May 27th, 2009

There appears to be a pervasive mood towards mass blame and anger at the moment, and whilst it’s fair to say that some amongst our politicians and bankers are not the most honest members of society there are as ever some pretty bright rays of light.  Figures released from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) reveal that 57% of claimants last year were rewarded with some form of payback and that there was a 14% rise in overall disputes settled.  It’s always nice to know that “the man” might be fighting the case for the greater good after all.

Source: BBC

May 18th, 2009

Born out of a need to create positive art from the recession, “Worthless” is definitely in keeping with this blogs attitude.  A fusion of art and music; this exhibition relies upon interactivity, with members of the public bringing along items that are considered to be “worthless” that will then be worked into pieces of art.  There is more than coincidence in the name with it directly referencing Woolworths.  They state their intention as taking perceived worthless items through to priceless with consumers dictating how much they would pay for said items.  The exhibition will be taking place on Endell Street from 22nd May, for more info follow the link

Source: Worthless

May 14th, 2009

The Nationwide Consumer Confidence Index is on the rise, according to its latest findings, released this month.

Although it’s not boom time, and (of course) some concerns remain, there are some decidedly cheery signs: Consumer Confidence rose by 8 points – the largest single monthly rise for two years – whilst the Spending Index continued its slow climb.

Commenting on these figures Nationwide’s Senior Economist, Martin Gahabauer observed “a strong rebound in global equity markets”, “signs of improvement in housing market indicators” and “a number of the world’s largest banks [announcing] a return to profits…[which] may signal the start of a thaw in the money markets”.

He also remarked that some 26% of those questioned “now believe that the economic situation will be better in six months time – a figure not seen since the bank bail-out scheme was announced in October last year”.

Things could indeed be looking up.

May 11th, 2009

It’s easier to be cynic than an optimist. It’s all to easy nowadays to accuse optimists of being naive and whilst there are warnings of being naive over the ability of our economy to spring back from the forces of recession, there does seem to be an expression of a desire for hope seeping through into popular culture. Look at the popularity of the new Star Trek film – shooting straight to the top of the North American charts and taking more than double of Wolverine at second post. Yes Sci -Fi is any easy guarantee at the box office, but could there be a bit more? Star Trek was originally an idea seeded in JFK times, when hope and an excitement at what lay before pervaded daily US culture and soon swept the rest of the world along with it. There are obvious parallels with a president who represents not just national but international hope. Debate if you will if that’s getting carried away, but here’s hoping that we’re moving towards a time when it’s possible to say we hope, we dream and not be embarrassed to do so.

Author: Guilliana Castle
Source: The Times

May 7th, 2009

Looking up?

 We were more than pleased to hear how this piece of good news isstarting to spread.

The Daily Telegraph featured this story in their business section: that markets are showing signs of less negativity, which was also picked up by the Today Programme.

The feature said that markets “continued to rally…after a wave of upbeat corporate news and positive economic data” lifting hopes “that the worst of the UK recession may be over”.

Spread the good news.

May 6th, 2009

Today, we were delighted to see the results that the Co-operative Group, who claimed record  interim results with profits up 35.6% to £191.1m and claimed to be “on track” with their aim to double their profit in three years.

Their business spans retail, pharmacy, funeral services, travel, banking and insurance. And even though retail food sales are up over 40%, we’re particularly interested to see how the financial services fair. The ethical elements of the Co-operative brand might be just what the sector needs right now, to start to build trust in our financial institutions.

Glad tidings, indeed