Recession fears as English economy shrinks

Britain’s economy has shrunk over the past three months, according to City experts, piling more pressure on minister’s as they drive through the coalition’s programme of cuts.

Economists believe that official GDP figures later this month will reveal that the economy contracted by 0.2% between April and June, after recording growth of 0.5% in the first quarter of the year.

Official measures of GDP published by the Office for national Statistics have consistently proved even gloomier than City predictions in recent quarters.

The experts’ forecasts will revive fears that Britain will re-enter recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, may try to blame the Japanese earthquake, a late Easter and the Royal wedding break.

Critics will say the Chancellor also blamed temporary factors for weak growth in the final quarter of last year, when unseasonal snowfall was cited.

http://www.lowryllp.com/blog/

http://www.lowryllp.com/notary.html

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk/blog/

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk.testimonials.html

You can’t move children to Canada, ex-wife is told

A “devoted” father has successfully stopped his divorced wife from moving to Canada with their children in a landmark case that will give hope to hundreds of parents a year whose children are taken abroad.

The ruling of the English Court of Appeal will make it far harder for one parent to take his or her children to live in another country, causing anguish to the one left behind.

It reverses ten years of practice by the courts in which judges tended to allow parents to move abroad on the ground that, if forced to stay, would be unhappy and children would suffer.

In future, if parents share the care of their children, courts will be far more reluctant to grant permission for a move abroad.  A parent can remove children permanently from England and Wales only with the consent of the other parent or by a court order.

There are more than 1,000 cases a year in which a parent usually the mother, gets permission from the courts to leave the country with the children after divorce.  

The court’s ruling is a radical, thought - provoking decision and a victory for common sense.

The parents in the case are bankers in their 40s who have two young daughters. The mother applied to return to her native Canada after the marriage broke down.

A judge ruled in February that she could, although he acknowledged that the father was “devoted to his two little girls”, who were aged 4 and 2 had been spending five nights in every fortnight with him.

Overturning that decision after the husband appealed, the Appeal Court said the judge had not balanced the pros and cons. The Court of Appeal urged the parents to consider mediation, and to explore an immediate future in this jurisdiction, flowing into a planned future move to Canada.

This will encourage fathers to seek shared care in any case where there is an international element, because fathers – or – mothers – will not want their children to move to the other side of the world.    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQI36xq-TE

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk

http://www.lowryllp.com/blog/

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk/blog/

Bank executives whose behavior is deemed negligent by US authorities could have up to two years’ worth of pay confiscated by the state under proposals voted into the America rulebook yesterday.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp voted five to one in favour of a “clawback” clause in new regulations, which will allow the government to reclaim compensation paid to executives whose banks have to be taken over and wound up by the state.

The rule puts flesh on the bones of a proposal included in the 2010 Dodd – Frank Act, which overhauls American financial regulation. It gives some clarity to a major question as to when circumstances executive’s pay should be confiscated, with the broader “ negligence” favoured over  “ gross negligence”.

The vote also established a debt hierarchy in winding up a firm, with The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp’s cost incurred in resolving the company and debt to the government topping the list, along with any money owed to employees.

Other creditors will be paid off afterwards.

The status of clawback clauses in Europe is unclear at present, with EU authorities suggesting that firms write clawback clauses into their contracts.

http://www.lowryllp.com/twitter.html

http://www.lowryllp.com/testimonials.html

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk/careers.html

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk/legalisation.html

United Kingdom Redundancy Bill Hits £4.4 bn

Redundancy payments totaled £4.4 bn over the last fiscal year.

The figure is only slightly down by two percent on the previous year, as government sector cuts and a fear of employment tribunals continue to push up the level of payments.

In the last three years redundancy payments are calculated to have cost United Kingdom employers a total of £13.4 bn.

Average redundancy figures reached £9,362 per person in 2010 – 2011. 

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk/blog/

http://www.twitter.com/OwenLowry/

http://www.twitter.com/LowryLLP/

http://www.twitter.com/NotaryEngland

Vandal aged Three years old 

A three –year-old boy was caught vandalising cars near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Police recorded the incident but took no further action.

Three other children under the age of ten were also caught damaging cars this year, while three more robbed a snooker club.

Http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk

Top English Women need “him indoors”

Woman may need a house husband if they are to reach the top, so says the founder of the 30% Club, which is campaigning for 30% of director to posts to be held by women.

Currently in England, only 13% of the board members of FTSE 100 companies are women.

The powerful women whose husbands have scaled back their careers to fit in with their wives say you can’t not have a high – octane job without a house-husband.

It is very difficult to have two parents working full-time bringing up children who are happy and stable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAQI36xq-TE

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk

A US university fraternity is being sued for Pounds Sterling 16 million after a student was allegedly made to play a drinking game that killed him.

The 19 year old student of Cornell University was allegedly kidnapped by members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and ordered to drink a shot of vodka for every question he got wrong about the fraternity's history. 

Mobile telephones may raise risk of cancer – World Health Organisation warned.

Radiation from mobile telephones could cause cancer, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday.

The risk from the devices is in the same category as the pesticide DDT, coffee and engine exhaust fumes.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organisation, announced that it had classified radio frequency electromagnetic fields as “ possibly carcinogenic to humans”.

It said the move was based on an increased risk of glioma – a type of brain cancer – associated with wireless telephone use.

The conclusion means that there could be some risk and therefore, we need to keep a close watch for a link between mobile telephones and cancer risks.

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk

Canada’s economy growth  3.9  %  - 30.05.11

Canada’s economy grew at an annualised rate of 39 %, official data revealed yesterday. Growth in the final three months of last year was revised down to a year-on-year rate of 3.1%, from 3.3%.

Meanwhile, current account deficit narrowed in the first quarter on strong exports of energy products to the United States. 

The deficit shrank to CDN $8.9 bn ( £5.4bn) from CDN $ 10.3bn in the previous quarter.

http://www.lowryllp.com

http://www.notaryengland.co.uk