You
can't argue with physic!
THE IAM
welcomes the new hard hitting government advert aimed at raising
awareness of exactly why we have seatbelts in all our cars. The
scientific approach to the aftermath of a crash means no one can
avoid asking themselves why they don't take that few seconds
required to protect themselves.
Neil Greig, Director of Policy and Research at the IAM (Institute of
Advanced Motorists) said:- "When you wear a seatbelt you
'switch on' three decades of engineering research and allow your car
to give you the full protection it was designed to deliver. It is
probably the single most important safety feature in a modern car.
Statistics show that young people are much more likely to be
involved in crashes where no seatbelt was being worn. This leads to
a terrible toll of unnecessary death, injury and lifelong
dependence."
Did you
know?
* Seat belt wearing
rates are lower among young drivers than older drivers, lower among
young male than female drivers, and lower at night than during the
day
* 23 per cent of male drivers under 20 killed or seriously injured
in a day-time crash were not wearing a seat-belt, compared with 26
per cent killed at night
* 16 per cent of female drivers aged 17 to 25 killed in crashes in
day-time were not wearing a seat-belt, as were 11 per cent of those
killed at night.
Hamilton abuse adds impetus to UNISON call to clamp down on racism
at work
THE sick
racist attack on British Grand Prix ace Lewis Hamilton has added
fresh impetus to a top trade union’s call to step up the fight
against discrimination.
UNISON’s North West region, based in Manchester, has been
test-driving an ambitious new scheme to clamp down on racism in
the workplace. The programme is about to be rolled out nationwide.
Regional Secretary Frank Hont is a leading advocate of UNISON
campaigns to combat racism and has been an active member of a number
of community cohesion initiatives since the North West disturbances
in 2001.
He said the abuse levelled at Hamilton on a Spanish website ahead of
Sunday’s Brazillian Grand Prix title decider is a high profile
example of why campaigns against racism are vital.
He said:- “The North West region has been fine-tuning a pilot
training programme called Challenging Racism in the Workplace that
is being introduced across the union’s 12 regions from October 2008.
We involved 15
branches with experience of race issues in the workplace in two
phases of the pilot and engaged black members in developing
solutions to the problems.
Our aim is to
ensure employers actively fight racism and promote equality, rather
than merely react to discrimination. Many managers have produced
race equality schemes but few monitor their policies or conduct
impact assessments.
We want to make
sure race equality policies are more than merely paper exercises and
intend to hold employers to account if they don’t comply with the
law.”
Regions will work with local project teams to oversee how the scheme
progresses in local workplaces for at least a year.
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RICS COMMERCIAL PROPERTY SURVEY Q3 2008
THE balance of
surveyors reporting demand for commercial property in Q3 has fallen
at the fastest pace in a decade, says Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors' Commercial Property Survey published on 3 November 2008.
However the survey shows that the mood in the North West is starting
to improve.
Nationally, 52 percent more Chartered Surveyors reported a fall than
a rise in demand compared to 50 percent in Q2 2008. All sectors
remain firmly in negative territory for the fourth consecutive
quarter with the industrial and office sectors dropping to the
lowest balance in the survey’s history.
The worst hit area continues to be the retail sector with 59 percent
more Chartered Surveyors reporting a fall than a rise in retail
demand, a slight improvement from 63 percent in Q2. However
Chartered Surveyors in the North West reported that demand and
confidence in the retail sector had all improved since Q2, whilst
occupier enquiries have remained the same.
Although the continuing credit turmoil and a slowing housing market
are clearly weighing upon both retailer and consumer confidence,
retail confidence has improved in the North West as 16% fewer
Chartered Surveyors reported a fall. In addition, occupier enquiries
in the North West have increased by 10% reflecting a small
improvement in the industry’s confidence.
Spokesperson for the North West, Nick Davies of Lambert Smith
Hampton, said:- “Whilst the North West is feeling the pain
like the rest of the UK, there has been marginal improvement in the
retail sector. The market is still suffering however, from a general
lack of confidence which means we do not expect to see a full
recovery before 2010 and this will hit the North West's industrial
and distribution sector particularly hard. The impact of the
Government's empty rates tax is still being felt, which has led to
some landlords being forced to offer speculative inducements.”
The value of inducements in both the retail and the office property
sectors rose at the fastest pace in the survey’s history (a leadm
indicator of falling rents) as landlords tried to counter falling
demand with incentives. The North West saw a 10% increase in
inducements in the retail sectors, whilst the office property sector
saw a 3% increase.
Commenting on the national picture, Oliver Gilmartin, RICS senior
economist said:- “The ongoing drag from the credit crunch is
permeating through rental sentiment across all regions and sectors,
especially in the Central London Office market where recent worry
over the health of the hedge fund industry is only adding to the
sense of pessimism. The intensification in credit strains following
the collapse of Lehman brothers will undoubtedly further dampen
investment and occupier demand heading into the fourth quarter.”
LOAN
SHARK LENDING IS A CRIME
DON’T BE A VICTIM
WE CAN HELP YOU (IN STRICTEST CONFIDENCE)
Have you or anyone you know:-
· Been offered a cash loan without paperwork?
· Been threatened when you couldn’t pay?
· Had your benefit or bank card taken away from you?
· Had a loan which keeps growing even though you are making
payments?
If you can answer yes to the above you may have been bitten by a
Loan Shark.
For confidential help and advice contact the Illegal Money Lending
Team...
Phone:- 0300 555 2222 - (local call rate, including inclusive
minutes from mobiles)
Email:-
stoploansharks@liverpool.gov.uk
Text:- loan (space) shark (space) + your message to 60003
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