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Live coverage of the Lloyds AGM

Miles Costello and Joanna Geary provide real-time coverage from the Lloyds TSB AGM from Glasgow.

Click here to follow the action live and post your thoughts in the comment field below. 

Times Mobile users should click here.

Read Lloyds braces for shareholder anger at AGM

The 10 richest towns in the UK... and the 10 poorest

 

Do you live in St Albans? If so you live amongst the highest-earning people in the UK.

St Alban's population has an average salary at £43,500 per year, according to research from UHY Hacker Young, whilst residents of Blackpool (pictured) earn an average of £17,400.

The average wage in the UK, amongst those lucky enough to still have a job, is currently £24,292 - with £4,333 of that going to the taxman in income tax.  The ten highest - and lowest - paid towns or cities are below.

Ten tips to improve your CV

 

In a shrinking jobs market there are no second chances, so a spot-on CV is essential to get you through the door of any potential employer. Here are is the Times Money list of CV essentials.

The top 10 unemployment hotspots

There are now more than two million people unemployed in Britain, the highest level for twelve years.

But there are widespread regional variations when it comes to employment levels. Here are the towns and cities with the most people claiming job seeker’s allowance (JSA), the main unemployment benefit, last month.

Filthy rich: the 10 highest paid hedge fund managers of 2008

 

Stock markets across the world may have tanked last year but that didn’t stop the top performing hedge fund managers from making themselves a huge pile of cash.

In fact, the top 25 made £8.275 billion or an average of $464 million (£331m) each in 2008, according to research by Alpha Magazine. That is enough money to pay for 30 hospitals, employ more than 300,000 nurses for a year, or vaccinate every child in poverty from five preventable diseases.

Anyway, here is the list of the top 10, and how they made their millions (billions).

Deflation buster: the 10 items that have risen most in price this year

Much to everyone's surprise, inflation did not fall into negative territory in February. In fact, the Consumer Prices Index, the Government's preferred measure of inflation, actually rose by 3.2 per cent, up from 3 per cent in January.

Many people will view the news as a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it means that deflation has been averted, for another month at least. As we outline in Deflation Britain: The winners and losers, deflation will be bad news for many of us.

On the other hand, it means that prices for some household essentials are still rising at a time when every penny counts.

So what's caused this unexpected uptick in inflation? Below we outline ten items that have, against the odds, continued to rise in price.

Sign our petition to rename “quantitative easing”

 What do you think of the phrase “quantitative easing”? If you are anything like us on Money Central, you probably think it is yet another example of impenetrable official jargon. That is why we read with such joy, Carl Maxim’s letter to The Times today.

Mr Maxim, of Southsea, suggests that the phrase be replaced by the much more manageable term “queasing”. He wrote: “It is much easier to pronounce and carries with it the slightly queasy feeling that one naturally feels when trying to save the economy from imminent collapse."

We couldn’t agree more, and that is why we tried to set up a petition on the Number 10 website calling on the Government to use the term “queasing” instead of “quantitative easing” in all official communications.

Sadly, Number 10 didn’t think our petition sufficiently worthy and rejected it on the grounds that it had “no point about government policy.” But in the brave tradition of journalism, we refuse to be silenced by the state and have decided to conduct our own petition here instead.

So if you support our campaign, leave your details in the form below, and feel free to suggest any alternatives to queasing in the comment field below that. We will pass the peittion on to the Prime Minsiter's office and the Bank of England.

The dangers of printing money: four lessons from history

The Bank of England voted today to begin quantitative easing —  printing money to you and me — in a last ditch attempt to save the UK from the twin threats of depression and deflation.

It is a decision that is fraught with risks.

The hope is that the money pumped into the economy will encourage banks to become more relaxed about lending to individuals and businesses.

Flush with extra cash we will all rush out to spend it, kickstarting the economy and dragging it out of recession. Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, will get a well deserved knighthood, and the rest of us will all breathe a sigh of relief and carry on as before, a little poorer, a little wiser, but generally OK.

But, none of the above is certain.

e-Poll: Should the Government ban 100 per cent mortgages?

Gordon Brown courted controversy this weekend when he said that the Government would like to ban 100 per cent mortgages. These type of home loans are considered reckless by some as they do not require the borrower to save for a deposit. However, others argue that competitive 100 per cent mortgages are needed to help reduce the costs of borrowers already in negative equity. What do you think of these  loans? Watch our video above and then vote in the e-Poll and leave your comments below.

 

Online Surveys & Market Research

‘Sorry’ seems to be a rare-ish word - for a banker

Times Labs have rustled up this Wordle analysing the breakdown of words used by some of the UK’s (former) senior bankers when questioned by MPs about what why their companies are in such financial strife. Not very many mentions of 'sorry'...

Compare and contrast with this article from 1843 - twaddling, lick-spittle, wishy-washy, cringing ... bank directors being sorry (old style)

e-Poll: Is greed good?

 

Last week Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 68 per cent owned by the Government, sparked outrage by planning to pay £1 billion in bonuses to staff despite record losses. But the City hit back saying bonuses are needed to retain the best people. Others argued that the last thing the nationalised banks need is to lose employees that are actually making money.

Have your say by voting in our e-poll and leaving your comments below:

Online Surveys & Market Research

The 10 people most responsible for the recession

 

The global financial crisis has evolved into a worldwide recession of epic proportions. Analysts fear the sudden slump which has followed the credit crunch could even rival the Great Depression of the early 1930s and lead to global stagnation.

But who is responsible?

The bursting of the housing bubble and the collapse in confidence throughout financial markets was not caused by one individual or a single decision, so pointing the finger of blame is a near-impossible task. But Times Money has given it a shot anyway. Here are ten suggestions for the nine men and one woman responsible for the mess we're in. Once you have read our notes, vote in our poll and make your own suggestions in the comment box at the end of the piece.

When will the recession end? The view from Davos

One pundit forecasts when we might see the green shoots of recovery.

e-Poll: Is Davos relevant?

A number of high profile politicians and bankers have pulled out of this year's World Economic Forum at Davos, leading some to question the worth of this event. Do you think that this annual gathering of the great and the good of the world economy does anything other than line the pockets of the Swiss ski resort? Or do you think that this meeting is useful for devising solutions to global economic problems?

Online Surveys & Market Research

Is your family in recession? Take our quick test to find out...

 

The official confirmation of what everybody already knew came today: the UK is in recession. However, while the nation's GDP may have shrunk for two successive quarters, the story for individual families is different. Some households have been hit hard by job losses but others have benefited from falling prices and lower mortgage rates.

Here Money Central has devised a simple ten-question test to determine whether your family is a winner or loser from the downturn.

In the last three months:

1. Has your mortgage become cheaper, more expensive or stayed the same?

A: Cheaper
B: More Expensive
C: Stayed the same

2. Has anyone in your household lost their job?

Yes
No

3. Has anyone in your household had a pay cut/pay rise?

A: Pay rise
B: Pay cut
C: No change

4. Have anyone in your household lost money on the stock market?

Yes
No

5. Has your household income from savings fallen or increased?

A: Fallen
B: Increased
C: Stayed the same

6. Has the value of your home fallen?

Yes
No

7. Has your food shopping become cheaper, more expensive or stayed the same?

A: Cheaper
B: More Expensive
C: Stayed the same

8. Have your domestic bills become cheaper, more expensive or stayed the same?

A: Cheaper
B: More Expensive
C: Stayed the same

9. Have you become more or less worried about your family’s financial position?

A: More worried
B: Less worried
C: Stayed the same

10. How much has your family benefitted from the cut in Vat?

A: A little
B: A lot
C: Not at all

Unemployment survey: the results

 

The unemployed are deeply frustrated at the bureaucracy and incompetence of the Government’s Job Centre network, according to a survey by Money Central. Job seekers older than 50 also believe they have little chance of finding work because of age discrimination. The survey also confirmed that the biggest proportion of job losses has been in the financial services industry.

UPDATE JANUARY 21: New figures show that the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance has surged as redundancies hit a record high. With the unemployment swelling and new jobs dwindling, can the Government's Job Centre network cope? Please tell us your views, below.

Have your say on the bank bailout

Online Surveys & Market Research

Are you unemployed? Please complete our survey

Please tell us your experiences of trying to find a job. The survey results are completely anonymous

Ten mind-boggling statistics from the credit crunch

It's been a year of mindboggling statistics and silly money, of soaring debts, collapsing stock prices and astounding events.

When Northern Rock collapsed last year, did you think, "We're going to have to nationalise the rest of them too". No, me neither.

I also bet you didn't work out that the part-nationalisation of our banking sector would cost you at least £8,000 in taxes. And this is just the beginning.

Here are some other surprising, dispiriting and utterly disturbing statistics from the financial credit crunch which has ravaged our financial sector, broken the back of our economy and produced a recession that could be the worst for many generations.

The 10 biggest winners from the financial crisis

High street retailers, estate agents, Iceland…the casualties of the economic crisis are all too familiar. But while there are losers, others have profited from the doom.

We’ve rounded up ten credit crunch Houdinis who’ve escaped the financial crisis and are laughing all the way to the ailing bank.