Governments - organ grinders or monkeys ?

We read that research from the Department of Energy and Climate Change has confirmed that one in four families in the UK are now trapped in "fuel poverty" whereby at least 10% of their income is spent on gas and electricity. This figure has risen by 15% since 2007 and now takes in 4 million people although projections for this year suggest the figure could rise to as high as 6.6 million people. This is almost 3 times the figure from 2004 and is starting to alarm the authorities. Despite the fact that the UK government has promised to address the problem of fuel poverty and energy prices, in reality little has been done to rein in the power of the UK energy companies in the short to medium term. As a consequence, more and more people are now falling into the fuel poverty trap.

Campaigners said ministers would miss their target of removing all households containing the elderly, disabled and poor from fuel poverty by next year.

Age Concern warned that this winter many of the 2.5 million fuel poor pensioners would be forced to choose between "eating or heating". Andrew Harrop, its head of policy, said: "Their health will suffer and they will be wracked with anxiety about how they will manage to pay the next energy bill."

Citizens Advice announced the number of people falling behind with fuel bills had increased by nearly 50% in the past six months, and by more than 80% over the past three years. The majority of people seeking help over debts to energy companies were of working age; just 5% were over 65 years old, while a quarter had a disability.

Energy prices rocketed by £381 or 42% last year, but price cuts this year average out at £54 or 4%. In January 2008 the average household energy bill was £912. Today it is £1,239 - £327 or 36% higher .

All government promises to control capitalism , in the end , come to nothing.

City bankers have not lost a penny of their multimillion-pound bonus packages so far, despite the credit crunch which has caused the worst financial crisis in 80 years, new figures show.
Official statistics reveal that, in the financial year to April, City workers took home £16bn, almost exactly the same as in 2007 . The remuneration figures were released only days after Gordon Brown vowed to wage war on the "irresponsible" bonus culture. Brown also said financial systems must reflect the values of "fairness, stewardship and co-operation" cherished by families and communities.

Meanwhile, the charity Credit Action urged the Treasury to put pressure on Northern Rock to adopt a more flexible approach towards borrowers who fall behind on their mortgage payments.
The charity said that Northern Rock, which was nationalised in the wake of last year's catastrophic bank-run, was more than twice as likely to repossess homes as other lenders. Of the 19,000 homes repossessed in the first half of this year, around 4,000 were by Northern Rock.