'Black Friday' Discount Day Reaches UK

Some of the UK's biggest retailers are cashing in on a US tradition which sees millions of frenzied shoppers make the most of discounted prices.

Amazon, Asda and Apple are among the companies that have launched so-called Black Friday sales in Britain - despite many consumers being unaware of the custom.

In the US, thousands of stores discount their prices the day after Thanksgiving, and many open for longer hours.

Last year a record number of people visited stores over the Black Friday weekend, spending a total of $52bn (£32.6bn) - an average of around $400 (£250) each, according to the National Retail Federation.

And this year, some eager shoppers have been caught on camera phones battling to get to the best bargains first, after queuing for hours. 

Many retailers opened their stores at midnight, and this year the trend to open at 8pm on Thursday started to spread.

Some US stores were frantic

While the shift was denounced by some store employees and traditionalists as pulling people away from families on Thanksgiving, many shoppers welcomed the chance to shop before midnight.

"I think it's better earlier. People are crazier later at midnight," hotel worker Renee Ruhl, 52, said as she shopped at a Target store in Orlando, Florida.

Online retailer Amazon was one of the first companies to bring the trend to the UK.

It launched a week-long Black Friday sale on Monday, which it claims "offers millions of pounds of savings on hundreds of Christmas gifts".

Tech giant Apple and Asda, owned by Walmart, are also hoping to make the most of the Christmas shopping rush by offering one-day discounts of their own.

Hotel Chocolat emailed customers to say that as it offered US customers 20% off it would do the same for UK buyers.

"There are more retailers launching sales this year than ever before - and many British consumers are becoming aware of the tradition for the first time," Retail Week's Gemma Goldfingle told Sky News.

"In the US it is an absolute phenomenon, with people queuing up all night to snap up the best deals."

Amazon launched its sale on Monday

In Orlando at least one family camped outside a Best Buy shop for a full week, sleeping in two tents.

"It has not reached that level here and whether it ever will is another matter," Ms Goldfingle said.

She said that Americans have Thanksgiving to kick-start the event – whereas in the UK it is just a normal day. Boxing Day, when UK sales traditionally begin, is a normal work day for Americans.

"A lot of British retailers would prefer not to have it," Ms Goldfingle said.

"They want to be selling items at full price ahead of Christmas, especially given the tough economic conditions."

While a limited number of UK chains have labelled their sales as Black Friday, many others have needed to show weekend price drops to lure customers.

Furniture chain dfs has taken to advertising in newspapers about its discounts while Topshop offered online weekend deals.

Black Friday, which is thought to refer to the first day of the year that retailers go "into the black", comes just ahead of Cyber Monday - which the marketing industry claims is the busiest day in the online shopping calendar.

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Cameron: EU Deal 'Just Not Good Enough'

What Now For EU Budget?

Updated: 10:16pm UK, Friday 23 November 2012

By Adam Boulton, Political Editor

The 27 EU member states did not agree a budget for the next seven years at the summit in Brussels. But David Cameron will be able to go home and tell Eurosceptic conservative backbenchers "so far, so good".

In his own words the Prime Minister "successfully defended" Britain's contributions rebate and rejected a deal which "was just not good enough".

Mr Cameron also insisted that Britain had not been isolated but was joined in its demands for lower spending by other big net contributors including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Holland.

This Nordic European grouping also claims the support of the key deal-maker and biggest funder, Germany. But in her public comments Chancellor Angela Merkel was more circumspect, merely noting, as she had since arriving in Belgium, that the gap between the want-mores and the want-lesses was too big to bridge at this meeting.

She and the hapless Herman Van Rompuy, who has the thankless task of chairing these negotiations, have the same message - it is more important to get it right than to rush for a deal.

Mr Van Rompuy now has "weeks" to try to find an agreement. When EU leaders come back to the budget early next year (having put the matter to one side at the next summit in December) they will be on deadline.

If an agreement is not reached then, funding will be rolled over on an annualised basis - bad news for Britain because budgets will automatically increase, and worse news for countries such as Denmark and Holland who have not yet secured their rebates.

So doesn't that mean that all the countries who want more have to do is sit it out? Not quite. Of the 27 member states nine countries are net contributors, including all the Nordic holdouts, and around 15 are significant recipients. Ultimately all the winners are vulnerable, especially if Germany joins in so much as threatening to turn off the tap.

The leaders calling for further cuts all make the same argument - they are imposing austerity at home and it is not acceptable to their voters that the European slice of their budgets simply should be exempted from a squeeze.

The Council President, Mr Van Rompuy, and Jose Barosso his counterpart at the EU Commission probably made a mistake in refusing to table any cuts in the administration budget - pay and perks for bureaucrats. Mr Cameron contrasted this with the "difficult decisions" being imposed on the UK civil service and insisted that the EU could not live "in a parallel world".

But ultimately these are points of principle rather than matters of real significance to national budgets. The UK's government spending now runs to about one trillion euros a year - the EU is arguing about one trillion euros over seven years divided between 27 nations. Of that the "administration" budget is just 6%. Which means that when Mr Cameron talks about saving a billion euros by, for example, stopping automatic promotion of civil servants, he really is talking about a drop in a bucket.

This is perhaps why the economics professor who now is Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Monti, accused Mr Cameron of being an irrational "demagogue". Italy is now in an alliance with France supporting the claims of those who want a bigger budget in the interests of "solidarity". Both Italy and France are net contributors to the EU overall but they are also big recipients of the Common Agricultural Policy, which accounts for some 40% of EU spending.

Perhaps the most significant thing that happened at this summit was that there was no Franco-German axis. Chancellor Merkel and President Francois Hollande took opposing positions.

What's more Germany now seems concerned not to isolate the UK, because of fears that another confrontation could move Britain out of the Union altogether - ceding much greater influence inside to socialist-led France and its Mediterranean allies.

As the European Union scrambles to find a deal Germany, Britain and their North European allies would seem to have the stronger hand - following the time-honoured principle of who pays, plays - provided that their alliance holds together.

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Tax Backlash Prospect For Independent Shops

By Poppy Trowbridge, Business & Economics correspondent

Independent businesses could benefit from public uproar over low rates of corporation tax paid by global giants Starbucks, Amazon and Google, according to retail experts.

The backlash has been prompted by the revelation that Starbucks has paid just £8.6m UK corporation tax in the past 13 years, on sales of £3.1bn, when most businesses will pay a corporation tax rate of 24% this year.

In 2011, Google paid £6m tax against sales of £395m, while Amazon paid no tax at all in the UK - despite sales here reaching £3.3bn.

Matthew Stych, research director at analysts Planet Retail, believes British retailers can make the most of the furore by highlighting their own contributions and good practices.

"It's a golden opportunity that comes along once in a decade or so, to really capitalise on the negative publicity that some global retailers are receiving at the moment," he says.

"I think it's a huge opportunity that independent retailers in the community must seize now".

Google and Amazon are also accused of paying low taxes on big profits

Independent booksellers in Hertfordshire are doing just that. With support from the Booksellers Association they have launched an advertisement campaign to publicise the fact they pay their taxes.

"People need to think about where they are spending their money and we are hoping that this campaign will bring that to their attention," said Sheryl Shurville, co-owner of Chorleywood Bookshop.

But other analysts are not convinced such consumer campaigns will have any long-term benefit.

"We're unlikely to see any massive dip in the sales of these companies under scrutiny," says Douglas McNeill, chief analyst at Charles Stanley.

"Whilst ethical issues can temporarily make people pause for thought, consumers make their choices on the basis of eternal basics of price, quality and convenience."

Mr Stych says large brands may yet find a way to turn around the negative publicity.

"As far as Amazon and Starbucks are concerned, I think there's an opportunity to strike a more conciliatory note," according to Mr Stych. 

"This is for them also an ideal opportunity to regain or re-forge that bond with local consumers".

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Christopher Flowers Courts Allies For RBS Bid

By Mark Kleinman, City Editor

The Wall Street tycoon Christopher Flowers is courting a string of private equity and banking allies as he seeks to assemble a knockout bid for more than 300 branches owned by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

I have learned that Mr Flowers' buyout firm, JC Flowers, is in talks with potential partners about structuring a deal that could result in it selling a slice of OneSavings, the retail bank it established last year.

JC Flowers has also hired Citi, the investment bank, to advise it on a bid that will pit it against Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, and Virgin Money, the banking arm of Sir Richard Branson's business empire.

Anacap, the owner of Aldermore Bank, one of the newest entrants to the banking sector, is also examining a bid.

OneSavings was created following Flowers' takeover of the Kent Reliance Building Society, a deal that was supposed to form the foundation of a major force in British banking.

Since then, however, JC Flowers has aborted talks to absorb the Principality Building Society and dropped a bid to acquire Northern Rock from the Government. Northern Rock was subsequently taken over by Virgin Money.

People close to the situation said that JC Flowers was certain to recruit partners if it pursued a bid for the RBS branches because of the size of the deal.

Last month, Santander UK abandoned a deal to buy the 316 branches from RBS, citing repeated delays caused by problems with the network's IT systems.

Taxpayer-backed RBS has asked bankers at UBS to restart the sale process. The European Commission has set RBS a deadline of the end of next year to have sold the branches in order to comply with state aid rules.

JC Flowers declined to comment.

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Discount Day: 'Black Friday' Reaches The UK

Some of the UK's biggest retailers will cash in on a US tradition this Friday, as they slash their prices ahead of Christmas.

Amazon, Asda and Apple are among the companies that have launched so-called Black Friday sales in Britain - despite many consumers being unaware of the custom.

In the US, thousands of stores discount their prices the day after Thanksgiving, and many open for longer hours.

Last year a record number of shoppers visited stores over the Black Friday weekend, spending a total of $52bn (£32.6bn) - an average of $398 (£249) each, according to the National Retail Federation.

Amazon launched its sale on Monday

US online retailer Amazon was one of the first companies to bring the trend to the UK.

It launched a week-long Black Friday sale on Monday, which it claims "offers millions of pounds of savings on hundreds of Christmas gifts".

Tech giant Apple and Asda, owned by Wal Mart, are also hoping to make the most of the Christmas shopping rush by offering one-day discounts of their own. 

"There are more retailers launching sales this year than ever before - and many British consumers are becoming aware of tradition for the first time," Retail Week's Gemma Goldfingle told Sky News.

"In the US it an absolute phenomenon, with people queuing up all night to snap up the best deals.

"It has not reached that level here and whether it ever will is another matter."

She said that American's have Thanksgiving to kick-start the event – whereas in the UK it is just a normal day.

"A lot of British retailers would prefer not to have it," she said.

"They want to be selling items at full price ahead of Christmas, especially given the tough economic conditions."

Black Friday, which is thought to refer to the first day of the year that retailers go "into the black", comes just ahead of Cyber Monday - which the marketing industry claims is the busiest day in the online shopping calendar.

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EU Budget: 'Long Way To Go' Before Deal

David Cameron has demanded billions in pay and pension cuts from the EU's civil service in support of austerity-hit workers across Europe.

Ahead of a crucial budget summit last night, he presented EU heads with a paper setting out how Brussels could slash at least six billion euro (£4.8bn) off its staff costs at a stroke by upping retirement ages, lowering pensions and trimming lavish salaries.

President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso were caught by surprise during the private talks with the Prime Minister.

Mr Cameron's position was to impose a real-terms freeze in spending in common with national public sector cuts, including a solidarity gesture by targeting the 60bn euro-a-year (£48bn) administrative budget which pays the 40,000-plus civil service behind the Commission, Council and European Parliament.

Following the meeting Downing Street said there was "a long way to go" before EU leaders could agree a long-term budget.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister set out our position that while the latest proposals were a step in the right direction, they did not go far enough and that we think more can be done to rein in spending."

Mr Cameron said he would be fighting "very hard" to secure a good deal for British taxpayers and to keep the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

Cameron meets Barroso and van Rompuy prior to the summit

"These are very important negotiations. Clearly at a time when we are making difficult decisions at home over public spending it would be quite wrong - it is quite wrong - for there to be proposals for this increased extra spending in the EU," he said.

He has welcomed proposals from Mr Van Rompuy which would deliver a small real-terms cut in EU spending commitments, but has made clear he is unhappy with other details of the package, which demands a reduction in the £2.9bn UK rebate.

The start of the meeting was delayed until mid-evening as the rest of the EU's leaders held their own "confessionals" throughout the day, setting out their positions on how much cash the EU should be given to pay for policies between 2014 and 2020.

A pre-summit compromise is already on offer - a seven-year budget "envelope" of 973bn euro (£785bn) for 2014/2020, a cut of nearly 5bn euro (£3.8bn) compared with the 2007/2013 ceiling.

The move was seen in Downing Street as being in the right direction - although the "cut" is in a spending ceiling which officials say has not been reached.

It is also above the 886bn euro (£712bn) originally pitched by the Treasury as in line with the real-terms freeze Mr Cameron wants.

The EU headquarters in Belgium

But in the complex world of EU budget economics, with financial "commitments" different from "payments", a range of calculation options, rebates for some countries, and contributor and beneficiary member states, Mr Cameron and his colleagues have plenty of scope for claiming summit success.

The Prime Minister's allies for budget belt-tightening, including Sweden and the Netherlands, have demanded hefty financial cuts.

Germany, France, Finland and Austria want to freeze the maximum Brussels can draw from member states every year - leaving plenty of scope to argue over the actual spending figures within the ceiling.

And 15 countries, led by Poland, are backing budget increases, not least to preserve the scale of cash aid they receive as "net beneficiaries" from the EU kitty.

Britain is arguing for a shake-up in EU spending priorities, cuts in agriculture spending and subsidies - fiercely defended by France - and cuts in EU staff levels and pay and perks, in line with national civil servants.

But the European Commission still insists that a spending increase is necessary, not least to pay for policies already agreed by member states.

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Renters Warned: Beware Of 'Rogue' Letting Agents

The lettings sector needs more regulation, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has said, after revealing a rise in the number of so-called rogue agents.

Those renting properties are at risk of being taken advantage of by unscrupulous agents amid "a total lack of effective regulation", RICS warned after surveying 2,000 people.

The organisation said that renters had come to expect "worryingly low standards", with two thirds of those questioned saying they had not been given an inventory when they moved into a rented property in the last two years.

Lettings agencies do not have to conform to codes of conduct, RICS highlighted, and can be set up by people without relevant qualifications, knowledge or understanding of the rental process.

A clampdown is needed to prevent the sector turning into "the property industry's Wild West", RICS added.

Peter Bolton King, global residential director at the organisation, said rogue agents were taking advantage of the UK's booming rental market.

Demand for rental properties has shot up as people struggle to afford the deposit required to buy their own homes, or fail to meet banks'  tough borrowing conditions.

"A good lettings agent can be worth their weight in gold for both landlord and tenant," Mr King said.

"However, there are too many corrupt agents that do not belong to any professional body who are taking advantage of the current gap in regulation, putting consumers at risk."

He added that a rogue agent could land a tenant with problems including lost deposits, broken agreements and excessive charges.

"What we would like to see is the Government taking direct action on this and introducing a single regulatory and redress system for both sales and lettings agents to make sure they are fully accountable," he said.

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Cameron To Insist On Austerity In EU Budget

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

David Cameron travels to Brussels later insisting that austerity being enforced around Europe is reflected in the EU's budget.

He will join leaders from all 27 countries at a special summit to set the European Union's spending limits from 2014 to 2020.

It is a complex and deeply divisive process, with the UK balking at the European Commission's opening gambit - to increase the overall spending ceiling to a maximum one trillion euro.

This was flatly rejected by Britain and nearly all the net contributors to the European Union.

The European Council, which represents the interest of the member states, chimed in with its own plan, which represents a real-terms 2% cut from the spending ceiling approved for the current seven-year period.

But the proposal, penned by the Council President Herman van Rompuy, would reduce Britain's rebate and only contains a 1% reduction under so-called "Heading 4", which details the EU's spending on administration costs.

Mr Cameron, and other leaders, believe Brussels should accept some symbolic reductions in red tape and make deeper cuts to the legions of Eurocrats who work in the EU institutions.

The British Prime Minister believes Mr van Rompuy's proposals are moving in the right direction, but he needs to go further.

He has also insisted that the UK's £3bn a year rebate, which was negotiated to compensate Britain for money disbursed to other nations, is not up for discussion.

He told MPs yesterday he would be "fighting incredibly hard" to get the best deal for the UK, but he could use the veto to protect British interests.

The budget has to be agreed by all 27 members and by a majority in the European Parliament.

Other countries also have reservations with the proposals on the table: France and Ireland want to protect agricultural payments to their farmers, Italy is unhappy that other countries' rebates due to expire in 2013 might be renewed while Denmark wants to negotiate its own rebate.

Earlier this month Mr Cameron was blindsided by a Tory rebellion calling for a budget cut, not just a freeze. He may yet face their wrath.

The budget being discussed is about setting an absolute limit on EU spending, but the money spent is always considerably less.

So while the PM might be able to claim a victory in securing a freeze in total EU spending limits, UK taxpayers may still have to fork out more cash to Brussels.

If no agreement is reached, more summits will be held in the new year.

If there are still problems, the annual budget will roll over with an extra 2% added to take account of inflation.

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Mothercare Reports A Loss As UK Sales Fall

Mothercare's like-for-like sales have fallen 3.4% in the UK in first half of the year.

But sales overseas at the retailer grew by 4.4% in the six months to October 13 - although at a slower rate than over the same period last year.

After one-off charges, Mothercare, which sells prams, car seats and childrens' clothing, reported a loss before tax of £27.4m.

Its underlying performance - if the one-off items are stripped out - was stronger, with its pre-tax loss rising from £4.4m to £0.4m.

New chief executive Simon Calver said the company, which has failed to keep up with rivals over recent years, was beginning to turn around.

"We are starting  to see the impact of our actions to ensure that Mothercare can deliver what  our customers want  - better value,  choice and service," he said.

"Our results show early signs of progress despite the challenging trading conditions in the UK and the  Eurozone."

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HP Hit By 'False Accounting' At Autonomy

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has accused Autonomy of lying about its finances, as it announced a write-down of $8.8bn (£5.5bn) relating to its purchase of the company.

The Silicon Valley computing firm said the majority of this charge was because of "serious accounting improprieties" at the Cambridge-based software company.

The FBI is said to be investigating the claim.

HP bought Autonomy for £7.1bn last summer, but said it now believes it was "substantially overvalued" at the time of the sale.

Mike Lynch founded Autonomy in 1996

Nine months after the deal, the chief executive of Autonomy, Mike Lynch - who founded the company in 1996 and made more than £500m from the deal - stepped down.

Following HP's announcement, Dr Lynch's spokeswoman said he "flatly rejects" the allegations, describing them as "false".

A statement said: "The former management team of Autonomy was shocked to see this statement today, and flatly rejects these allegations, which are false.

"HP's due diligence review was intensive, overseen on behalf of HP by KPMG, Barclays and Perella Weinberg. HP's
senior management has also been closely involved with running Autonomy for the past year."

An internal investigation into Autonomy's finances was launched by HP after a whistleblower came forward, alleging suspect accounting and business practices at the firm.

These "mislead investors and potential buyers", HP said, adding that it had referred the case to the Serious Fraud Office and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

"HP is extremely disappointed to find that some former members of Autonomy's management team used accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company, prior to Autonomy's acquisition by HP," the company said in a statement.

"These efforts appear to have been a willful effort to mislead investors and potential buyers, and severely impacted HP management's ability to fairly value Autonomy at the time of the deal."

This one-off charge pushed HP to a $6.9bn (£4.3bn) loss in the fourth quarter - compared with a $200m (£125m) profit in the same quarter last year.

The company's share of the personal computer and printer markets also shrunk, and revenues fell 6.7% to $29.9bn (£18.8bn).

Earlier this year, the struggling firm warned of cuts to its UK operations as part of a restructuring resulting in 27,000 job cuts globally.

HP shares fell by 12% in early trading in the US.

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Supermarkets 'Over-Promote' Unhealthy Food

Supermarkets are over-promoting fatty and sugary products using special offers and price reductions, according to a study.

Professor Paul Dobson, from the University of East Anglia (UEA), led a three-year study of consumer behaviour towards food and the impact on overeating and food waste.

He concluded that unhealthy foods receive too much promotion from supermarkets, and said the food industry must do more to promote healthy living.

"It is simply irresponsible for supermarkets to overly promote foods with high sugar and fat content," he said.

"The food industry must play a much greater role in promoting healthy diets.

"Food producers can do more by reducing the fat, sugar and salt content of processed foods, while food retailers can ensure that healthy and nutritious choices are available and affordable to all consumers and that they practice responsible marketing."

Prof Dobson said that if retailers and producers did not take responsibility, regulation might be needed.

Supermarket giants including Tesco and Asda were the focus of the study

Special offers are worth more than £50bn in sales to supermarkets and account for over a third of all consumer spending.

The research team analysed weekly price and nutrition data of a full range of food and drinks products sold over a year by four UK supermarkets - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Ocado.

They found a bias towards sugary products for price promotions, while straight price discounts were on average more skewed towards unhealthy products.

Special offers also tended to be slanted towards more unhealthy products, especially those with high sugar content.

However, multi-buys were on average more biased towards healthier items.

"While price promotions can offer savings for consumers they may not be so good for our waistlines and health," he added.

"With almost a quarter of the population classed as obese, overeating and food waste are serious concerns for modern society."

Prof Dobson is outlining his findings at a lecture in London.

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Smartphones To Become Virtual Tape Measures

Software that allows people to use their webcam or smartphone as a virtual tape measure is set to revolutionise online shopping.

Developers say the technology can take accurate waist, hip, chest and other measurements, which would help the user decide which size garment to buy whenever they visit the website of a participating retailer.

The software is being developed by computer vision experts at the University of Surrey in collaboration with staff at the London College of Fashion, body-mapping specialists Bodymetrics and digital creative agency Guided.

A launch is anticipated within two years.

Professor Adrian Hilton, from the University of Surrey, said: "It's unrealistic to expect online clothes shoppers to have the time or inclination to take a series of highly accurate body measurements of themselves. The new system makes it all very easy."

The technology could streamline the online shopping process

By taking multiple measurements of the body, the system could save retailers and shoppers millions of pounds a year in return postage costs.

Up to 60% of clothes bought online are estimated to be sent back to the retailer.

Body scanning is already starting to make a mark in the clothing retail sector, but the new system is likely to be a significant improvement, according to the research team.

Because it takes measurements at a number of different points on the body and combines these with a person's overall proportions to build up a detailed 3D image, it offers much greater precision than anything else available in-store or online.

"The potential benefits for the fashion industry and for shoppers are huge," said Philip Delamore from the London College of Fashion.

"Currently, it's common for online shoppers to order two or three different sizes of the same item of clothing at the same time, as they're unsure which one will fit best."

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All Homes 'To Be Given Cheapest Energy Deal'

Energy Secretary Ed Davey will flesh out proposals later to ensure all households are on the cheapest gas and electricity tariffs available.

After weeks of confusion about the Government's plans to simplify the market and reduce bills for hard-pressed families, the Liberal Democrat is expected to use an appearance before the Energy Select Committee to give more details.

It is thought that energy firms may be prevented from offering more than four tariffs and be required to automatically move customers on to the cheapest one.

The move comes amid long-standing concerns that many households are paying hundreds of pounds a year more than is necessary for gas and electricity because of the confusing array of tariffs.

Ed Davey insists the Government backs a low carbon economy

The issue has become more acute in recent years because of rising wholesale prices that have seen energy charges soar.

Meanwhile, MPs have called on Chancellor George Osborne to reassure investors the Treasury is committed to moving towards a greener economy.

Mr Osborne must use the autumn statement next month to end the uncertainty over the direction of energy policy, which is undermining investment in the UK's power sector, the parliamentary Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said.

MPs say George Osborne must "end the uncertainty"

The EAC also added its voice to calls from business leaders, trade unions and green groups for the Energy Bill, due to be published before the end of November, to include a target to slash emissions from the power sector by 2030.

The cross-party committee's chairwoman Joan Walley said: "The Treasury must end the uncertainty on energy policy and give investors and businesses the confidence to seize the enormous opportunities presented by new clean technologies."

Friends of the Earth's head of campaigns Andrew Pendleton said: "MPs are right to slam the Chancellor - his gas-fuelled economic strategy will send fuel bills soaring, jeopardise jobs and scupper UK efforts to tackle climate change.

"The Treasury seems hell-bent on killing off Britain's growing green economy, despite the tens of thousands of jobs it can create and business leaders' group CBI's pleas for more backing."

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Euro Crisis: French Credit Rating Cut

A second major credit ratings agency has stripped France of its 'triple-A' status in a move that could drive up its borrowing costs and drag it further into the eurozone debt crisis.

Moody's Investors Service announced last night that it was cutting France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 from Aaa, citing the country's uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of "deteriorating economic prospects."

Moody's also said it was maintaining a negative outlook on France due to structural challenges and a "sustained loss of competitiveness" in the country. The downgrade follows that of Standard & Poor's in January.

The loss of the Aaa rating from two agencies poses a problem for France, as investment funds often require their best assets to have a minimum of two top notch ratings in order to remain in their portfolios.

Moody's said it was becoming increasingly difficult to predict how resilient France would be to future euro-area shocks but analysts suggested the downgrade was not a consequence of new information from the market.

Pierre Moscovici, the French finance minister, blamed the downgrade on the policies of previous governments that had failed to restore the competitiveness of the nation's economy.

"French debt still remains among the most liquid and safest of the eurozone," he said.

"The French economy is large and diversified and the government has shown proof of its serious plan to implement structural reforms and restore public finances."

Mr Moscovici is due to join his euro area counterparts in Brussels today to give tentative approval for the next tranche of loans to Greece.

However, the money is unlikely to be paid until December as talks continue on debt reduction and Greek efforts to keep to tough spending targets.

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde, who has become the most vocal critic of easing pressure on Athens, is expected to attend Tuesday's meeting.

She could yet move to ensure that the IMF, which has covered about a third of loans to Greece, gets its money back in a previously agreed timescale.

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easyJet Profit Soars By Over 27%

easyJet has reported a rise in pre-tax profit of 27.9% to £317m over the year to the end of September.

The budget airline said a surge in late summer demand helped boost its revenue, which increased by 11.6% to £3.85bn.

Passenger numbers were up by over 7% at the company - which is the largest airline at Gatwick airport - and it more than doubled its full year dividend from 10.5p to 21.5p, or £85m.

The company said its strong results come despite a rise of £182m in fuel costs and low consumer confidence across Europe as a result of the ongoing debt crisis.

Chief executive Carolyn McCall said: "These results demonstrate that easyJet is a structural winner in the European short-haul market against both legacy and low cost competition."

She added: "Whilst there is always the potential for unexpected events to temporarily impact financial results the Board of easyJet is confident that its business model, strategy and people will consistently continue to generate superior returns and growth for shareholders."

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Warning Over 'Burnout Britain' For Workers

More than half of British employees are now working longer hours than they were three years ago, a new report suggests.

Researchers said some 58% of workers say their job demands have expanded, while 34% believe they are affected by excessive pressure.

The study, published by professional services firm Tower Watson, surveyed 32,000 employees worldwide for its global workforce study (GWS), including 2,600 workers in the UK.

It claimed Britain is heading for a "well-being meltdown" due to the pressure of the recession.

"From pay cuts to longer working hours, the GWS highlights the demands on workers that the recession has brought about, with only half (53%) of UK workers feeling their stress levels at work are manageable," it said.

"Despite increasing requirements for businesses to provide workers with advice on health and well-being, just a third (31%) of employees feel that their senior leaders support such policies."

Researchers added that British workers feel a need to display their commitment to the job as more than a 25% have failed to maximise their annual holiday or personal time off entitlements since 2009.

Exacerbated by the trend of cutting workforce numbers, one-in-five employees now feels that the amount of work they are asked to do is unreasonable, meanwhile 30% believe their organisation is under-funded in human resources.

The study showed results for the UK were broadly in line with those seen across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with similar numbers of workers feeling that there was excessive pressure, longer working hours and fewer resources.

Towers Watson said it also identified a clear link between the levels of well-being and engagement in a company's workforce and organisational performance.

It said that firms with low engagement produced an average operating margin of around 10% while organisations with high sustainable engagement performed nearly three times better - with operating margins of over 27%

Another issue that appeared was career development being hampered because staff were retiring at a later age, with a trend appearing of three generations appearing in the workforce.

Towers Watson's Nick Tatchell, who was involved in the research, said: "About a quarter of the people we interviewed thought because people weren't retiring it was becoming an issue.

"There is another issue and that is of people being 'stuck'. The want to contribute and they want to do a good job.

"But only about half of them say they have the 'tools' to achieve that and believe they are 'stuck'.

He added: "So they feel they are stuck both with tools and resources and also in their careers. People feel that is lacking at the moment."

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Empty Shops Rate Sets 'Alarm Bells Ringing'

One in 10 shops in UK high streets and shopping centres were empty in October - the worst figure since the British Retail Consortium's nationwide survey began in July 2011.

As retailers continue to battle against stagnating sales and rising costs, the new figures showed last month's town centre vacancy rate at 11.3%.

A fifth of store units are currently empty in Northern Ireland, while the rate for Wales is 15.1% and for the North & Yorkshire region the rate is 14.6%. Greater London had 7.6% of its units lying empty.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said the latest figures would set "alarm bells ringing" and the financial challenges for both customers and retailers were far from over.

Big brands including JJB Sports, Clinton Cards, Blacks Leisure, Game and Peacocks have either disappeared or scaled back their presence in town centres after going into administration.

And the collapse of electricals chain Comet this month will be another blow.

Mr Robertson renewed his call for Chancellor George Osborne to freeze business rates, which are set to increase by 2.6% in April.

He said: "Many retailers are battling stagnating sales and rising costs, and next year's threatened business rates increase can only make matters worse.

"If the Government wants to breathe life back into our town centres and ensure the retail industry can play its full role in job creation, it needs to freeze rates in 2013."

In response, a Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: "Empty shops are a wasted economic opportunity that spoil the town centre.

"That is why we are proposing to scrap the damaging red tape that is keeping so many shops boarded up, allowing young entrepreneurs to open pop-up shops and turn the high streets into an exciting start-up launchpad.

"The best thing Government can do to help businesses is to provide them with a stable economic environment, which is why we want to protect local firms from soaring tax bills.

"We've postponed the revaluation, which will stop soaring tax bills for 800,000 firms, and given businesses the option of spreading this year's increases out over three years.

"Councils also have the power to grant discretionary discounts, and we've temporarily doubled small business rate relief, meaning approximately a third of a million businesses - including many small shops - are currently paying no rates at all."

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Business Bosses Slam 'School Exams Factory'

Britain's education system is fostering a "cult of the average", failing to help the brightest youngsters or those most in need, business leaders have warned.

In a new report, the CBI says too many children fall behind and never catch up, and that in some cases, secondary schools have become little more than exam factories.

Decades of "patchwork" reforms have confused schools, encouraged a tick box culture that has put off teachers and resulted in a narrow focus on exams and league tables, the UK's biggest business group adds.

The report calls for a major overhaul to ensure that all children can succeed.

It recommends radical changes, such as reducing the importance of GCSEs and making A Levels the main exam for school leavers, and moving away from league tables in favour of Ofsted reports.

"The education system fosters a cult of the average: too often failing to stretch the most able or support those that need most help," the CBI says.

CBI director-general John Cridland said while businesses want school leavers to have a rigorous education, they also want it to be "rounded and grounded".

"Today we have a system where, sadly, a large minority of our young people fall behind," he said.

"They fall behind and never catch up. It's not the fault of any individual concerned. It's not the fault of children, parents or teachers. It's a system failure. It's not acceptable any more than it's not acceptable that the top 10% are not stretched enough."

Mr Cridland added: "This generation of young people are as streetwise as any, but sometimes in the education system we're not always bottling that.

"In some cases secondary schools have become an exam factory. Qualifications are important, but we also need people who have self-discipline and serve customers well."

Ministers have announced plans to scrap GCSEs and replace them with new English Baccalaureate Certificates in English, maths and science. Reviews of A Levels and the national curriculum are also under way.

Mr Cridland said: "Government reforms are headed in the right direction, but are not sufficient on their own. They need to go further and they need to go faster."

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British Airways 'Twitter Account Hacked'

British Airways has launched an investigation after its Twitter account was apparently hacked and an offensive message retweeted.

The official BA Twitter account seemingly retweeted an offensive and racist message on Saturday afternoon.

After the offensive retweet was deleted, staff at the airline then tweeted an apology.

It said: "Apologies for the last RT. We are sorry for any offence caused and are investigating how this may have happened."

Within minutes, hundreds of Twitters users resent the retweet and later more than 160 followers had retweeted the apology.

The BA account has more than 210,000 followers.

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Miliband Warns Of 'Sleepwalk' Towards EU Exit

Ed Miliband has called for major reforms of the European Union and a "hard-headed" approach taken by Britain, ahead of a crunch EU budget summit this week.

The Labour leader - who last month joined forces with Tory rebels to defeat the Government over its strategy to freeze the EU budget - said Labour must not ignore the legitimate concerns of eurosceptics.

He said reform was needed on the budget, on immigration rules, state aid restrictions and austerity measures - but declined to promise a referendum on the UK's future within the EU.

"What I would say is: never shrink from being open about the problems of the European Union," he told the Sunday Telegraph.

Mr Cameron travels to Brussels on Thursday facing pressure from his backbenchers to push for the real-terms spending cut approved in the non-binding Commons vote Labour helped secure.

The Prime Minister, who insists a rise in line with inflation is a more realistic target in the negotiations, has threatened to use the UK's veto if the rise proposed by the Commission is not drastically reduced.

He is under mounting pressure to set out plans for a referendum, with restless MPs increasingly concerned about the threat posed to the Conservatives by the UK Independence Party at the next general election.

Ukip scored its best parliamentary by-election result in Corby, coming in third ahead of the Liberal Democrats and an opinion poll today showed more than a quarter of Tory supporters would "seriously consider" switching.

Mr Miliband - who told French president Francois Hollande in the summer that he saw Britain's place as "firmly in Europe" - was accused of opportunism for voting with the Tory rebels.

But he insisted his party could be at once a keen supporter of EU membership and "realist" campaign for reform.

Mr Miliband, who is due to reinforce his points in a speech to business leaders at a CBI conference on Monday, said he believed bosses were "genuinely worried that we're going to sleepwalk towards an exit under Cameron".

"Nobody thinks he's at those negotiations with anything other than with an arm up his back from the people in his own party," he told the newspaper.

"People are always writing us off as if to say that these guys are going toward the exit. That's very dangerous for us."

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Spanish Police Protest Over Austerity Cuts

Some 5,000 police officers marched through the centre of Madrid to protest salary cuts and a reduction of the force.

The officers, who had travelled from across Spain, rallied three days after the nation was gripped by a general strike over the austerity cuts.

Health and education workers have already taken part in similar marches.

"Citizens! Forgive us for not arresting those truly responsible for this crisis: bankers and politicians," read one banner held by a line of officers as they marched to the interior ministry.

The rally had been called by the main policing union SUP.

"Each year, between 1,500 and 2,000 police officers retire and 125 are recruited, which means in three or four years, there will be more insecurity and crime in Spain," warned SUP general secretary Jose Maria Sanchez Fornet.

The government has imposed cuts of 150bn euros

Anxos Lores Tome, a 36-year-old police officer from Galicia in northern Spain, said her days off had been whittled and with cuts of about 300 euros (£241) a month, she is today earning 1,450 euros (£1,163) a month - less than the 1,500 euros (£1,203) she got when she joined up a decade ago.

Juan Manuel Aguado Torres, an officer from Grenada in the south, blamed Spain's leaders for the ongoing woes.

"If the country is functioning badly, it's only because of the politicians," the 60-year-old said.

For 33-year-old Antonio Perez, "the problem is they take from us to give to others, like the autonomous regions and the banks".

Spain's eurozone partners in June agreed to extend to Madrid an emergency rescue loan of up to 100bn euros (£80bn) to help its stricken banks.

The Spanish government has imposed austerity cuts aimed at saving 150bn euros (£120bn) between 2012 and 2014, prompting an angry backlash that saw hundreds of thousands of people protest in Wednesday's general strike.

"We are worried about the situation in the country in general," Anxos Lores added.

"The politicians aren't creating work and with the cuts they can't create consumer demand, just the opposite."

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