Cost of Christmas Dinner

With the weather so wet in the UK vegetable yields have been crippled and also the cost of imported food is on the rise. This effect is starting to be seen on the British supermarket shelves with many of the Christmas staples shooting up in price. The latest official inflation figures reveal food prices are rising at 3.9%, faster than overall goods and services. 

Price of Christmas Dinner

McFury

McDonald's waitress wins £3,000 out-of-court settlement after she was sacked for sprinkling 'over-generous' serving of chocolate on a colleague's McFlurry. Check out the article to see how ACAS helped resolve this issue. Great for A292 Business & People. 

McFlurry Sacking

A New Target For The Bank of England?

The Bank of England has had a formal inflation target since the early 1990s. Is it the time for it to target something else? Very interesting article by BBC Economics editor Stephanie Flanders. Follow the link to read more.

New Target For Bank of England

Pay With Plastic

The Bank of England has made contingency plans for a changeover to plastic bank notes. The printing proviso is to "future proof" the bank's supply of money. A number of countries already use the polymer money which can be more durable than traditional cotton based notes.

Plastic Cash

Apple sells 2m iPhone 5s in China

Apple has confounded Wall Street's expectations by announcing it sold more than 2m iPhone 5s in China, a record for the company, after a launch on Friday that obersvers had thought low-key. China is the world's largest smartphone market, and growing fast, dominated by cheap devices built on Google's Android software. 

The PED of Uni

There has been a record fall in the number of people taking up places at UK universities this year, figures show. In England, where maximum fees have almost trebled to £9,000 a year, saw the sharpest drop in people taking places in 2012, with a 6.6% fall. Can you work out the PED for this situation?

University Places Fall

Lagos Monopoly

The first African city edition of the famous board game Monopoly has been launched in Lagos.

The Nigerian metropolis is one of the fast-growing cities in the world.

Lagos Monopoly

HTC Champions League

HTC has struck a three-year deal with UEFA to become the official mobile phone supplier of the Champions League and the Europa League as the manufacturer looks to expand awareness of its brand around the world and tap into its customers’ passions.

No Miracle Economic Cure

Britain is facing a longer than expected battle to reduce its debts. Chancellor George Osborne is set to announce his autumn statement later today but there seems to be no miracle cure for Britain's economic woes. 

Autumn Statement

Cigarettes & Alcohol

Both these products have been making headlines over the past week as governments try further methods to correct the market failure which arrises from these two de-merit goods. The UK government is set to bring in a minimum price 45p per unit for the sale of alcohol to try and tackle problem drinking whilst Australia stepped up its regulation of cigarette packings by becoming the first country in the world to introduce plain packaging. Will these methods be enough to correct the failure?

Minimum Price Alcohol

Australia Cigarette Packaging 

Hppy Bday Txting :-)

Neil Papworth, a software programmer from Reading, sent the first ever text message on December 3rd 1992 which simply read 'Merry Christmas'. Now more than 8 million texts are sent a year and around 15 million leave our mobile screens every minute. If you were the first person to send a text what would it read?

Text Turns 20

Wii U Be Buying One?

Six years after the Wii console took living rooms by storm, Nintendo is trying to capture the same success with its new Wii U. It will be make or break for Nintendo amid a market swing towards gaming on smartphones and tablets. Will it be a success?

Wii U Launch