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UK trade deficit narrows after oil price falls
UK trade deficit narrows after oil price falls
The falling price of oil helped to narrow the UK’s trade gap with the rest of the world in November to its lowest since June 2013, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the UK’s deficit in goods and services was £1.4bn in November, compared with £2.2bn in October.
But it said this reflected a fall in the value of imports rather than an increase in export activity.
Imports fell £1.1bn in the month, which included a £0.7bn fall in oil imports.
The price of Brent crude oil has fallen by more than 50% since August. The drop has been blamed on oversupply, in part as a result of increased domestic oil production in the US, and slowing demand, particularly in China.
The UK’s £8.8bn deficit in goods was partly offset by its £7.4bn surplus in the supply of services.
The trade gap represents the difference between the value of goods and services we export around the world against the value of those we import.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
UK’s Cameron will move EU referendum forward if possible | Reuters
UK’s Cameron will move EU referendum forward if possible | Reuters.
(Reuters) – Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday he would like to bring forward a planned referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union from 2017 if possible.
Under pressure from Eurosceptic members of his own party and the rise in popularity of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain’s ties with the 28-nation bloc and try to claw back powers to London from Brussels.
He has said he will hold a referendum in 2017 if his Conservatives win a national election in May.
“The referendum must take place before the end of 2017. If I think we could do that earlier I would be delighted. The sooner I can deliver on this commitment of a renegotiation and a referendum … the better ,” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
With immigration a top issue for voters ahead of what looks set to be Britain’s closest-fought election in modern history, Cameron has set out plans to restrict EU migrants’ access to welfare payments in Britain.
UK passengers on Ebola flights traced.
UK passengers on Ebola flights traced.
All the UK-based passengers and crew on two flights taken by a British nurse who contracted Ebola have now received health advice, officials say.
Pauline Cafferkey was diagnosed with Ebola after returning from Sierra Leone and is receiving specialist treatment at London’s Royal Free Hospital.
She flew from Casablanca to Heathrow, where she boarded a flight to Glasgow.
Passengers and crews on the flights were given “advice and reassurance”, a Public Health England spokeswoman said.
Officials from Health Protection Scotland had spoken to all 71 passengers and members of crew aboard the British Airways flight from Heathrow to Glasgow, a PHE spokeswoman said.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the
Mortgage approvals fall to 17-month low in November | Money | The Guardian
Mortgage approvals fall to 17-month low in November | Money | The Guardian.
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases fell to a 17-month low in November, in a further sign of a housing market slowdown in the autumn.
A total of 59,029 home loans were approved for purchases during the month, according to figures from the Bank of England, below the average of 63,191 recorded over the previous six months and down by more than 22% on the 76,574 offered in January.
The seasonally adjusted figures from the Bank show that approvals fell in spring as new rules on mortgage affordability came into force, then picked up over the summer months, before dipping again in the autumn.
The rules, which require lenders to carry out tougher checks on borrowers’ incomes and outgoings before they grant a loan, were introduced to prevent a return to the sometimes reckless lending seen in the run up to the housing market peak in 2007.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Gambia leader blames dissidents for coup bid – Africa – Al Jazeera English
Gambia leader blames dissidents for coup bid – Africa – Al Jazeera English.
Gambia’s president has blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists” for an assault on his presidential palace and insists the army remains loyal.
Yahya Jammeh’s remarks came two days after an apparent coup attempt by a group of soldiers while he was abroad was foiled.
“It is an attack by dissidents based in the US, Germany and UK,” Jammeh said in a televised address on Thursday.
“This was not a coup. This was an attack by a terrorist group backed by some powers that I would not name.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Fracking in the UK: What to Expect in 2015 | DeSmogBlog
Fracking in the UK: What to Expect in 2015 | DeSmogBlog.
The current UK coalition government has overseen the greatest fossil fuel boomsince the discovery of North Sea oil, but the controversy that surrounds shale has made it an interesting factor in the run-up to this year’s general election. Here’s what to expect.
More Fracking
The government has shown absolutely no evidence that it is willing to slow down its committed march towards the commercial development of shale gas.
For example, the government recently approved amendments to the infrastructure bill which, amidst heavy public resistance, will allow fracking companies to extract shale from right underneath people’s homes.
This is irrespective of a wide range of academic reports listing both health and environmental implications, as well as direct human rights inflictions.
Chancellor George Osborne also pledged a further £35 million in the Autumn Statement towards the development of shale gas, with £5 million in particular dedicated to twisting the public’s arm on the matter.
Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets — RT News
Argentina and UK Falklands spat spiced up by Russian jets — RT News.
The Falkland Islands – a UK overseas territory Argentina lays claim to – have been allegedly reviewing their defenses after news Russia may offer Argentina fighter jets. Moscow could swap them for beef and wheat, UK’s Daily Express says in its report.
The deal reportedly involves a lease/lend of twelve Sukhoi Su-24 all-weather attack aircraft, which NATO calls “Fencer A”. The jets will be able to do air patrols over the Falklands’ capital, Port Stanley. According to the tabloid, Ministry of Defense officials fear Buenos Aires will take delivery of the planes well before the 2020 deployment of the Navy’s 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and its F-35B fighters, leaving a “real window of vulnerability.”
Up to 1,500 troops, backed by a naval warship that visits throughout the year, are permanently based on the Falklands, along with four RAF Typhoon jets, plus anti-aircraft and artillery batteries.
135 retail firms in critical condition, say analysts | Business | The Guardian
135 retail firms in critical condition, say analysts | Business | The Guardian.
UK retailers are facing increased financial stress this year as the big supermarkets fight a price war that has forced the rest of the high street to slash prices and squeeze profit margins.
As retailers prepare for the quarterly rent day on Christmas Day, traditionally the time when banks call in the administrators, more than 24,000 retailers are suffering from significant financial distress, according to research by the advisory firm Begbies Traynor.
The number is up 54% compared with the same time a year ago, with food and clothing retailers among the worst hit.
Begbies Traynor said as many as 135 businesses were in critical condition as retailers chased sales in the final days of Christmas.
The accountancy firm did not name specific retailers but those in difficulty are thought to include Austin Reed, the tailoring firm, which is understood to be close to appointing Deloitte to work on a rescue deal that may include a company voluntary arrangement allowing it to sell off unprofitable stores.
Julie Palmer, a retail expert at Begbies Traynor, said: “Black Friday was lauded as the biggest day of the retail sales this year but it seems the only real winners were the largest online retailers and the big-brand high street chains with the biggest discounts.”
British Oil Industry On The Verge Of “Collapse”
British Oil Industry On The Verge Of “Collapse”.
The United Kingdom’s oil industry is taking a beating from low oil prices, so much so that it is “close to collapse.”
That comes from the head of the Association of UK Independent Oil and Gas Exploration Companies, otherwise known as Brindex. Robin Allan, the chairman of Brindex, says that the number of new oil projects that are profitable at $60 per barrel is close to zero.
“It’s almost impossible to make money at these oil prices,” Allan told the BBC in an interview. “It’s a huge crisis.”
The United Kingdom has been a significant oil producer in the past, driven mostly by offshore oil platforms in the North Sea. However, North Sea output has been in decline since the late 1990’s, with the industry unable to log substantial new discoveries to offset declining production from aging fields. Production has fallen by 40 percent in just the last four years. U.K. oil production, now below 1 million barrels per day, is less than half of what it was in 1998.
“It’s A Huge Crisis” – The UK Oil Industry Is “Close To Collapse” | Zero Hedge
“It’s A Huge Crisis” – The UK Oil Industry Is “Close To Collapse” | Zero Hedge.
t seems like only yesterday when back on October 11, we first explained – and previewed – the collapse of oil courtesy of the secret deal between the US and Saudi Arabia. However, it seems like only this morning when we subsequently wrote that “If The Oil Plunge Continues, “Now May Be A Time To Panic” For US Shale Companies.” In retrospect, it was, and with the price of crude far below mid-October levels, the pain for both Russia and shale is now quite unbearable (even as Saudi Arabia explained earlier today that the reason for collapsing oil has nothing to do with supply and everything to do with plunging demand, and after seeing this chart we believe it).
All of this was perfectly obvious months ago to anyone who cared. To wit:
… while we understand if Saudi Arabia is employing a dumping strategy to punish the Kremlin as per the “deal” with Obama’s White House, very soon there will be a very vocal, very insolvent and very domestic shale community demanding answers from the Obama administration, as once again the “costs” meant to punish Russia end up crippling the only truly viable industry under the current presidency.
So with great delight we present the latest blowback from Obama’s “brilliant” strategy to cripple Putin: in addition to the default wave about to crush America’s own shale industry, America’s biggest foreign ally and military partner when it comes to “ideologically pure missions of liberation” – the UK, and specifically its North Sea oil industry which according to the BBC is in a “crisis” and according to Robin Allan, chairman of the independent explorers’ association Brindex, the industry was “close to collapse”.
BBC News – World on course for warmest year
BBC News – World on course for warmest year.
This year is in the running to be the hottest globally and for the UK since records began, early estimates show.
In the first 10 months of 2014, global average air temperature was about 0.57 Celsius above the long-term average.
And the first eleven months in the UK have produced an average temperature 1.6C above the long-term.
A separate study by the UK Met Office says the observed temperatures would be highly unlikely without the influence of greenhouse gases produced by humans.
The global figures come in estimates from the UN’s World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
If this year’s current global trend continues for the next two months, the previous record years of 1998, 2005 and 2010 will be overtaken by a narrow margin.
The Secretary-General of the WMO, Michel Jarraud, said the preliminary data for 2014 was “consistent with what we expect from a changing climate.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
3 Of The 10 Largest Economies In The World Have Already Fallen Into Recession – Is The U.S. Next?
3 Of The 10 Largest Economies In The World Have Already Fallen Into Recession – Is The U.S. Next?.
Are you waiting for the next major wave of the global economic collapse to strike? Well, you might want to start paying attention again. Three of the ten largest economies on the planet have already fallen into recession, and there are very serious warning signs coming from several other global economic powerhouses. Things are already so bad that British Prime Minister David Cameron is comparing the current state of affairs to the horrific financial crisis of 2008. In an article for the Guardian that was published on Monday, he delivered the following sobering warning: “Six years on from the financial crash that brought the world to its knees, red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy.” For the leader of the nation with the 6th largest economy in the world to make such a statement is more than a little bit concerning.
So why is Cameron freaking out?
Well, just consider what is going on in Japan. The economy of Japan is the 3rd largest on the entire planet, and it is a total basket case at this point. Many believe that the Japanese will be on the leading edge of the next great global economic crisis, and that is why it is so alarming that Japan has just dipped into recession again for the fourth time in six years…
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
David Cameron warns of looming second global crash | World news | The Guardian
David Cameron warns of looming second global crash | World news | The Guardian.
David Cameron has issued a stark message that “red warning lights are flashing on the dashboard of the global economy” in the same way as when the financial crash brought the world to its knees six years ago.
Writing in the Guardian at the close of the G20 summit in Brisbane, Cameron says there is now “a dangerous backdrop of instability and uncertainty” that presents a real risk to the UK recovery, adding that the eurozone slowdown is already having an impact on British exports and manufacturing.
His warning comes days after the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, claimed a spectre of stagnation was haunting Europe. The International Monetary Fund managing director, Christine Lagarde, expressed fears in Brisbane that a diet of high debt, low growth and unemployment may yet become “the new normal in Europe”.
Cameron has adopted the more sombre tone in the runup to the chancellor’s autumn statement on 3 December, when the Office of Budget Responsibility will produce new growth forecasts and spell out the impact on public finances.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
U.K. Sees Flat Winter Gas Use Amid Minimal Ukraine Risk – Bloomberg
U.K. Sees Flat Winter Gas Use Amid Minimal Ukraine Risk – Bloomberg.
U.K. natural gas demand this winter will be little changed from last year and Britain will be able to withstand a potential cut in Russian supply to Europe, according to National Grid Plc.
Gas use in the six-month period from October will be unchanged from last year on a weather-corrected basis and 1.9 percent more than actual use, the Warwick, England-based network manager said today in its Winter Outlook. Increased liquefied natural gas imports would be able to meet normal winter demand should Russian flows to the European Union be disrupted.
“Under all curtailment scenarios we have sufficient transmission network capacity” in case Russian supplies are limited, the report said. “However, it is likely that we could require increased deliveries of LNG.”
Russia, the EU’s biggest single source of gas, halted supplies to Ukraine in June in a debt and price dispute that echoed those of 2006 and 2009, when transit flows to the region were disrupted. While the U.K. doesn’t directly receive Russian gas, an escalation of the conflict that impacts supply to the region would affect flows across Europe, the grid said.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
