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	UK councils attacked for issuing 1.2 million local tax court orders Liberal democrats attack 'heavyhanded' treatment by UK councils over local tax debts Office life: Falling in line with European working hours Zut alors! Will 2009 be the year we fall in love with the European parliament's working time regulations, wonders Alice Wignall A not so green and pleasant land <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/67485?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+A+not+so+green+and+pleasant+land&ch=Society&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Communities+%28Society%29%2CSocial+exclusion+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CRural+affairs%2CFamily+finances%2CConsumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CWork+and+careers%2CMoney&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CSocial+Care+Society%2CCommunities+Society&c6=Marc+Leverton&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1142785&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=Communities&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FCommunities" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The countryside is often depicted as a place to live "the good life" and to escape the stresses and strains of modern life.</p><p></p><p>The Rural Media Company, based in Hereford, set about debunking this myth with its film Show & Tell. The documentary lifts the lid on rural people living in poverty.</p><p></p><p>Show & Tell brings unfamiliar voices to the screen and exposes the hardship and stigma of surviving on a low income in the countryside.</p><p></p><p>"People don't understand the hidden costs of living in a rural area. We are marginalised," says Emma, a lone parent and one of the contributors.  </p><p></p><p>"The dentist is in Hereford," she adds. "We can get a bus there, but it takes an hour and costs £3 each way. That's £10 just to get there and back for me and my child." This is almost a fifth of her weekly income.</p><p></p><p>In the film people speak of having nowhere to live, abandoning A-levels for lack of money, of being unable to work because they cannot afford a car, of living without a phone, a TV, even hot water.  </p><p></p><p>Jane Jackson, project director for Show & Tell, explains how the sensitive nature of the project almost prevented it from happening.</p><p></p><p>"You can't blend in here like you can in a city," Jackson says. "Nobody wants to talk about being poor. It is almost harder to talk about than anything else; it took months to find people to volunteer their stories."</p><p></p><p>"People feel that it is their fault, even if that isn't true. Poverty makes people feel powerless," adds Jackson.</p><p></p><p>Feelings of powerlessness and isolation were common among the participants who emphasised the importance of having strong social networks. Others spoke of the vital role service provision has in maintaining social networks and remaining active in society.</p><p></p><p>Nevertheless, for many participants the physical isolation of rural life plus their social isolation contributed to feelings of exclusion. Lone parent Tracey explains: "I have got no money to socialise ? it is very hard being able to go out if you haven't got the money. So I save up the money, what I can, to go out. But when I do go out, I feel very guilty about it, because I think that the money I spent to go out, I could have spent on water rates or something else."</p><p></p><p>Many participants identified significant barriers and obstacles in claiming the services and benefits to which they are entitled. These included a lack of information, complex forms, and the inflexibility of the benefits system to understand their circumstances.</p><p></p><p>Others referred to feelings of worthlessness and lack of recognition arising from the way they were made to feel by service providers. For example, being "treated differently", viewed with suspicion, looked down on, or "processed" without real recognition of their situation and views.</p><p></p><p>Another contributor, Lyanne, says: "There is constantly a feeling that you're either trying to wangle something else, or are trying to cheat the system ? As a single parent, I had to go to interviews to confirm why I was on income support. It did very much feel like I was being accused of just sitting on my bum, not doing anything, accepting this money and doing it on purpose almost, which certainly wasn't the case."</p><p></p><p>During the project, the word "poverty" itself was identified as part of the problem. Contributors considered it inherently damaging and isolating, because it signifies personal inadequacy and failure.</p><p></p><p>Yet the participants found the filming process itself was empowering. In follow-up interviews, contributors' self confidence was boosted by seeing themselves on screen, describing their experiences, and this has helped to break the debilitating cycle.</p><p></p><p>"It was great to be asked my opinion on a subject that obviously related very much to my situation," says Craig, a young local unemployed man. "I'm glad I did it because these are matters that need to be talked about." </p><p></p><p>Nic Millington, founder and chief executive of the Rural Media Company, explains the need for its work: "Rural life and coverage of rural communities is often through the prism of a metropolitan point of view," he says. "Locating ourselves in a rural area and allowing local people to have an input gives a platform for alternative points of view."</p><p></p><p>The company produces films which include participation from ordinary local people, a method favoured by directors such as Shane Meadows and Ken Loach. The organisation also produces Travellers' Times, the only publication aimed directly at traveller, Gypsy and Romany groups.</p><p></p><p>Millington believes that creative and media industries are finding a natural home in the country. "Rural areas are undergoing a huge demographic change and many people from the digital and media industries are relocating to the countryside," he explains.</p><p></p><p>These new industries relocate for the quality of life, and new technology allows it. "Media is a high-value industry," Millington explains, which "provides a tremendous opportunity for regeneration".</p><p>? For more information go to: <a href="http://www.ruralmedia.co.uk" title="">www.ruralmedia.co.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/communities">Communities</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/socialexclusion">Social exclusion</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/ruralaffairs">Rural affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/familyfinance">Family finances</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031416010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031416010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> The hole Woolworths leaves on the high street As we say farewell to the high street favourite, Frances Booth asks what we will do when it is gone What's your favourite takeaway, and where do you get it? As the credit crunch winter deepens will you be treating yourself to an out-of-home dining experience? What's your favourite takeaway, and where do you get it? Stonewall survey shows banks and police among most gay-friendly employers <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/8833?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+Banks+and+police+among+most+gay-friendly+employers%3Cbr+%2F%3E&ch=Society&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Equality+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CGay+rights+%28News%29%2CWork+and+careers%2CMoney%2CDiscrimination+at+work%2CUK+news&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CCommunities+Society&c6=Mary+O%27Hara&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1142926&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=Equality&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FEquality" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The police service, banks and management consultants top the league table of gay-friendly employers in Britain, outperforming the public sector, the media and education, according to the latest workplace equality index.</p><p>High street and investment banks fared particularly well, with Lloyds TSB rising from sixth in the 2008 table to take the number one slot this year, and Goldman Sachs winning 11th place. Three police services featured in the top 10 including Hampshire constabulary in second place and Kent police at fourth, while 17 forces were listed in the top 100. The metropolitan police came in at number 43.</p><p>Professional services companies also performed impressively with KPMG, Ernst and Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers all making the top 25.</p><p>Now in its fifth year, the index from campaigning group Stonewall tracks the impact of workplace culture on gay, lesbian and bisexual employees. It has quickly become a key baromoter of diversity practices.</p><p>The 2009 index, which also included a survey of more than 7,000 gay and lesbian employees, had a record 371 entries across 23 sectors. This is more than double the number of submissions in the 2005 launch year. Some sectors, such as law and housing, have improved markedly year on year.</p><p>Organisations which apply to be inlcuded on the index are examined on the success of their diversity policies and the extent to which they encourage job applications from lesbian and gay workers. Stonewall also surveys gay employees on whether their workplace experiences match up to the claims made by employers.</p><p>As well as shining a spotlight on the top performing organisations, the index also notes those sectors such as media, retail, construction and the NHS that consistently fail to make the grade, shown by their absence or low rankings.</p><p>"There are sectors such as the police which perform exceptionally well in the index but then there are sectors such as construction and media which don't," David Shields, director of Stonewall's Workplace Programmes said. "But it can take a few years from when an organisation decides to improve in this area to begin to see some results. We are always working with organisations in [under-represented] sectors such as the NHS, retail and the media to help them improve."</p><p>The country's single largest employer, the NHS, was notable for its absence in the upper reaches of the index. Only one NHS trust, Tower Hamlets, was among the best, ranked at 58.</p><p>The public sector's performance was shored up by local authorities with 49 entries submitted, the largest tranche from a single sector. Fourteen councils made the top 100 with three reaching the top 10, including Brighton and Hove which took third place. Three of the 20 fire services that entered also made the top 100, while the Home Office wmade the top 20.</p><p>The voluntary sector did not feature strongly, although last year's overall winner, the crime charity Nacro, remained in the top 10. The media industry, which might have been expected to perform better, has consistently failed to make an impression on the index. Only five media companies entered this year and just one, Time Warner, made it into the top 100, in 90th place.</p><p>According to Shields, it can be difficult to pinpoint why some sectors far outstrip others. The strides made by so many police forces may be part of "a broader effort to effect cultural change" he suggested, adding that complacency may have something to do with why media companies barely feature.</p><p>"I think for banks, for example, there is a real emphasis on the bottom line and they are recognising that fair employment practices directly impact on performance. I wonder if with the education or media sectors they believe they are already good and don't feel the need to measure it."</p><p>Fiona Cannon, head of equality and diversity at Lloyds TSB, said good diversity policies "simply make good business sense".</p><p>"I think the financial services sector is good at recognising this. At Lloyds we have worked hard and it's wonderful that it's paying off."</p><p>Gavin Wills, managing director for corporate services and real estate at Goldman Sachs, said the Stonewall index had provided considerable impetus for many organisations within the investment banking sector. "The index has been a phenomenal success for Stonewall over the years. You start getting employers who you never would have dreamed were supportive of lesbian, gay and bisexual professionals competing to get on to it."</p><p>Chief executive of Stonewall, Ben Summerskill, said the bar was set even higher for the 2009 index than in previous years, with additional proof of long-term effectiveness required from entrants. "To make the top 100 this year, employers had to demonstrate that equality and diversity were not optional extras but core values. Ninety seven percent of the top 100 had an organisation-wide equality and diversity strategy which links LGB equality into wider organisational aims. "</p><p>? More at <a href="http://www.stonewall.org.uk/" title="">www.stonewall.org.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/equality">Equality</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gayrights">Gay rights</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/discriminationatwork">Discrimination at work</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031551010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031551010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> Video: The problem of rural poverty In a documentary highlighting the widespread problem of rural poverty, contributors talk frankly about the hardships they face Stonewall's workplace equality index Top 100 gay-friendly employers Gay-friendly workplaces are out and proud <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/18833?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+Gay-friendly+employers+are+out+and+proud&ch=Society&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Equality+%28Society%29%2CDiscrimination+at+work%2CUK+news%2CWork+and+careers%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CCommunities+Society&c6=Ben+Summerskill&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1143201&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Joe+Public+blog&h2=GU%2FSociety%2Fblog%2FJoe+Public+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Gay people perform better at work when they can be themselves. Gay people are also far more likely to buy goods and services from companies who demonstrate a positive commitment to recruiting lesbian and gay staff. Both of these findings ? the results of recent <a href="http://www.stonewall.org.uk" title="">Stonewall</a> research ? send out a powerful message to employers. Now, more than ever, it pays to be gay-friendly.</p><p>Stonewall's top 100 employers for 2009 showcases Britain's most gay-friendly workplaces. Topped by Lloyds TSB, it's a marked difference from Stonewall's first index ? just five years ago ? when six of the top 100 employers insisted upon remaining anonymous. Happily, in 2009, the opposite is true. We received more entries than ever.</p><p>One of the most remarkable aspects of Stonewall's engagement with the graduate recruitment market in the last three years has been the willingness of young gay people to demand of employers how they will be supported and, perhaps most telling, exactly how their careers will progress in future. The best demonstration of this is, of course, where employers can point to senior staff who feel comfortable being openly gay at work. That's the sort of benchmark reflected in the index.</p><p>Counterintuitively, given the current credit crunch, it was the recruitment director of an investment bank who pointed out this week that it was precisely in difficult times that he would be seeking to source the very best graduate recruits this year.</p><p>Stonewall/IBM research conducted in 2008 found that lesbian and gay staff who feel able to be out at work and are well-supported, were significantly more effective and motivated than previously. While the Daily Mail's Richard Littlejohn might deride "diversity tsars", it may be the brightest workplaces that rely on their skills during the first downturn of the 21st century. (It was David English, the former editor-in-chief of Littlejohn's employer, of course, who boasted just a decade ago that he had never knowingly employed a homosexual.)</p><p>The most gay-friendly employers in Britain have clearly taken heed of this. The 7,000 staff who made direct contributions to the index consistently revealed that the satisfaction levels of gay employees are highest in workplaces with consciously gay-friendly working environments. And, contrary to the imaginings of the world's Richard Littlejohns, diversity initiatives needn't be costly. Nacro, the crime reduction charity, proved this by triumphing as Britain's most gay-friendly employer in Stonewall's 2008 index. A charity committed to careful financial stewardship, they demonstrated that limited resources are no barrier to creating a supportive workplace.</p><p>Perhaps the most historic journey enjoyed by the 450 major employers engaged in Stonewall's diversity champions programme has been that of the armed services. Just 10 years ago, Stonewall finally succeeded in overturning the ban on gay people serving openly in the armed forces. Last summer, we started working with the army supporting gay personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.</p><p>Employers now working with us employ 4.5 million people between them. That means that four-and-a-half times as many people go to work every weekday for a Stonewall partner as attend the Church of England every Sunday. It is a stark sign of how Britain is changing in the early years of a new century.</p><p>? Ben Summerskill is chief executive of Stonewall</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/equality">Equality</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/discriminationatwork">Discrimination at work</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031648"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031648010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> Ros Asquith on tough new year's resolutions The companies taking a tough line on going green Property expert: Help! My mortgage income support has been reduced <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/97277?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Help%21+My+mortgage+support+income+has+been+reduced&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Mortgages+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Virginia+Wallis&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1142891&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Mortgages&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FMortgages" width="1" height="1" /></div><p><strong>Q</strong> I was on benefits, receiving a small amount of income support (£14 a week) and help with interest on my mortgage of approximately £280 a month. Now that the Bank of England base rate has fallen I am told by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) that because of this my income support will reduce to 10p a week and (more importantly) my mortgage assistance will drop to only £15. I can now no longer afford my mortgage repayments and am faced with the prospect of getting into arrears or selling my house and having the council pay out a ridiculous amount in rent for my children and myself. Is it right that the reduction in interest rates should make us so much worse off when I thought it was supposed to help the economy, or is it only designed to help the better off? <strong>DE</strong></p><p></p><p><strong>A</strong> I suspect that what is not right is what you have been told by the person at the DWP. It is true the standard rate of interest used to calculate how much mortgage interest support you get is normally linked to the base rate and goes up and down in line with any changes, and normally it is the base rate plus 1.58%, so according to the legislation in place since 2004 the standard rate should now be 3.58%. But it is not because in December 2008 the standard rate was frozen for six months at 6.08%. This has specifically been done to protect people, such as those with fixed-rate deals, whose mortgage payments may not have dropped in line with the base rate and who would suffer if their mortgage interest support were to fall.</p><p></p><p>Yvette Cooper, chief secretary to the Treasury, confirmed this freeze in the House of Commons on 18 December. The earliest the standard rate of 6.08% will change is May 2009 when the government intends to review the arrangements for calculating mortgage interest support.</p><p></p><p>I suggest you go back to the DWP and get them to double-check how much support you are entitled to given that it shouldn't have gone down in line with the interest rate at all.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgages</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031767010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031767010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> In Derby's doldrums: Families fear worst in city braced for big job losses <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/77531?ns=guardian&pageName=UK+news%3A+In+Derby%27s+doldrums%3A+Families+fear+worst+in+city+braced+for+big+job+losses&ch=UK+news&c3=The+Guardian&c4=British+identity+and+society%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CManufacturing+sector+%28Business%29%2CUnemployment+and+employment+data%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CFamily+finances%2CWork+and+careers%2CMoney%2CUK+news%2CSocial+exclusion+%28Society%29%2CSociety&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CSocial+Care+Society&c6=Esther+Addley&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1143320&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=UK+news&c12=British+identity+and+society&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FUK+news%2FBritish+identity+and+society" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>It is scarcely a role they can have wished for, but Dorothy Whittaker's family might consider themselves the exemplars of Derby's credit crunch. One of her sons, who runs a property business, put a number of his houses up for sale this week. Another son, a chartered surveyor, has kept his job for the moment, but only because others have been fired. Her 18-year-old granddaughter, along with 50 others, is being let go at the end of February after the call centre where she works lost its biggest clients - three Icelandic banks. And yesterday Mrs Whittaker was at the jobcentre in Wardwick Street with her daughter Rosie, looking through the vacancies with a mounting sense of alarm. </p><p>Rosie, 28, has been out of work since glandular fever forced her to quit her office job in October. She hasn't claimed benefit - "I thought I would go straight back into a job" - but has now used up much of her savings and thinks she will have to sign on shortly. Despite seven years' experience and good clerical skills, she can't find a suitable role, and is now looking at cleaning jobs on the minimum wage.</p><p>"It's just everywhere, and it's affecting everyone, and it's happened so fast," said her mother, a little distractedly. "We have seen a couple of recessions, as I can remember, but I have never ever seen it as bad as this." </p><p>This morning, the prime minister will be in Derby, his first pitstop on a three-day regional tour intended to show his personal commitment to struggling manufacturers and panicking workers in the looming employment crisis. </p><p>Though he might reasonably hope not to run into Rosie's father ("Put me down as Colin-Whittaker-I-want-to-thump-Gordon-Brown"), the PM has also cast the trip as a listening exercise, in which the residents of potential employment blackspots - Liverpool this afternoon, the north-west and Birmingham tomorrow, south Wales on Friday - have the chance to voice their concerns.</p><p>These will not, in all likelihood, be easy concerns for Brown to hear. More than 3,000 job losses a day have been predicted for the first three months of 2009, and many of them will vanish in the east Midlands. A great many already have done, as the depressingly ratcheting tallies carried in local papers over recent months have demonstrated: 140 from the Rolls-Royce assembly and test facility in the city, where the PM is expected today, 80 jobs likely to go at CLF Technologies outside Derby, which makes parts for Bentleys and Jaguars, 76 at Amber Valley district council in Ripley, as many as 800 rumoured to be at risk at Toyota plants in Derby and Wales. </p><p>In nearby Leicester the Christmas pantomime has Cinderella working in a struggling shoe factory. The 100 staff at Equity Shoes, the city's last big footwear manufacturer, cooperatively owned but facing imminent demise, will sympathise. </p><p>Nottingham, meanwhile, expects to lose 300 jobs at the business information specialists Experian and 54 at the brand consultancy Rees Bradley and Hepburn. Tales of Robin Hood, the flagship tourist attraction, seems likely to close with the loss of up to 50 jobs. Still hiring, though, is the city's Jobcentre Plus, taking on 15 staff to cope with expected demand. </p><p>One of the striking features of Derby city centre is the number of empty units and barely breathing high street ghosts: Zavvi, now in liquidation, was yesterday desperately flogging the last of its stock, sandwiched between a branch of USC, in the same position, and a vacant lot that once was Internacionale (sic). </p><p>The local paper has launched a "Derby bites back" campaign but this does not feel like a town that has many teeth - at least not until an election.</p><p>"This is an unprecedented situation, certainly in my lifetime," George Cowcher, chief executive of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire chamber of commerce, said last night. "One of the beauties of the east Midlands is that we still have a very well-balanced economy. We have a lot of manufacturing, but also financial services, and a thriving tourism industry. We thought we would be able to ride out the manufacturing storm. But there are some who are finding it very, very difficult."</p><p>Back at the jobcentre, among the young men in tracksuits and nervous older men, mostly alone, another mother and daughter, Diane and Donna Johnson, were also hunting without much success for a post for 22-year-old Donna once her Christmas job finishes at the end of the month. They, too, are "very worried". </p><p>Mrs Johnson's brother, Mark, works at Rolls-Royce, and still has a job - just. "The thing is, it all changed so quickly," she said. "One minute it was boom, boom, boom and now, all of a sudden, we're in a recession. What happened? When will it end?" Brown may find that, rather than bending his ear, the regions will want to press him for answers.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/britishidentity">British identity and society</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/manufacturing">Manufacturing sector</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/unemploymentdata">Unemployment and employment data</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/familyfinance">Family finances</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/socialexclusion">Social exclusion</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=News&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031810010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=News&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031810010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> Benylin advert accepts it's fine to take a sick day <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/97986?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+It%27s+every+cough+mixture+for+itself+in+these+times+of+ill&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Business%2CHealth+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CAdvertising+%28media%29%2CMedia%2CWork+and+careers%2CMoney&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CMedia+Weekly%2CHealth+Society%2CAdvertising+Media&c6=Zoe+Williams&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1143264&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Comment+is+free&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Comment+is+free&h2=GU%2FComment+is+free%2Fblog%2FComment+is+free" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Small businesses are enraged about the new Benylin advert. No, not because it takes an awe-inspiring Gregory Isaacs song and turns it into the soundtrack for suburban snuffles. That's Night Nurse. The cough mixture's manufacturers have suggested that those who feel unwell should stay in bed and take a "Benylin day". </p><p>Presumably, they want this to turn into a buzz-phrase on the usage-scale of "duvet day" to mean "not so ill that you're actually ill, but ill enough ... hang on ... are we a medicine, or just a tasty syrup?" It's a wink-wink, "we all do our sore-throat voice for a sickie, even when we're pretending to have cystitis, don't we, eh, eh?" style of advert, which in itself is nothing unusual, but in this case transgresses a fundamental rule of business. Before anything else, before they get down even to their core task of flogging things to us, they have to stick together. Cough medicine companies have to pretend that, illness be damned, we all love work and have a sworn, unbreachable fealty to our employer.</p><p>I was struck, on this account, by another advert, for the NatWest free financial advice scheme, in which a friendly NatWest lady tells a customer to ditch his gym membership and go for a run in the park. That just isn't the way things are done, is it? One business, telling the world that another business is a waste of money? Next we'll have magazines telling readers that nobody ever got laid because of a pedicure. What we have left of an economy will grind to a total halt. Commerce, until now, has acted with a surprising, almost heartening, although slightly mafia-esque, sense of community. Then - wham - one tiny, although since you mention it, vast, earth-shattering recession, and it's every cough mixture/high street banking facility for himself. </p><p>The Federation of Small Businesses has done more than complain, in fact, it has reported the ad to the Advertising Standards Authority (they may be small, but goddammit, they know how to overreact), who I guess are looking into it. But I can save everyone the trouble by saying that the ASA normally responds to complaints with the requirement that adverts offend "large numbers of viewers", and this won't offend anybody. Plus, the federation does itself no favours at all with its spokesman, Stephen Alambritis (whose name in itself sounds like a condition you should stay in bed for), who said: "If people have real flu then of course they should take the day off, but if it is just a cold then they should not." Leaving aside inter-business squabbling, this is more controversial than he apparently realises. Nothing is so clear-cut in the world of malady from the thorax up. There are rules, but they are not Alambritis's rules: much is made of the inability of men, for starters, even to be able to distinguish between a cold and flu. Hence the term "man-flu", which is used, correctly, to describe a flu that is really a cold - but you will also often hear it used incorrectly to describe a cold that is far worse than a regular cold. </p><p>I believe this egregious usage originated with Lemsip, and its "flu max" innovation: the first mainstream, documented instance of someone describing as "flu" something that can be alleviated with caffeine and paracetamol and, ergo, is not flu. All these ambiguities can be solved in a stroke by the flu definition I read on a doctor's surgery leaflet once, which was "if you can walk to the chemist, it isn't flu". It's totally incapacitating, this illness: you do not need the FSB or anyone else to tell you to stay in bed; it would take a horse or a crane to get you out of bed. </p><p>Naturally, this leaves under the umbrella term "cold" many symptoms that would make it totally senseless to go into work. There are people who still pride themselves on their stoicism, hardiness and ambition (though there are fewer than you think - the Sun reported an astonishing 2.4 million sickies called in on Monday, across the UK) but most sensible people are in broad agreement that you do the workplace no favours if you slog in, do nothing all day except complain, feed your germs into the air conditioning system and infect the rest of the office. It's antisocial, apart from anything else; but unlike coughing without your hand over your mouth (also antisocial), it doesn't even have the benefit of energy-saving. You lose, your office loses, the public transport infrastructure loses. The only winner is the virus, and that's only if we assume some Darwinian flourishing impulse on the part of the cold, which I can't believe it has, otherwise it would be fatal by now (flu, on the other hand ... ). I am often heartened by the number of GPs who take time out of their busy schedule to call Radio 4's You and Yours and pass on this simple advice. Don't come crying to us. Go back to bed, you idiots, and listen to You and Yours.</p><p>The only thing anybody normal goes into work with, then, is a cold so minor it is really just a runny nose and a low voice. The FSB has chosen the wrong target, and come out blazing about the wrong thing, and Benylin has shown itself closer to the national pulse. Though I do not think this is why people buy it; they buy it because it is tasty.</p><p><a href="mailto:mszoewilliams@yahoo.co.uk">mszoewilliams@yahoo.co.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/health">Health</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/advertising">Advertising</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/workandcareers">Work & careers</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031843010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031843010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> HSBC prepares for rate cut by raising tracker loan cost <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/92327?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+HSBC+prepares+for+rate+cut+by+raising+tracker+loan+cost&ch=Money&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Mortgages+%28Money%29%2CHSBC+%28Business%29%2CInterest+rates+%28Business%29%2CConsumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CProperty&c5=Personal+Finance%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Jill+Treanor&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1143260&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Mortgages&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FMortgages" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>HSBC raised its best-buy tracker mortgage rate yesterday amid expectations that other lenders will follow suit after tomorrow's much-anticipated cut to interest rates.</p><p>The decision by HSBC to lift its tracker rate to 3.95% from 3.64% - widening its profit margin against the 2% base rate - followed heavy demand for the product in a mortgage market bereft of competition.</p><p>But mortgage brokers predicted that other lenders would use tomorrow's announcement by the monetary policy committee as an excuse to widen their tracker rates.</p><p>The MPC is expected to sanction a cut in interest rates to 1.5% or even 1% - the lowest level set by the Bank of England in its 315-year history. </p><p>Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at broker John Charcol, said lenders had typically raised the margins on their tracker following each of the recent cuts to official rates. In the past such moves had been justified by saying the price lenders were paying to borrow money in the financial markets was higher than base rates.</p><p>But he noted that the closely watched spread between the price banks charge each other and the base rate had narrowed to its lowest level since Bear Stearns collapsed in March.</p><p>HSBC expects the MPC to sanction a cut to 1% tomorrow and said its tracker rate would immediately drop by the same amount as it had not put any restrictions on the product.</p><p>Boulger pointed out that even with the rise in the tracker rate from 164 basis points above base rate to 195, HSBC still had one of the most competitive products on the market. Its closest competitor is its own subsidiary, First Direct, which is expected to shift its tracker rates too.</p><p>HBSC, which is not traditionally a big mortgage player, has pledged to put £15bn into the market this year as part of a package of measures designed to appease the government, which is keen to get the housing market moving. It is the only bank not to raise capital during the banking crisis and is in effect lending twice as much as in 2007 - a record year for the mortgage market.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgages</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/hsbcholdings">HSBC</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interestrates">Interest rates</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031896010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031896010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" /> Interview: Housing minister Margaret Beckett talks to Peter Hetherington <div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/28458?ns=guardian&pageName=Society%3A+Gaining+stock&ch=Society&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Housing+%28Society%29%2CCommunities+%28Society%29%2CSociety%2CLabour%2CPolitics%2CPlanning+policy%2CProperty%2CMoney&c5=Society+Weekly%2CPersonal+Finance%2CPolicy+Society%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CCommunities+Society%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Peter+Hetherington&c7=2009_01_07&c8=1142630&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Society&c12=Housing&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FSociety%2FHousing" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>With Barack Obama preparing to unveil a huge public works programme on taking office later this month, some people in the UK government will be keen not to be upstaged by the US president-elect.</p><p>Margaret Beckett, the housing minister, readily acknowledges that housing - with the new Homes and Communities Agency hopefully priming the market to kick-start building on abandoned and partly completed sites - provides one quick way to get the economy moving again. "If Alistair [Darling, the chancellor], looking as he has to at the overall balance of the economy, felt there was more he should do and could do, we could help him creatively use those resources," she insists. "No question about that at all."</p><p>As a former environment secretary, Beckett is clearly impressed by Obama's commitment to addressing climate change. She says: "Something like 47% of carbon emissions come from our building stock, a lot of it domestic. Yes, I shouldn't be at all surprised if [the Americans] don't do imaginative things. </p><p>"One of the things I have been mindful of all the way through is that we mustn't lose sight of the long term. There is both the need to be much more adventurous about the condition of our building stock, in saying what the standards are we have to meet, and there is scope for new kinds of skills - and also a scope for, and a need for, an even more highly qualified workforce than we have now in the new technologies. There is a tremendous need for a drive forward in this area, linked to environmental input."</p><p>Why not, then, a vast public works programme to improve the environmental state of our housing stock? "We have a vast programme," Beckett insists. "There is then a question as to how, when and in what ways we take it forward to an even higher level that can meet environmental standards, as well as those for decent homes. I am absolutely certain that is going to be a matter for discussion over the next year or so."</p><p>Four months ago, Beckett was on her way to New Zealand for a conference when the call came from Downing Street: Gordon Brown wanted her back in government barely a year after he sacked her as foreign secretary. She says: "The point that Gordon made to me was that he was setting up this new national economic council and he wanted me to be on it. He thought it would be particularly useful if, as a member, I was doing housing."</p><p><strong>Welcome surprise</strong></p><p>Beckett, who has held a string of ministerial and shadow jobs since Harold Wilson made her schools minister in the mid-1970s, and who briefly led the Labour party after John Smith's untimely death in 1994, took little persuading. The invitation was clearly a welcome surprise. "People started talking about me coming back into government, but I wrote it off, to be honest," she confesses.</p><p>You have to delve into political history - Harold Macmillan in the early 1950s, for instance, or Anthony Crosland in the 1970s - to find a housing minister close to the heart of government. Beckett regularly sits alongside Brown, Darling, business secretary Peter Mandelson and other heavyweights on the key economic council. </p><p>Her intellect and her enthusiasm for politics undimmed, Beckett combines old Labour instincts with the realism of a reformed party. Within minutes of beginning an interview, she is hammering David Cameron with vengeance. "What is absolutely etched in my mind - and would be to anybody active in the 80s and 90s - is the way in which neglect and dereliction of social housing in particular just blighted whole areas of my constituency and those of other MPs," she thunders. </p><p>"David Cameron talks of 'broken Britain'. I could have shown him broken Britain. You can go round estates now, and of course there are problems, but they are transformed compared with what they were, with a £19bn backlog of repairs [completed]. I could strangle the Tories when they start talking about, 'You didn't save when the sun was shining.' When the sun was shining, we repaired the holes in the roof, literally."</p><p>Beckett had to live with the legacy of Margaret Thatcher's pursuit of cut-price council house sales as a cornerstone of a revolution ostensibly built on privatisation and self-reliance. She recognises that, as house prices took off, some tenants began to say: 'I've been paying rent for 60 years, and what have I got to show for it?'</p><p>"I think the argument - very contentious for a long time - is no longer about whether there's something to be said for giving people that opportunity [to own an asset]," she says. "The tragedy is that what was lost was not replaced. I was shocked to see the figures that came through - because somebody asked me a parliamentary question the other day - that it was 2007 before we actually had more social housing built than we were losing every year in right-to-buy. Every year, from '83 on, there was a net loss."</p><p><strong>Greater capacity</strong></p><p>While not suggesting the right-to-buy policy should be dropped, Beckett insists that the current crisis underlines one vital fact. "What we really need is more housing, more supply," she says. "There are lots of other things you can discuss, but the key to it all is having greater capacity." </p><p>The government's policy, for the three years from 2008 to 2011, is to increase spending on housing by £2bn, to £8.3bn, doubling building to 180,000 new homes, 70% of them for social renting. Of course, in the current meltdown - with building levels the lowest since the 1920s - it might seem academic, but Beckett insists that money brought forward in that programme, particularly an extra £550m to help construction, should help. </p><p>Pressed on the need for more investment, Beckett insists the government had already committed substantial sums to housing and to other public works programmes, such as school building. "I can't say I've got an open chequebook, because I haven't. What I will say is that I will listen to anybody who has ideas and can suggest opportunities as to how we can minimise this downturn as much as we can and use it in ways we might not have thought we could do two or three years ago."</p><p>So what of the role of local councils, some of which complain that Treasury inflexibility is preventing them from using assets, such as land, as handy collateral against which to borrow to build? "Local authorities could not bid for social housing grant, but those are restrictions we are about to remove. We are trying to create much more of a level playing field, and there is an opportunity now for local authorities to participate - either in partnership with others or under their own steam. Yes, of course, borrowing has got to be prudent, but I recall from the past that local authorities wanted to do certain things that appeared to make extremely sound commercial sense and weren't being allowed to proceed by the then government. That's not something I would want us to repeat." </p><p>But isn't the Treasury reluctant to let authorities be more adventurous? "They've got to make a strong and sound case," Beckett insists. "It would be a mistake to say the Treasury would close its eyes to any problems, but it would be a great pity, and I think it would be unjustified, if local authorities thought, 'Because the Treasury won't like it, we won't even come forward with ideas.'"</p><p>That is the closest the minister comes to saying she will fight the corner of those organisations - councils, and the Homes and Communities Agency, for instance - that want the government to be more flexible, and bolder, at a time of economic crisis. You sense many battles ahead to resurrect building, rescue housebuilders - and, crucially, keep workforces intact.</p><h2>Curriculum vitae</h2><p><strong>Age:</strong> 65.</p><p><strong>Born:</strong> Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire.</p><p><strong>Lives:</strong> Derby.</p><p><strong>Status:</strong> Married.</p><p><strong>Education:</strong> Manchester University Institute of Science and Technology, metallurgy.</p><p><strong>Career:</strong> October 2008-present: housing minister; 1997-2007: government posts - trade and industry secretary, leader of the Commons, secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, foreign and commonwealth secretary; 1983-97: several key shadow ministries, including social security and Treasury, Labour's election campaign co-ordinator, deputy leader of the party, and, briefly, leader; 1983: elected MP for Derby North; 1979-83: senior researcher, Granada Television; 1974-79: MP for Lincoln, with spell as schools minister; 1970-74: industrial policy researcher, Labour party; 1966-70: apprentice metallurgist, AEI, Manchester.</p><p><strong>Interests:</strong> "Cultivating friends"; caravanning.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/housing">Housing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/communities">Communities</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour">Labour</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/planning">Planning policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031934010712024156193"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Society&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231329031934010712024156193" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 \| Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> \| <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a><p style="clear:both" />

collection harassment collection agency fix bad credit guide

How To Make Money In Real Estate Investing
By Madan "Raja" Ahluwalia, Fri Dec 9th

How to Make Money in Real Estate Investing

Lower Your Taxes

Tax incentives for real estate investors can often make thedifference in your tax rates. Deductions for rental property canoften be used to offset wage income. Tax breaks can often enableinvestors to turn a loss into a profit. For which items caninvestors get tax breaks? You could claim deductions for actualcosts you incur for financing, managing and operating the rentalproperty. This includes mortgage interest payments, real estatetaxes, insurance, maintenance, repairs, property managementfees, travel, advertising, and utilities (assuming the tenantdoesn''t pay them). These expenses can be subtracted from youradjusted gross income when determining your personal incometaxes. Of course, these deductions cannot exceed the amount ofreal estate income you receive. In addition to deductions foroperating costs, you can also receive breaks for depreciation.Buildings naturally deteriorate over time, and these "losses"can be deducted regardless of the actual market value of theproperty. Because depreciation is a non-cash expense -- you arenot actually spending any money -- the tax code can get a bittricky. For more information about depreciation and various taxalternatives, ask your tax advisor about Section 1031 of theU.S. Tax Code.

Have

a Positive Cash Flow

There are two kinds of positive cash flows: pre-tax andafter-tax. A pre-tax positive cash flow occurs when incomereceived is greater than expenses incurred. This sort ofsituation is difficult to find, but they are usually a strongand safe investment. An after-tax positive cash flow may haveexpenses that outweigh collected income, but various tax breaksallow for a positive cash flow. This is more common, but it isgenerally not as strong or safe as a pre-tax positive cash flow.

Regardless of what kind of real estate you choose to invest in,timely collections from your tenants is absolutely necessary. Apositive cash flow -- whether it is pre-tax or after-tax --requires rental income. Be sure to find quality tenants; athorough credit and employment check is probably a good idea.

Use Leverage

One of the most important factors in determining a solidinvestment is the amount of equity you are purchasing. Equity isthe difference between the actual worth of the property and thebalanced owed on the mortgage.

Benefit from Growing Equity

While investing in real estate is relatively complex, it isoften worth the extra work. When compared to other financialinvestments, like bonds or CD's, the return on investment forreal estate purchases can often be greater.

The key to real estate investing is equity. Determine an amountof equity that you want to achieve. When you reach your goal,it's time to sell or refinance. Determining the proper amount ofequity may require the assistance of a real estate professional.

About the author:Madan "Raja" Ahluwalia is an Attorney at Law & Realtor. Rajaoffers his clients a counseling-based approach to home buying,where the client's long-term goals are the most importantconsideration. He possesses a thorough understanding of themarket and trends, based on years of involvement in real estate.He provides expert insights and helps clients understand timing,pricing and financing issues. Contact Raja at raja@kw.com or650.430.4023.

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