst the bad bits we learn that it’s expected that more than 600,000 UK jobs could be lost during 2009.

If you’re lucky enough to keep your job, it’s probably too much to expect a rise and the British Chambers of Commerce says companies are in “survival mode”. In actual fact, many companies are putting their workers on to a shorter working week to preserve jobs and retain skills.
Looking at the rest of the news there’s “Freak Weather hits Australia”, “Meteor Strikes Across Sweden” and a second meteor strike over in the USA. Not to mention the inauguration of their new President Barack Obama- this must be doing much to raise the spirits of the USA people. A report says that around 70 per cent of them think that Obama is going to be a great president and have confidence in him to lead them out of the bad times.

Just a glimmer of ever so slightly better news, depending how you look at it – we learn that the Council Tax payers of England are facing a lower rate rise this year. Still a rise, though. The Local Government Association said that councils were doing their best to hold down tax increases at a time of economic hardship. The opposition were not too impressed and described the rise as a “kick in the teeth” for families and pensioners at this really awful time for them.