Cash for the 2012 Olympics

LOTTERY games launched five years ago to raise cash for the 2012 Olympics have so far raked in only two-thirds of their target total.

Camelot announced it has raised £500 million from the Olympic-themed games giving it just two years to reach its £750 million goal. The cash raised from games including Scratch-Cards and Dream Number goes towards £2 Billion Camelot is contributing to Olympic funding.

However, the firm’s Chief Executive, Dianna Thompson said, “We are delighted that the £500 million milestone has already been reached.”

Searching Passenger

A BRITISH airport has become the first in the world to stop searching passengers by hand.

Manchester Airport has replaced its archway metal detectors with automatic booths at Terminal 2

Passengers walk through gates into a secure area and if nothing suspicious is detected a green door opens within two seconds. However, if the alarm sounds the passenger is asked to go through one of the naked body scanners.

Anyone who refuses will be barred from travelling, if the trial is successful, it will cost £5 million to install the scanners in all the terminals

Discount Diners Rewards

BRITONS save £3 million a day using discount vouchers in restaurants; diners saved an estimated £1 billion last year by using cut-price tokens for meals in pubs, pizzerias and other eateries. Now that 6 out of 10 of us regularly use the tokens to get cheaper meals, the stigma of asking for money off a bill disappears. Vouchers which can offer up to 50 per cent off are the most popular online discount, researched by comparison website `moneysupermarkets  com showed. Over the last 12 months the number of people using them has risen by 30 per cent, Italian food is most popular,

More than 90%`of Brits regularly save money by preparing enough food to eat the same meal twice in a week says a poll by kitchen chain Magnet.

Women Go Shopping

THE AVERAGE women will spend more than eight years of her life shopping, according to a study.   Buying household essentials and keeping the family fed and clothes means the typical female shops for no less than 25,184 hours and 53 mins over a period of 63 years.

The research also found women will make 301 individual shopping’s trips, lasting a total of 399 hours and 46 minutes per year

The study of 2,000 women by online market research company www.OnePoll also discovered they window shop at least 51 times a year.

Even food shopping can take over an hour to complete, and with 84 food shop visits a year, women will spend 94 hours and 55 minutes browsing the supermarket shelves. And they devote more than 40 hours trawling for shoes.

Our Road to Riches

NEARLY 2,000 streets in England have an average property price of more than £1 million a survey revealed.

The vast majority are in London followed by Surrey’s Guildford with 47, Richmond 44 and Leatherhead 40 million. Posh Kensinton, London is the most expensive postcode area with the average home costing £1.6m, North East Lincolnshire had the lowest property prices with an average of £118,373.

Britain’s Inflation Rate

RISING food bills have driven Britain’s inflation rate to the highest in the Western World.

The UK’s consumer price index figure of 3.7 percent is two or three times higher than      similar economies.

Latest figures from the Organisation for economic co-operation and development suggest British families are suffering far more than their counterparts in most of the other 30 OECD member countries. The 3.7 per cent figure compares with just 1 per cent in Germany, 1.1 per cent in the Netherlands, 1.5 per cent in Italy and Spain and 1.7 per cent in France. The figure has actually fallen by 2.1 per cent in the last year in Ireland and 1.2 per cent in Japan

Overseas Takeovers

FOREIGN takeovers of UK-listed companies have almost doubled according to research by Wedlake Bell. The law firm said that 53 per cent of deals involved overseas bids in the first quarter of this year, compared with 27 per cent in the same period of 2008. Most came from America, but India and China have also been active.

The Decline of Britain’s Teenagers

THE NUMBER of teenagers living in Britain will decline by almost 10 per cent over the next decade research shows. By 2017 there will be just 4.9 million down from 5.4 million today, according to projections by the Office of National Statistics. They say the fall is a direct result of the so called baby-slump; which occurred from the 1970’s onwards, when women begun having far fewer children. Compared with the baby boom in the 1960s, birth rates have steadily fallen over the following decades thanks to increased use of the pill and family planning.

A British City

ONLY one British city, London, was ranked in the world’s top 50 for quality of living, a survey revealed. The capital was placed at number 39 based on factors including crime, political stability, transport and personal freedom.

Food and drink and leisure and climate were also taken into consideration in the Mercer 2010 Quality of living survey of 221 cities. Aberdeen was 53rd, Birmingham 55th, Glasgow 57th, and Belfast 63rd.

Vienna was top for the second year in a row and Baghdad came last.

Chocolate is Healthy

SALES of dark chocolate have soared to almost £100 million a year in Britain, following research showing it can benefit health. Despite being more expensive, sales have risen 22 per cent since 2005, compared to just under 12 per cent for the whole chocolate market, new industry figures reveal. Medical studies have shown that chocolate with a high cocoa content can reduce the risk of heart problem if eaten in moderation.

According to a report from market analysts Mintel, 27 per cent of Britons believe dark chocolate is healthy. Mintel’s figures show total sales for the whole market rose 11.7 per cent from 1.95 billion in 2005 to £2.3 billion last year.

Citizenships Granted to Immigrant

A RECORD 200,000 foreigners were granted British passports last year.

The number issued in 2009 was a whopping 58% higher than the previous year, new Home Office figures revealed.

More than half went to Indians Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and people from the Philippines who are now entitled to claim full benefits in the UK.

Separate figures from the International Passenger Survey show immigration is failing, around 503,000 people came into the country last year, against 555,000 in 2008.

However, new Immigration Minister, Mr. Green said “We will reduce net migration to tens of thousands rather than hundreds of thousands

Weather Forecast

BRITS discuss the weather every single day, according to a poll, with 56 per cent at it every four hours. Two thirds check the forecast every day, a quarter of those even more often, whilst a third do not believe it

However, women can predict the weather by how short their skirts are researchers have claimed. Girls buy shorter lengths three days before temperatures rise, and go for longer ones up to six weeks before it gets chilly or wet. Skirts first go above the knee when the temperature hits 19 C(66 0 F) and rise a further three inches at 22`c They fall eight inches below the knee at 9 ‘C or lower said an e Bay study. A spokeswoman said “It seems that many women have a gift for predicting the arrival of sunny weather.`

Britain’s Getting Older

THE NUMBER of people aged 65 and over in the UK will rise by two thirds to reach 15.8 million by 2031.

People over 50 already make up at least one quarter of the population. The office for National Statistics says older people’s economic health varies according to region.

Employment rates for the over 5Os in 2008 were highest in the South East and lowest in Northern Ireland with a quarter of the over 60s claiming pension credit.

Are you happy in your work?

ONE IN five people are unhappy in their work, with civil servants the least content.

Health care workers were happiest, followed by scientists, teachers and accountants, according to a new poll. More than 50% would choose a different career if they could start again. Peter Mitchell of Edga the Education Foundation which quizzed 1,000 people said “Vocational qualifications offer a solid route into a great many careers. “

The Ban on Smoking

THE BAN on smoking in public places has slashed the number of people having heart attacks. Around 1,200 fewer people went to hospital with coronaries in the year after  lighting up was outlawed in England in 2007.

The 2.4% reduction in emergency admission saved the NHS £8 million and prevented almost 200 deaths say a new study. Dr. Anna Gilmore, who led the research at the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group, said the findings proved “ the benefits of smoke-free legislation.”

Short People against Tall People

SHORT people are 50 per cent more likely to die from heart disease than tall people.

A study of three million patients has revealed that the greater risk applies to men under 5ft 5ins and women under 5ft.

Scientist believe this is because they have smaller arteries that are more prone to blocking and are more likely to suffer complications resulting from poorer health and development.

Experts are now considering whether height could be named as a risk factor in heart disease.

Dr. TuulaPaajanen of the University of Tampere in Finland said short people should not be worried by the findings, published in the European Heart journal last month.

People can control their weight, lifestyle habits, such as smoking, drinking, and exercise, and all of these together affect their heart disease risks.  Fontini Rozaakeas of the British Heartfoundation said “There needs to be more time and money spent researching this peculiar association.”

Stress Slows Healing

WORRYING while you are ill could be stopping you from getting well  a study has found. The more anxious patients are, the longer their wounds take to heal, according to health psychologist professor John Weinman. And those who are not stressed, heal up to twice the speed of those who are, he found.

Ii is hoped that his research at the Institute of Psychiatry at king’s College London could be adapted to help patients make speedier recoveries after surgery.