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Happy new year!
To misquote Bette Davis in the movie classic All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy year ..." However, just for a moment, let's avert our eyes from the doom and gloom around us and focus instead on some of the daft surveys that have been clogging up the Reporter's email inbox over the festive period. Inevitably, the press release entitled "Christmas pressies that make us sick" stood out from the pack. It was issued by motor insurer esure and claimed that some popular gift gadgets such as DVD players that are designed to keep passengers entertained can actually increase the risk of carsickness. However, there was one particularly intriguing finding: "A third (33%) of Brits have vomited in a car by the time they reach the age of 12. This age group is highly susceptible to carsickness and is also likely to be the largest users of in-car entertainment devices." Pass the sick bag, please ...
Hitting the gym
Getting fit usually tops the list of New Year's resolutions - but not this year, it seems. Many Brits with gym membership say they will be giving the exercise bike and other such equipment a miss during the coming weeks and months to cut costs. With gym membership costing as much as £500 a year, research by price comparison website moneysupermarket.com shows people have been reviewing their disposable income and deciding they simply cannot afford the costs this year. While 14% of those quizzed admit they are often no-shows at the gym and will be cancelling their membership to save money, a massive 42% say they want to keep going to the gym but can't afford it.
Shopping imperative
Yet more research claims that millions of us have inherited a "spending gene", and that our spending patterns are similar to those of our parents, whether it's everyday purchases or indulgent luxuries. More than four in 10 adults say they splash out similar amounts of cash as their mothers, fathers and grandparents. It seems mums are the biggest influence, with nearly one in four people (24%) saying they inherited the majority of their spending habits from their mother, according to Skipton Building Society.
Star rating
The latest crop of "stars" volunteering for a spell in the new Celebrity Big Brother house were only due to be officially named yesterday, but there was press speculation this week that Ulrika Jonsson is already a winner - when it comes to how much she's being paid to appear on the Channel 4 show. The Daily Mail says she is being paid £175,000 - "more than any contestant is thought ever to have been paid". Presumably, TV bosses hope the 41-year-old will reveal juicy details about some of her past relationships. The worst-paid contestant, it is claimed, is former boy band member Ben Adams (no, me neither), who is pocketing £20,000.
Pension pot luck
From one madhouse to another (the House of Commons) ... government ministers' pension pots are defying the stock market slump and are up by 10% in a year, it emerged this week. Research by the Liberal Democrats revealed that high-profile ministers have pension pots worth more than 10 times the average in the private sector. Gordon Brown has a personal ministerial pension pot of £274,000. Justice secretary Jack Straw's is £294,000 and chancellor Alistair Darling's is £235,000. Lib Dem work and pensions spokesman Lord Oakeshott says: "Ministers and mandarins live in a pensions time warp. They look like the first world war general in Blackadder, sipping fine wines in a chateau well behind the front line while privates in the trenches get their pensions shot to pieces."
Celebrity-free suit
Asda this week announced it is launching a "Savile Row-inspired" suit for the bargain price of £19. The supermarket chain says the black, single-breasted suit will be modelled by 34-year-old social worker David Baker from Hull. "With a VAT saving at the tills, the suit will actually ring up at a credit-crunching £18.60," it adds. It claims that by not using a celebrity-led advertising campaign, it has been able to pass on savings to customers.
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