How To Make Money Using The Internet ... Research, Research, Research
A lot of people teach those new to the Internet marketing arena that the best way to launch your career is to promote something that you are interested, be it your job of work, hobby or even a special talent.

This will get you off to a good start, they insist.

Actually, they are quite wrong and this is why so many, would be, Internet marketers fail within just a few months or even weeks.

You see, the thing is, although YOU may be interested in your chosen subject, it's simply no good building a super web site and promoting it for all you're worth if people don't buy what you're selling.

You can't earn a living running a web site that doesn't sell.

If you'd like to build a web site about your hobby, that's fair enough but if you'd like to earn money from sales with it, you'll need to use a different strategy.

The trick is to find out what people are buying and then start selling that. You may not like the product or service but, after it makes you large stacks of cash each day, you'll soon learn to live with it, I'm sure.

In order to find out what is popular at the moment, you'll need to do a little research. Firstly, visit ClickBank (www.clickbank.com) and see what's going on there.

ClickBank is an Internet service where people selling information and software over the Internet allow others to promote their business for a piece of the action. So, for example, if I am selling a home business course on 'How to produce your own eBook' I can let other people sell it from their web sites or wherever and they get to have say 50% of the takings.

If the price is £100 they get £50 and I get the other £50. It's just a way of shifting your product. Eventually, scores of people are selling your stuff all over the Internet.

ClickBank have tens of thousands of these so called 'Affiliate' schemes and anyone can join for free and start selling other people's wares while keeping some of the profit.

ClickBank allow you to view what is selling the best at the current time. It's THIS list that will guide you to know just what you should be making available from your own web site. After all, if the whole world are buying this type of product then why shouldn't they buy from you to?

More research is needed, however. You'll need to know more about what's going on before committing yourself to a web site that is going to work for you 24/7.

Firstly, how do you find out the top 10 selling information products? This is when you visit ClickBank and see. Choose one of the top 10, affiliate to it and build a web site to promote it. Some affiliate schemes make the web site for you whereby you just enter your details and affiliate number then upload it to your web

space.

At the time of writing I was able to look at the popular listings: Business to business, Education, Publishing, New products, Promotion, Web design, Industrial, Reports, Home and family, Marketing, Money and employment, Computing and Internet, Fun and entertainment, Sports and recreation, society and culture and so on.

By clicking on any category ClickBank will list separate sub categories where they are listed in order of popularity and sales. Simply pick the one that suits you and start promoting. It is free to join and you can earn plenty.

Once you are up and running you'll need to promote your site to those that search for your subject. This is where 'keywords' come in to play.

You'll need to find which words people are typing into the search engines when they are looking for something. If you are selling publications on 'Ice cream' for example, you'll find that simply setting up Ice and Cream as keywords won't enable people to find your site over anybody else's who are also promoting the same thing as you.

To get people to your site you'll need to use Google's AdWords. By opening an account with Google AdWords you'll be able to insert your listing automatically on the customers search results page. There is a charge for this but it is based on how much you want to Pay Per Click. See www.google.com and click on 'Advertising Programmes' to visit the 'how to' pages.

To find out what people are typing into the search engines to find your product visit: www.overture.com and it will give the top keywords to use in Google AdWords.

Once in your account in Google, you simply bid on the words you want in your promotion. Careful selection will bring up your web site advertising high on the results page so that the customer will visit your site and buy your product.

You also need to join Google's AdSense programme whereby you have other people's advertising on your site. This way, all ads will be on the same subject as yours and you will be paid each time somebody clicks through on your page. So you earn money per click and also money for selling your affiliated product. Watch your account grow.

By researching the keywords used on a regular basis you can stay at the top of the results page list on the Google search engine site.

There are marketers earning thousands of pounds each week using this method. Once all is up and running you can start on your next web site with another top 10 affiliate programme.

Full details are on the ClickBank web site, the Google web site and, of course, Overture.com

This is yet another way to actually earn money by using the Internet.

(c)2006 Martyn Brown: 20+ years involved in the home business industry.

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House prices fall by 16% year-on-year
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/58156?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+House+prices+fall+by+16%25+in+2008&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=House+prices+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney%2CHousing+market+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Hilary+Osborne&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142568&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=House+prices&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FHouse+prices" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>House prices fell by 15.9% in 2008, Nationwide said today - the biggest annual drop since the society began publishing its index in 1991.</p><p>December saw a 2.5% fall in prices - the second biggest monthly fall of the year after May, when prices were down 2.6%. The drop follows a 0.4% fall in November, which seemed to suggest the rate of decline was easing.</p><p>The snapshot of house prices from the UK's biggest building society showed that by the end of last year the average price of a UK home had fallen by £29,000 to £153,048.</p><p>Nationwide's figures are broadly in line with those <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/02/halifax-house-prices">published last week by the UK's largest lender, Halifax</a>.</p><p>It reported that prices had dropped by 16.2% over the course of last year, with a 2.2% fall in December alone. Its index put the average price of a home at the close of last year at £159,900 - 20% below its peak in the summer of 2007.</p><p>Nationwide's chief economist, Fionnuala Earley, said 2008 had been a "year of turmoil" in the UK housing market. </p><p>"The disruption in the financial markets worsened throughout 2008 and had larger implications for the real economy than we anticipated a year ago. </p><p>"This time last year we expected the housing market to cool quickly as affordability was poor and economic conditions looked set to weaken, but we did not anticipate the speed of house price falls or the extent of the global and domestic economic slowdown."</p><p>Last month, the society said it would be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/dec/19/nationwide-halifax-house-price-predictions">ditching its annual forecast for house prices</a> as a result of the uncertain economic outlook.</p><p>Earley today reiterated that position, saying volatile conditions made it more difficult than usual to estimate what would happen to the market over the coming year.</p><p>"In these unsettled times a forecast subject to frequent change could itself add to greater uncertainty," she said.</p><p>However, she said that tighter lending conditions and the fact that homes remained unaffordable for some people suggested prices would have to fall further before significant numbers of buyers returned to the market. </p><p>"In terms of house price expectations, current sentiment of borrowers and lenders is still fairly low," she said.</p><p>"Until the economy and the labour market stabilise, it is hard to imagine households becoming upbeat about the immediate future for house prices and this will hinder the pace of recovery."</p><h2>Looking ahead</h2><p>Nationwide said prices had fallen in all regions of the UK during 2008, although the rate of decline varied hugely. While Northern Ireland recorded a 34% drop in prices, the Scottish market dropped by just 8%.</p><p>In England the largest fall was in East Anglia, where prices were down by 16.6%, followed by London and the south-east where prices dropped by more than 15%. The smallest drop was in the north of the country, where prices were down 11% year-on-year.</p><p>Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said the figures completed "a dismal year" for the housing market. </p><p>He predicts that prices will fall by a further 15% this year, taking the average to £130,091 on Nationwide's measure, and said the data increased the likelihood of further large interest rate cuts. </p><p>"The ongoing deep problems of the housing market maintains pressure on the Bank of England to deliver another deep interest rate cut on Thursday, although mortgage lenders are likely to be increasingly unwilling to pass on much of any further interest rate cuts," he said.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/houseprices">House prices</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/housingmarket">Housing market</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=1231231991392010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991392010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
Polly Toynbee: It might sound appealing, but this is populist poison
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/31568?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+It+might+sound+appealing%2C+but+this+is+populist+poison&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=The+Guardian&c4=David+Cameron%2CConservatives%2CEconomic+policy%2CPolitics%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSaving+money+%28Money%29%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CTax+and+spending%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Polly+Toynbee&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142531&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>The ideological gap just yawned yet wider as David Cameron sprang into the New Year with tigerish ferocity. The longer Labour is in power, he said, the worse it gets - for the economy, national debt, crime, education, welfare dependency, the health service and family breakdown; all worse, worse, worse. Broken Britain needs an election now when "change is going to come". But president-elect Barack Obama, Cameron is certainly not. As the new president plans a trillion-dollar Keynesian stimulus in the United States economy, Cameron retreats into Thatcher's 1980s. Every time he speaks, he climbs deeper into the recesses of her handbag economics, preaching thrift and a bonfire of public spending.</p><p>He is right that this year things can only get much worse: every economic commentator says so. Any government seeking re-election after a year like 2009 with three million unemployed and gaping black holes in high street shopfronts can expect an uphill struggle. On the face of it, Cameron should walk it with constant finger-pointing - who was at the wheel when the economy crashed? Revenge is a strong voting motive. Superficially, he has all the best lines. The question is whether his phoney economics fool enough of the people enough of the time. </p><p>Yesterday's speech extolled the moral case for saving and thrift, "where government and citizens live within their means, save for a rainy day, waste not, want not". How well that chimes with the current mood, in which the worried rein in spending and even the comfortable indulge in frugality chic. It chimes with the bishops' call for less shopping and more praying. It chimes with commonsense instinct: in hard times pull in your horns, don't borrow, don't spend; hide under the duvet until it's all over. So when Cameron ratchets up the rhetoric by calling the VAT cut "an absolutely criminal waste of public money", plenty of voters will nod in agreement. Labour's &pound;12.5bn cash splurge did feel odd. When Cameron claims: "We are in this mess because of too much government debt", it sounds plausible. When he offers &pound;5bn in tax cuts for penny-wise savers by taking money out of current spending to salt away in savings accounts, that too may seem like prudent policy. All this goes with the grain of human instinct - and Labour has yet to find resonant language to challenge it.</p><p>Cameron's plan for retrenchment is economically illiterate, and would be frighteningly dangerous if he were in power. But it's hard to explain why thrift is not the answer in a punchy political message. Keynesianism is counter-intuitive: he wrote himself about the problem of the "thrift paradox" - persuading people and governments to spend, lend and invest at a time when every fibre of their being urges slamming on the brakes. But let's examine why the Cameron prescription is part populism, part poison and part snake-oil: since he's not stupid, presumably he knows it. </p><p>Take his plan for a loan guarantee to let banks lend again with the state as guarantor. It sounds good - indeed, the government has already said it will do the same, responding to the Crosby report. Cameron's deceit, in his eagerness to cut borrowing, is to pretend he can do it cost-free by raising interest rates enough to cover any losses from failed loans. Nonsense, say those working on the scheme. To make it self-financing, he would have to raise the loan interest rates to many times their present rate, and no one would want them. Guaranteeing loans, some of which would fail, costs some &pound;2bn - but in Cameron's fantasy economics he pretends he can both fix this crisis and cut spending.</p><p>Take his key claim that Britain's debt "puts us in a much weaker position than other countries". Is that true? Ask the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies - by no means always a friend of Gordon Brown's previous economic policies - and here's their verdict: of the G7 richest nations, only Canada has a lower stock of debt than the UK. The US, France, Germany, Japan and Italy have even higher debts than the sizeable 57% of gross domestic product Labour now plans. Compared with all the leading economies, the UK is still only in the middle of the debt table. So yes, we can well afford to borrow more to avoid the worst of this year's cataclysm - and that is the right thing to do. What of Cameron's plan? To make a sudden &pound;5bn cut in spending this April is an anti-stimulus at a time when money needs to be spent. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that the only way to cut quickly is to axe whatever is easiest with random destruction, without rational planning. </p><p>Was the VAT cut "a criminal waste"? The IFS says it was the best way to get money out there fast. What of Cameron's plan to encourage saving with tax cuts? Not a bad idea, but absolutely not in the depth of recession. For years the IFS has criticised Brown for adding to national debt by failing to raise enough tax to cover his higher spending in the good years. Now, the IFS's Carl Emmerson says: "But even if he had, that slight cushion would no way have insulated us from this crisis." </p><p>Cameron's proposed cuts in public services would be disastrous in a year like this. He would ring-fence only NHS, schools and defence spending, while from April he would cut planned spending on everything else. But how could he cut Department for Work and Pensions funds as unemployment claimants soar? Why cut the big rise in apprenticeships, just as the young are leaving school to sign on? How do you create jobs if all infrastructure is cut back? (His high-speed rail would take years to set up - and it needs state funds.) During the last Tory government, average capital spending was just 0.6% - while Labour has spent more than 2%, the price of repairing 20 years of public squalor. Labour's plan to bring forward &pound;10bn of capital spending to create 100,000 jobs is a vital necessity.</p><p>Labour relies on real economics winning over the plausible lie in the long run. After all, the Confederation of British Industry, the International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development all urge Keynesian policies, with Barack Obama leading the way. Labour's serious problem is that no one will ever be able to prove whether what they did worked: if the recession is less deep, were these debts really necessary? Economists will argue for years, but nobody will ever know how much worse things might have been, had Cameron been in power.</p><p><a href="mailto:polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk">polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk</a></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/saving-money">Saving money</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</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=1231231991449010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991449010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
Cameron offers savings tax cut plus clamp on public spending
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/25338?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Cameron+offers+savings+tax+cut+plus+clamp+on+public+spending&ch=Politics&c3=The+Guardian&c4=David+Cameron%2CConservatives%2CEconomic+policy%2CGordon+Brown%2CTax+and+spending%2CPolitics%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSmall+business+%28Business%29%2CBanking+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CBusiness%2CBanks+and+building+societies%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CIncome+tax%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CUK+news%2CPublic+services+policy+%28Society%29%2CPublic+finance+%28Society%29%2CSociety&c5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CPersonal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CPolicy+Society%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Patrick+Wintour&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142525&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=David+Cameron&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FDavid+Cameron" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>David Cameron took the side of savers hit by tumbling interest rates yesterday and promised to abolish tax on the savings income of all basic-rate taxpayers. He also promised to lift personal allowances for pensioners by &pound;2,000 a year. </p><p>Pounded by Labour charges of offering a do-nothing approach to the crisis, the Tory leader said that he wanted to help the "innocent victims" of the recession.</p><p>Cameron also toughened his approach to public spending, by proposing for the first time that its growth in the financial year 2009-10 be cut from 3.4% to 2.6%, saving &pound;5bn. Setting out a plan for Conservative government, he said spending on schools, health, defence and international development would be maintained at Labour's planned levels, meaning projected spending in other departments could grow only 1% in real terms, instead of the 4.1% planned by Labour. Cameron said he did not think 1% unreasonable. </p><p>But his move imposes tight constraints on departments such as the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, business department, and communities department. George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, pointed out that public spending would still be rising by &pound;25bn under the Tory regime, as opposed to &pound;30bn, leading Tory rightwingers to claim that Cameron was not doing enough to break with Labour spending or borrowing. </p><p>The chief secretary to the Treasury, Yvette Cooper, said it was "economic madness" to slow public spending - the Conservatives were isolated internationally, she claimed. Downing Street was last night pointing to reports that Germany is planning a &pound;50bn fiscal stimulus.</p><p>But Cameron is increasingly bold in advocating tighter spending, and has already proposed a lower level than the government plan for 2010-11. The country, he said, was facing a "catastrophic legacy of debt and disrepair"; he sometimes wanted to shake Gordon Brown, he said, to get him to understand his errors.</p><p>Cameron put his proposals in the context of a wider claim about the need for an economy that is more balanced, and not so tilted towards housing, the public sector and financial services. </p><p>He published reports on creating green technology incubators, and buidling the world's first trading market for environmental companies. He also revealed a review into how to give every home ultra-fast broadband within a decade. Brown is proposing a green and digital infrastructure renewal programme this spring.</p><p>The Tory leader's move came ahead of Thursday's meeting of the Bank of England monetary policy committee, expected to cut interest rates to possibly 1%, the lowest since the Bank's formation in 1694. A cut from the current 2% would further damage the interests of savers when savings are at their lowest for 50 years. </p><p>Cameron said: "We need to make a really big change in Britain from an economy built on debt to an economy built on savings. A culture of thrift at the heart of government and a culture of saving at the heart of our economy - these changes will provide strong foundations for the new economy we plan to build."</p><p>Privately, the Tories accept that the cost, and therefore the impact, of abolishing tax on savings for basic-rate taxpayers - &pound;2.6bn - may be too high, since it is based on estimates made at a time when interest rates were much higher.</p><p>The proposal to lift tax on savings income would, the Conservatives say, simplify the tax system, since banks would no longer have to withhold 20% of interest income at source, and people on low incomes who currently do not pay tax at 20% would no longer be forced to apply for their money back.</p><p>In practice, a third of savers already have their savings in tax-free Isas, and yesterday's initiative by the Tories may prompt Brown (planning a tour of English regions starting tomorrow) to raise the maximum amount of income that can be invested in an Isa tax-free, currently &pound;7,200. </p><p>The Tories denied that helping savers would take money out of the economy. They argued that advisers to the Obama administration are suggesting that tax cuts are three times as effective at raising growth as spending increases.</p><p>More broadly, Cameron insisted he was optimistic that his policy package was winning converts: the government's 2.5% VAT cut in December had been "a criminal waste" of &pound;12.5bn of taxpayers' money, saying the government might as well have burnt the cash.</p><p>Cameron also repeated his call for a government insurance scheme to back banks lending to customers and businesses. The Treasury is looking at a similar scheme, but the government will be determined to present any proposal as sharply different to the Conservatives' socialisation of credit.</p><h2>Parties' policies</h2><p><strong>Labour plans</strong></p><p>? Cut VAT by 2.5%at cost of &pound;11bn to stimulate demand.</p><p>? Consider second round of help for banks following &pound;50bn recapitalisation, but put the idea of more government cash for banks on the back burner.</p><p>? Create 100,000 jobs by advancing extra capital investment directed at green jobs and school building.</p><p>? Publish interim report on digital Britain.</p><p>? Encourage ailing firms to switch staff to part-time work and allow staff to train for remainder of time.</p><p>? Consider bringing forward extension of school leaving age. </p><p>? Allow mortgage holders in difficulty to have a two-year interest rate holiday.</p><p>? Consider help for savers in March budget.</p><p><strong>Tory plans </strong></p><p>? &pound;50bn national loan guarantee scheme to help free up credit for business. Focused on short-term credit lines, overdrafts and trade credit - the lifelines all businesses need to keep afloat. </p><p>? &pound;3bn tax breaks to reward companies who take on new staff. </p><p>? Small businesses to enjoy six-month VAT holiday. </p><p>? An environmental stockmarket, where green companies are listed and traded.</p><p>? No tax to be paid on savers' incomes for basic rate taxpayers. Help 5 million taxpaying pensioners by increasing personal allowances. </p><p>? Commission report on how UK households will have access to high-speed broadband internet within next 10 years.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/gordon-brown">Gordon Brown</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</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/small-business">Small business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/banking">Banking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/banks">Banks and building societies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/incometax">Income tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/policy">Public services policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/public-finance">Public finance</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991514010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991514010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
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Editorial: Community schemes bankrolled by big City firms are already facing the axe
Report reveals grimy reality of British hotels
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/93432?ns=guardian&pageName=Travel%3A+Mould+on+the+mattress%2C+soiled+toilet+seat+-+welcome+to+tourism%27s+new+boom+sector&ch=Travel&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Hotels%2CUnited+Kingdom+%28Travel%29%2CBudget+travel%2CTravel%2CTravel+and+leisure+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CConsumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CBusiness+Markets%2CBusiness+Travel%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHotels%2CUK+Travel&c6=Rachel+Williams&c7=2009_01_06&c8=1142451&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Travel&c12=Hotels&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FTravel%2FHotels" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Now that the boutique hotel trappings of Egyptian cotton sheets, walk-in slate showers and elegant dark wood have been adopted by even the most modest places to stay, tourists might think we live in an era of luxury for all. </p><p>But a report from undercover hotel inspectors published today reveals a grimier reality beneath the surface of the British hospitality industry.</p><p>Researchers for Which? Holiday magazine who checked into 16 budget hotels in London and Manchester pretending to be ordinary guests found mouldy mattresses, stained duvets and dirty toilets at some leading chains. Ibis performed "particularly badly", the team said, and Travelodge was also criticised in their report.</p><p>The results of the investigation come as domestic tourism is preparing for a boom, with credit-squeezed holidaymakers tightening their belts, and cost-conscious business travellers trading down.</p><p>Despite these favourable conditions, Which? said it was concerned by the standards of cleanliness it found.</p><p>The team, consisting of a researcher and a microbiologist, said their "most disturbing" discovery was a mattress in the Ibis on Charles Street, Manchester, which was so badly soiled that the cover had started to fray and mould had begun to grow. A duvet at the Ibis on Portland Street in the same city was stained, with the microbiologist suggesting one of the marks was blood. There was "something sticky on the bedside table surface", the report added.</p><p>The Ibis Euston in London was home to the dirtiest toilet the researchers found, with urine and faeces around the edge of the seat and urine streaked down the pedestal, according to the report. On the bedroom floor they observed a stray fingernail and food debris.</p><p>Which? said bathrooms at the five Travelodges it visited were unclean and it was concerned that bacteria found in four of the rooms could indicate poor cleaning.</p><p>At the chain's Gray's Inn Road hotel in London, inspectors found "appalling" levels of dust under the bed. "It was so bad that when we kicked the carpet, dust rose before our eyes and our consultant's footprint was left outlined on the floor. The wall behind the curtains was also thick with ground-in dirt, which contained a handprint streaked down the wall."</p><p>At Blackfriars Street in Manchester, a Travelodge room had mould around the bath, and in Ancoats Street the inspectors found a stained duvet and mattress.</p><p>Which? Holiday's researcher, Amanda Diamond, said the results were a surprise. "When we set out to do the report we really thought we would find nothing; we thought it would be more to do with comparing budget hotel chains, given that the market is growing and more people are looking for cheaper rooms in the current economic climate. We took a microbiologist as a precaution. We certainly didn't expect to find rooms in such poor condition."</p><p>Research published by Travelodge this week suggested that more than half of Britons plan to stay in the UK for their summer break this year. Overseas travel declined by 10.5% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics, and trips to Spain - British tourists' favourite destination by far - fell 15% last year, the Spanish tourism ministry said.</p><p>Whitbread, which owns Premier Inn, plans to double its rooms in the UK to 55,000 within five years while Travelodge hopes to have 55 new properties by 2015 and raise capacity from 24,600 rooms to 70,000 by 2020.</p><p>Lorna Cowan, editor of Which? Holiday, said: "Although this investigation was just a snapshot, it does raise concerns about the cleanliness of some budget hotel chains. It's clear from our research that some of the hotels are getting it right when appropriate cleaning methods are being used. Paying guests should be guaranteed, at the very least, a clean room. </p><p>"There doesn't seem to be one single accepted standard for hygiene in hotels across the UK, and we would like to see this change." </p><p>An Ibis spokesman said: "Ibis treats matters of cleanliness and hygiene as critically important. We were, therefore, very disappointed to see the results of the investigation which showed standards that are totally unacceptable to us. </p><p>"We have clear procedures in place to ensure that housekeeping standards are to the highest levels. Clearly the Which? investigation indicates that those procedures are not being implemented in some cases and we have taken immediate remedial actions to ensure we deliver the standards of cleanliness that all our guests have the right to expect.</p><p>"We have submitted the results Which? obtained to an established independent health and safety consultant, who has confirmed that nothing in those results constitutes a danger to public health."</p><p>A Travelodge spokesman said the chain rejected any suggestion that Which? or its customers should be concerned at the level of bacteria found. "According to a leading independent microbiologist that reviewed Which's findings, the levels of bacteria found were so low that they could not cause any health risk whatsoever.</p><p>"With regard to the isolated incidents of dust, we would like to reassure customers that we immediately remedied these cases through strengthening of cleaning procedures and superior cleaning materials.</p><p>"Our six million customers should always enjoy a good quality stay, so this report has helped us by highlighting a handful of cases where we needed to improve."</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/hotels">Hotels</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/uk">United Kingdom</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/budget">Budget travel</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/travelleisure">Travel & leisure</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Travel&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991605010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Travel&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991605010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
Jill Kirby: David Cameron's proposed tax cuts are sensible, but don't go far enough
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/39757?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+Cameron%27s+economic+plan+lacks+vision&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=David+Cameron%2CPolitics%2CEconomic+policy%2CConservatives%2CGordon+Brown%2CMoney%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CBusiness%2CRecession+%28UK%29&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Jill+Kirby&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142408&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>To make an upbeat speech about the British economy on a bleak January morning in the midst of a painful and deepening financial crisis might seem a task reserved to the recklessly optimistic. Today, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/05/davidcameron-conservatives">David Cameron attempted</a> such a <a href="http://www.conservatives.com/News/Speeches/2008/12/David_Cameron_Britains_Economic_Future.aspx">speech</a>, determined to leaven his stern critique of Gordon Brown's economic policies with "the vision thing".</p><p>As Cameron's Conservatives become more trenchant in their criticism of what <a href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Archive/0,,649666,00.html">Cameron</a> termed "Labour's debt crisis", the edict has gone out that Tories must not appear to revel in the political opportunities provided by the downturn. And the media-savvy Conservative leader knows that audiences will turn away from a negative message. They want to hear some good news.</p><p>Justifiably, they also want to know if ? and how ? a Conservative government would handle things differently. So what is the vision for Britain that Cameron is sketching out? Not exactly utopian, he describes it as "an economy where government and its citizens live within their means, save for a rainy day, waste not and want not". It's also "a better balanced economy where we spread ownership and opportunity" and where we "work to live, not live to work". In other words, there's more to life than money, cherish what you have and don't expect a return to the days of high living and high spending.</p><p>To set us on the path to this new Britain, Cameron ? sensibly enough ? proposes some tax incentives for savers (abolishing basic rate tax for savings) and relief for pensioners (a £2,000 increase in their tax allowance). These are the two large groups whose financial security is damaged by the savage cuts in interest rates that the government and the monetary policy committee seem to consider the tool to get lending moving again (though with little evidence of success so far). The Tory proposals will win plaudits from "justice for savers" campaigners, not least in the right-leaning press.</p><p>Importantly, they provide specific examples of Tory tax cuts aimed at restoring a savings culture, in sharp contrast to the government's spend now, pay later approach.</p><p>The modest nature of the tax cuts makes it relatively easy for the Tories to claim that they will be paid for by restraining spending growth to 1% in all departments except NHS, education, defence and international development.</p><p>Cameron's reference to "2009 spending", however, makes it unclear whether he is promising future Tory restraint or simply recommending government action for the year in hand, and this needs to be spelt out. So, a little cheer for most of us and a few signposts to the spending restraint, tax cuts and good housekeeping that Cameron believes would characterise a future Conservative government. </p><p>Good as far as it goes, but it seems all too likely that the package will be overtaken by events. I suspect it will not be long before Brown is compelled to announce his own real-time spending cuts, as it will become impossible for him to sustain the illusion that public sector Britain can grow while commercial Britain implodes. As Cameron rightly pointed out yesterday, it's "back to the 70s" (or worse) for the government. The Conservatives are whistling the first few bars of the tune to help us out of this mess but their vision needs to spell out much more clearly the shape of a Britain where the public sector is small enough to live within the means of its revenue-producing citizens.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives">Conservatives</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/gordon-brown">Gordon Brown</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</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=1231231991643010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Commentisfree&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991643010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
David Cameron tax plans: who would benefit?
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/29052?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+David+Cameron+tax+plans%3A+who+would+benefit%3F&ch=Politics&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=David+Cameron%2CEconomic+policy%2CPolitics%2CUK+news%2CTax+and+spending%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CSociety%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CSmall+business+%28Business%29%2CBanking+%28Business%29%2CRecession+%28UK%29%2CBanks+and+building+societies%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CIncome+tax%2CPublic+services+policy+%28Society%29%2CPublic+finance+%28Society%29&c5=Society+Weekly%2CUnclassified%2CPersonal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CPolicy+Society%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Andrew+Sparrow&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142405&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Politics+blog&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2Fblog%2FPolitics+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>David Cameron proposed two tax cuts today, affecting savers and pensioners (and pensioners with an income from savings, who conceivably could benefit twice). As I write it is not entirely clear how many people could benefit, and by how much ? not least because the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which is normally relied upon to produce authoritative figures, suffered a power cut this afternoon (maybe we are going back to the 1970s?). But this is what we know so far:</p><p><strong></strong><h2><strong>Pensioners</strong></h2><p> The Tories would raise age-related personal allowances for pensioners by £2,000. They say that this would benefit those aged between 65 and 74 with pension income and other earnings between £9,490 and £32,930.</p><p>According to the IFS, most pensioners in this category would gain £400 a year. Those near the top or the bottom of the scale would gain less.</p><p>Around 5 million pensioners would benefit. But Labour point out that 60% of pensioners do not pay any tax at all, so the gains would only go to those who were relatively well off.</p><p><strong></strong><h2><strong>Savers</strong></h2><p> The Tories would abolish the basic rate of tax on savings. The Tories say that there are around 18 million people who receive interest from savings who would benefit.</p><p>Given that the Tories say the tax cut would cost £2.6bn, this suggests an average saving of £144 a year. But this figure is almost certainly misleading because some people will have disproportionately large sums saved up. The Tories admit that some individuals could save as much as £7,200 from their tax cut, although they have not said how many.</p><p>Labour say that, according to Treasury figures, anyone with an income worth less than £30,000 a year will benefit by less than £5 a year.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/davidcameron">David Cameron</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy">Economic policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</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/small-business">Small business</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/banking">Banking</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/recession">Recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/banks">Banks and building societies</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/savings">Savings</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/incometax">Income tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/policy">Public services policy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/public-finance">Public finance</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991694010609003245432"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991694010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
Girlguiding UK launches series of guides to help 16-18 year olds learn life skills
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/7466?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Credit+crunch+survival+tactics+for+girl+guides&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Borrowing+and+debt%2CMoney%2CYoung+people+%28Society%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CFamily+finances&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CChildren+Society&c6=Staff+and+agencies&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142379&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Borrowing+%26+debt&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FBorrowing+%26+debt" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Forget homemaking and knot-tying, girl guides are being issued with tips on financial matters to help them survive the credit crunch.</p><p>In a leaflet for its members, <a href="http://www.girlguiding.org.uk/" title="">Girlguiding UK</a> recommends that they avoid using store cards, shop around for bank accounts and products and protect themselves from identity theft. It also suggests they stop relying on the bank of mum and dad, warning: "Don't assume that your parents will be able to foot the bill for everything you want ? or bail you out when you owe money."</p><p>The advice is included in the first of a series of guides aimed to help 16-18 year olds learn important skills. Money management was chosen as the launch subject after a poll of young members by Girlguiding UK found that 93% thought it was the one skill every girl should have.</p><p>The guide says: "With the recent credit crunch and financial markets in turmoil, we are all going to feel the pinch. By developing good habits now you will be better equipped to manage your money as an adult."</p><p>Staying safe on the streets is the subject of the second guide - produced with the help of the Suzy Lamplugh Trust - after almost all the girls polled revealed they worried about walking home alone after dark.</p><p>Guides are told never to use unlicensed cabs or use mobiles or mp3 players when walking home, to change into flat shoes instead of tottering in heels and to cross the road if they think they are being followed.</p><p>Denise King, chief executive of Girlguiding UK, said: "As UK's largest organisation providing a safe female-only space for girls and young women, we see it as our responsibility to give girls and young women the knowledge to confidently and knowledgeably deal with the new experiences they face growing up.</p><p>"These guides are intended to give girls confidence in dealing with issues they have voiced concern about, helping them to understand and overcome any potential hazards."</p><p>David Whitely a spokesman for the Financial Services Authority said, "This is a very helpful initiative from Girlguiding as we believe it's important for young people to learn the basics on how to manage money early on. They will then have more confidence when it comes to making more important money decisions as they get older."</p><p>Top tips from Guiding's Guide to managing money</p><p>1. Shop around - see which banks are offering the best deals</p><p>2. Avoid the debt trap - be wary of loans, store cards and borrowing off your mates</p><p>3. Bargain hunt and compare prices - can you get it cheaper online?</p><p>4. Forget fashion fads - as Yves Saint Laurent said "fashion fades, style is eternal"</p><p>5. Just the job - get work experience and give yourself a head-start</p><p>6. Don't rely on the bank of mum and dad - everyone's cutting costs</p><p>7. Know your enemy - understand how fraudsters work, shred documents and only use trusted websites</p><p>8. Get geeky - make sure you know your APR from your ISA</p><p>9. Choose wisely - think carefully about your purchases to avoid disappointment on a limited budget</p><p>10. Be restrained - know your budget limits and don't stray beyond them</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/debt">Borrowing & debt</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/youngpeople">Young people</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/familyfinance">Family finances</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=1231231991730"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1231231991730010609003245432" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 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>
Interactive: House price graphs
Trace the ups and downs of UK house prices since May 2006
Iain Dale: While the Tory leader has announced a string of positive economic policy ideas, Gordon Brown has resorted to the politics of the gutter
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/588?ns=guardian&pageName=Comment+is+free%3A+David+Cameron%27s+saving+graces&ch=Comment+is+free&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=David+Cameron%2CConservatives%2CEconomic+policy%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CSavings+%28Money%29%2CGordon+Brown%2CMoney%2CPolitics%2CRecession+%28UK%29&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=Iain+Dale&c7=2009_01_05&c8=1142323&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>Gordon Brown and his ministers seem to have adopted the Goebbels principle of propaganda, hoping that the more often they repeat an allegation, the more likely a gullible public is to believe it. Over the past month they have repeatedly accused the Conservatives and David Cameron of adopting a "do nothing" approach to the recession, in the hope that Cameron can be made out to be heartless and uncaring. James Purnell's interviews on the Today Programme and 5 Live this morning were classic examples of the genre. Goebbels would have nodded approvingly. </p><p>Ostensibly Purnell was appearing on the programmes to plug government schemes to help people with mortgage arrears, yet he spent most of the time available in both interviews trying to assert that the Conservatives would do nothing and let people wallow in misery. This really is the politics of the gutter, especially when it is so transparently untrue. </p><p>This lunchtime <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/05/davidcameron-conservatives">David Cameron hit back</a> with his latest initiative to help those affected by the recession ? savers. He wants to cut the tax burden for savers and pensioners, who have suffered from sharp cuts in interest rates in recent months. </p><p>This comes on top of announcements on a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk