Unemployment

Read here the full text of Chancellor George Osborne's Budget speech to the House of Commons.

Shares in Morrisons were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the supermarket chain reported a rise in turnover and pre-tax profit in the full year ended 31 December 2010.

On 17 December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire because a female municipal official and her aides had had his goods confiscated. This sparked protests against the Government for a variety of grievances, social, economic and political.

This week the No to AV campaign started to lay out its case to the British people ahead of a May referendum on changing the voting system. It was a poor start to what should be an easy task.

The IMF estimates the U.S. gross outstanding public debt to GDP ratio at approximately 100% for 2011. Not good, but the U.S. can point to Japan and Italy as having higher ratios. But probably not many think that Japan's dismal economic picture is one that the U.S. should try to model itself on. Italy also has more than its share of economic issues and an economic framework that not many countries aspire to.

On Thursday, 20 January 2011, Brian Cowen, Ireland's Prime Minister (Taoiseach) announced that a general election will be held on 11 March 2011. Somewhat earlier than he and his Fianna Fáil Party would have liked - their preference was the 25th - it is unlikely to make any significant difference to their expected trouncing at the election by a Fine Gael/Labour coalition.

If a week is a long time in politics, then Brian Cowen must be wishing that the relatively short time remaining between now and the next general election in Ireland feels like a decade to the electorate. With the latest polls showing his Fianna Fáil Party's ratings to be around 13 per cent after a lost by-election in Donegal and the first stage of an austerity Budget being passed on 07 December 2010, the Party needs all the time it can get to restore its fortunes.

The shade of Éamon de Valera must be having a wry smile. The party he founded in 1926, Fianna Fáil, was well and truly hammered in the Donegal South West by-election, losing to the candidate of Sinn Féin on 26 November 2010. As Fionnan Sheahan, Political Editor of the Irish Independent newspaper on Saturday, 27 November points out: "The party brand name hasn't won a by-election since 1925, when the post Civil-War version of the organisation was led by Éamon de Valera -- so the result wil...

U.S. stocks rose more than 1 percent on Wednesday as consumer and jobless claims data reinforced the view the economic recovery is gaining steam.

Shares in British American Tobacco were down in morning trading after the company reported a slight drop in the volume of cigarettes sold in the nine months to 30 September.

On 14 October 2010, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California and former "Terminator" actor, was photographed on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street meeting his friend and British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Mr Cameron joked with the gathered reporters that the Governor would help to "terminate the budget deficit", before the pair turned and walked back into No 10. There is little doubt that the deficits of both the UK and California would be amongst the topics the two po...

The Trades Union Congress has expressed concerns that unemployment figures, due out tomorrow, could show what it called a "new crisis" in youth unemployment.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading as investors appeared to feel nervy ahead of third quarter results from key US companies this week.

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 ahead of unemployment data due out later today from the US.

In a small corner of the Financial Times on Wednesday, 14 July 2010, Eamon Quinn reported that the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Ireland's leading economics think-tank, was urging the Irish Government to pursue a firm austerity budget. In order to maintain the confidence of the sovereign debt markets, the Government needed to cut the deficits "rather than loosening spending to boost economic growth". At about the same time in July, Dan Boyle, Chairman of the Green Par...

The Confederation of British Industry has said that it expects economic growth in 2011 to be slower than previously thought thanks to the Coalition government's emergency Budget. By contrast the CBI said it expected growth in the remainder of 2010 to be slightly faster than previously hoped for.

The Office for National Statistics this morning released data showing that the number of unemployed people fell by 8,000 to 2.47 million in the three months to July.

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading following news that unemployment fell in the three months to July.

The Labour Party and the unions that fund them appear to be doing their utmost to oppose the cuts being proposed by the Coalition government.

Shares in British banks were mixed on the FTSE 100 in morning trading ahead of key data on unemployment in the USA.

Flyglobespan was Scotland's biggest airline. Based in Edinburgh, it entered into administration all too suddenly on 16 December 2009 in rather curious circumstances involving several million pounds owed to it by its receipts-handling company. Flyglobespan's advice notice to customers, posted on its website at the time of its collapse, can be used as a typical and now all too familiar example for the 13 or so travel firms that have gone bust since:

The latest Unemployment figures announced on 11 August 2010 did at least look good. The level reduced by 0.2 percent on the quarter to 7.8 percent, the same level as this time last year. Unemployment for the three months to June 2010 fell to 2.46 million, a fall of 49,000, the largest quarterly drop for three years. Mr Chris Grayling, Employment Minister, told the BBC that what he found encouraging was that "there had been one of the biggest jumps for a very long time in employment levels,...

In a media statement issued on 10 August 2010, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks' Chief Executive Officer, Lynne Peacock said: "We continue to follow a very steady and prudent course....our strategic direction is unchanged. Firmly focused on growing our existing business, we remain committed to supporting our existing customers and are on track to deliver £10 billion of gross new lending by October next year."

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England lowered forecasts for economic growth in UK after high Inflation prospects rose. The Bank now forecasts 2.5 percent next year - down from its forecast in May of 3.4 percent growth.

Shares in British banks were down in morning trading on the FTSE 100 as news from the U.S. Federal Reserve yesterday failed to reassure investors about the prospects of the economic recovery.

Annual growth in the weekly pay and bonuses has decreased according to the Office of National Statistics.

Last week a number of banks issued 2010 first-half results. Northern Rock, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Lloyds all released figures showing overall profits in their operations that were good given the current market conditions in their field of activity. All, including Northern Rock, were able to demonstrate the benefits of the "universal model" of banking and senior executives from these companies, both on and off the record, were keen to emphasise their belief in the continuance of thi...

Santander is apparently gearing up to launch an IPO for its Abbey National and Alliance & Leicester UK (including Bradford & Bingley deposits) onto the stock market to raise money for its expansion here.

The Office of National Statistics has just published a batch of figures on the UK's workforce, nearly coinciding with the Friday, 16 July's submission to The Treasury by most government departments of their proposed budget cuts. The Treasury requires drafts based on 25 percent and 40 percent cuts to the 2010-2011 figures and these will form the basis of the autumn Spending Review and November's Budget Address to Parliament by George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Trades Union Congress has said that a double dip recession is looking more likely following "disappointing" unemployment figures yesterday.