Latest figures show that the tax revenue from January’s “big reckoning” is down.

We are told that data shows that “The recession led to a £7bn fall in the amount of tax paid by individuals and businesses in January.”

Public finances are typically boosted by annual tax receipts in January, but these have fallen as unemployment rises and company profits decline.
It’s true that annual tax receipts in January generally boost the public finances, but the fact that these have fallen is nothing to do with the very recent bad news on the financial front. In actual fact the money received by the taxman in January 2009 is from more than 9 months ago and for the tax year April 2007/8. In actual fact this is before anyone admitted to a recession.

Can you even imagine what they’re going to be like NEXT January?

Results of a poll of more than 1,400 people, on behalf of personal finance pfeg, show that British children are more financially aware than their parents were at their age.

It showed that even 10 year olds were using their parent’s debit or credit cards to make purchases on-line. The average age for owning their first mobile phone is just eight and their weekly pocket money now averages 6 pounds and 32 pence.
Contrast this to their parents, who received the equivalent of 3 pounds and 77 pence, but weren’t expected to help out with household chores until they were ten or older.

It seems that today’s youngsters are realising a few facts about the value of money, with seven year olds offering to carry out chores to earn pocket money.

They’re fully conversant with the internet and two out of five children between the ages of seven and 15 were likely to use it to buy computer games, music or books. 40 per cent had bought games and ringtones for their mobiles.

The online survey, carried out by Populus in January, involved 1,435 people, including 546 children aged seven to 15, 676 parents and 759 grandparents in England, Wales and Scotland.

It seems that making financial decisions helps some children to feel more in control of their lives and it’s felt that this will help them to be more responsible with their money and better at managing their finances as they reach the age where it matters and before they get credit cards of their own.

I spent most of last Sunday at a horse jumping competition, as is often the case since my niece took up horse-riding. For “niece” read “the whole family” as everyone tends to get roped in. The first event started at something like 8.30 and luckily she wasn’t in the first couple of them, so we arrived at around 10am and even had time for bacon butties in the horsebox whilst she warmed up her pony.

The show was aimed at youngsters and far from being the children of the wealthy, which many people expect, they’re offspring of hard working parents, keen to see their children do well in their chosen hobby. They’re well turned out (ponies and riders, that is) and arrive in an assortment of horse boxes and trailers – some of them quite smart, some looking decidedly on their last legs but they must have an MOT and the associated costs – or whatever the equivalent is in horse boxes.

Talking amongst the parents, many of them are finding it a real struggle at present to keep up with stabling and feeding costs and the sheer expense of everything horse-related but they’re a friendly bunch and it’s good to see children who are keen to do well and who behave like kids should. Friendly competition (usually), a few tears, lots of encouragement. They learn to mix with and support other riders and care for their animals.

Lots of the Mums are doing two or more jobs to support the hobby and there’s quite a lot of make-do-and-mend with all the gear. With the effect of the credit crunch, it’s very likely there won’t be so many of them at the next event – there are a record number of ponies and gear up for sale. We’d not been to this particular venue for a few months and the tack shop has closed already. The café has been scaled down – but many families take food with them and eat in the horse boxes anyway.

My thoughts turned to the insurance issue, as it tends to. The horses and riders are insured – they have to be, to enter the events. All the boxes are insured and obviously the venue is – that’s a lot of money laid out for just one Sunday event out of hundreds going on throughout the UK. No wonder lots of these shows have been sponsored in the past by insurance companies.

The credit crunch is producing losses for everyone. For these lucky kids, for family life and for the insurance industry.

But how did she do? Two events, two refusals and one jump down. Still, you can’t win ‘em all. Jess had a good day.

The sun’s shining today. The cold snap may have come to an end. There are signs of life in the garden. Could we forget Lloyds, HSBC and bankers bonus questions for a while and look back at how things used to be?

There seems to be some better news and the hint of hope that the property market is improving. Asking prices were up in the four weeks up to February 7th by 1.2 per cent, or just over 2,500 pounds according to one well-known website.

Low interest rates and sellers reducing their prices could tempt buyers back into the property market at what has always been the house hunting time of the year.

This follows the mortgage lender, Halifax, reporting that house prices increased by almost 2 per cent during January and some helpful reports from both the National Association of Estate Agents and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that there was more interest from would-be buyers.

For sellers, this is good news. They’re not necessarily looking for increases in values; just a buyer would be the answer to their prayers.
Maybe the record low interest rates and recent price falls are winkling out the buyers. Let’s hope so, it’s surely time to get moving again. Literally.

Later this year, a new act is coming into force that will mean that anyone found to be over the legal drink driving limit of 80mg per 100 millilitres of blood, who is at the tiller of a narrow boat will be subject to a fine of up to £5,000 at a magistrates court.

It had been thought that with the slower average speed of 3 mph on the canals of Great Britain, the narrowboater would find a more relaxed approach than the larger sea going boats, but it seems they’re all tarred with the same brush.

So, the next time you see a narrowboat tied up outside a country pub, whilst the owners enjoy a leisurely lunch, bear in mind that once they cast off, a couple of pints could make them drunk in charge of a tiller.

The British Marine Federation are not entirely happy about the new rule and their executive director Mark Pridding said “We didn’t want blanket legislation. We don’t believe that there is a widespread problem of alcohol afloat and were worried how this would impact on people taking boating holidays, where a glass of wine with a meal is one of the things you do.”

Explain that to the foreign visitors we’re hoping will visit our waterways this summer!

It goes back years. First of all, it was convenient. They had a branch in a large supermarket near to where we lived. With the coming of the debit card and eventually on-line banking it became irrelevant where the actual bank was situated.

It’s been a good relationship really. Until now. Everything’s changed due to a break in at our village supermarket. The thieves broke in and stole the in-store cash machine. I went in to use the cash point and there it was – gone. In its place was a large stack of family packs of crisps. Not to worry, it would be replaced – or wouldn’t it?

A day or so later my husband needed to speak to a customer accounts adviser at the same bank (they don’t seem to have bank clerks any more) and mentioned the problem– she assured him that to their knowledge the cash point was still there, in store.

We looked. It wasn’t there and still isn’t. I miss it being in its place in a well lit store which opens until late every single night. The girl at the till says it might come back, but probably not.

And the point of all this?

The Office of Fair Trading report into personal current accounts says that only 6 per cent of bank customers switched accounts in the past year, even though they could probably find accounts at other banks that are better suited to their needs and possibly would charge them less.
At the same time, it’s estimated that around twenty per cent of energy customers changed providers in one 12 month period. Mind you, I did that once, and never again.

The general view is that customer inertia is the main reason behind customers staying put - with some staying at the same bank where they opened their first account.

Maybe the time has come to shop around?

Not content with the general unhappiness of the British public about the financial mess we’re living in – a lot more people are likely to be very annoyed by the news that the U.K. government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of us.

Computerized records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the U.K. each year will be kept for up to 10 years.
Details stored will include names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details of travellers.

The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and what it terms terrorism. Privacy campaigners see it as a significant step towards a surveillance society.

Personally, I value my privacy and feel very uncomfortable about this invasion of it. Mind you, it may not matter at all. They’ll probably lose them.

Big Brother or what?

The latest figures from the motoring industry revealed that the number of new registrations in January was over 30 per cent lower than a year ago.

On the other hand, dealers report an increased demand for used cars, saying there was a 20 per cent increase in sales over the year.
It seems that many cars are so well built nowadays that they’re seen as an excellent buy when they’re second hand. Without the registration plate to give away the age of a car, it’s often very difficult to tell whether it’s a “just run in” vehicle or a couple of years old. People are worried about their jobs and seem to be prepared to forego that “new car” experience.

If it has to be new, then it seems to be the time to start to look for bargains as the fall in demand has resulted in some impressive promotional offers from the manufacturers. If new car sales continue to fall, there could be some real deals out there.

The bidding started at just 5,000 pounds and rose to 9,000 before the hammer fell on an end of terrace house in Teesside.

A house for just 9,000 pounds clearly has to be a bargain, although admittedly it’s in a rundown state and slightly lacking in a roof. However the estate agent reckoned the house should be renovated for around 27,000 pounds and have a finished value of somewhere around 45,000 pounds.

Properties in the North East don’t appear to have fallen too sharply recently, so the state of the economy doesn’t seem to be blamed for the low price – rather the lack of roof!

As for the rest of the UK, it’s reported that the average cost of a house is now 25 per cent lower than a year ago – standing at 180,000 pounds.

Oh dear, they’ve done it again. Imagine the scene: Gordon Brown, Lord Mandelson, the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao attending a ceremony for the signing of a trade agreement. Flags proudly flying – the trouble was that ours was upside down!

Only in Britain! Still, it could have been worse – we could have got the Chinese one wrong, which would have been a real clanger.

There were some odd headlines in the news recently – like “Anger as snow returns”. We really must learn to face facts, such as: It’s February, it’s Great Britain, it may well snow. Being angry won’t make a bit of difference.

Then there was Alistair Darlings statement “We are now facing an extraordinary downturn”. As opposed to an ordinary downturn, perhaps?

Remember the “Things can only get better” slogan – keep flying the flag.

They say you can tell if some-one’s from the Staffordshire pottery area as soon as they walk into a café or restaurant. They immediately turn the tableware over to see who produced it.

As an adopted “almost Potter” – living for several years in Staffordshire - I was really pleased to hear that two Wedgwood family members are possible contenders in taking over the Wedgwood pottery business. Tom R and Tom D Wedgwood are leading a team of investors in a bid for Waterford Wedgwood, who have been in administration since early last month.

Design and production will be coming back to the Potteries if their bid is successful – back to where the company started back in 1759.

The best of luck to them, they deserve it, and to the workers who make the people of the Potteries so proud.

Some more news for the people who were so sad to see the name of Woolworth’s disappearing from the High Street. They’re not gone altogether. They’re making a comeback as an on-line business, after being bought by the owners of the Daily Telegraph.

That’s the wonder of Woolworth’s.

Despite Gordon Brown’s best efforts, the car industry workers continue to worry about the safety of their jobs – and understandably so.

We were watching a programme this week which gave a mention to the German plan of the Government paying a sum to owners of cars older than ten years, to take the car off the road and scrap it. I didn’t hear the full details, but enough to make me think it sounded totally sensible.

It seems a sound plan. It would help the whole market – from the bottom upwards. Drivers changing from a real old banger to something a bit newer and so on. It would get rid of a lot of rubbish from the roads and increase safety.

A modest amount of finance could result in people upgrading to something more economical and reliable, therefore saving money on running costs. Car insurance would probably be cheaper too.

The second hand car forecourts are full to overflowing with lower to middle end of the range cars, which people with a healthy deposit (provided by the Government) would surely snap up.

Come on Mr Brown – how about it? Give everyone a bit of a leg up.

The people of Appenzell Innerrhoden – a canton in Switzerland - had some unwelcome visitors to their delightful region last year, with an influx of naked hikers.

Justice minister Melchior Looser stated that they are forced to introduce “legislation against this indecent practice” before the start of the warm weather.

It seems that a naked hiker was detained last year, but they were unable to go further and issue a fine as naked rambling was not illegal. This is no longer the case, so if you’re planning a ramble in the region, don’t forget your fig-leaf.

Back in less hilly Blackpool, hoteliers are busily preparing for bumper season. With the state of the euro and general worries about the economy, it seems that people are planning to holiday at home this year. Not sure what the rules are about going bare in Blackpool, but you’ll be sure of a warm northern welcome.

I remember when the new registration plates used to come out on 1 August. For the first few days you’d “car spot” and as the years went on, the numbers seemed to get greater every August. Garages would open up specially so that you could come and admire their stocks and collect your new car on the stroke of midnight.

There seems to be a return of those days. New cars are getting rare enough to grab people’s attention. There’s nothing quite like the pleasure of driving your new toy out of the showroom and knowing that it’s your own choice – right down to the shine that only a new car can have.

The news freshly out from the Government in their promise to help out Britain’s car industry will hopefully raise the spirits of the millions of people employed there. Loan guarantees and re-training are promised as well as an additional billion pounds in loans to encourage investment in “green” vehicles.

Hopefully, when the full package is unveiled, it will prove to be rather more than the “pretty small beer” comment from shadow business secretary Ken Clarke, who has accused labour of lagging behind in their offers of help.

So it looks as though its going be “any colour, as long as it’s green” and fingers crossed for the easing of finance to get trade going again.