Residents of Wales who have any reason to ever visit a hospital will be delighted to hear the news that they are to be able to park for free at all NHS hospitals by 2011. In a demonstration that smaller and more modern government listens to the electorate and responds to their feelings it shows up the westminster government for what it is. A self centred, uncaring bunch of self seeking career politicians who are more concerned with promotion within government than they are with the people who elected them.
Disgust at hospital car parking charges is widespread. There are very few people who support them. Government policies have led to bigger hospitals ever further away from the patients they are supposed to serve. It may be efficient but then the ultimate in efficiency would be to have one big hospital in the middle of England but that would please nobody except the accountants who seem to run public services these days.
Scotland has proposed charging a maximum daily charge of about £3. It is not a perfect solution but at least it prevents hospitals or their outsourced parking supervision companies from ripping people off. It has been argued that any profits from parking can go towards additional treatments at the hospitals. This would also be true if they charged for bed rental while people are in hospital, charges for use of bedpans and maybe even extra charges if you would like neat stiting up after an operation. In other words, it is a ridiculous claim.
People do not go to hospital for fun. It is not an entertainment complex. Of course if it were then parking would be free because businesses know that people prefer not having to pay extra charges. Hospital parking charges make people very angry and it hardly helps a persons health prospects if they have additional financial worries caused by the hospitals parking charges policy.
It’s about time the Westminster government started listening to peoples concerns and stopped worrying about promoting all their great new ideas for making themselves famous. We have had enough laws, rules and regulations brought in, in recent years to last for many generations before we can ever begin to understand what has been enacted, supposedly in our name and for our benefit. When will they start to actually listen to what people thing and care about? It feels unlikely they ever will but they could make a start by removing hospital parking charges straight away.

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)

In a world where company management invariably puts a positive spin on any bad news they have to release it was refreshing to read of the chief executive of Ryanair, Michael O’leary being bluntly honest. He told us that he expects things to get tough over the next year or so. He expects profits to be reduced at Ryanair by up to 50% because of the high price of fuel and reduced consumer demand. This follows a drop in profits of 27% in the last quarter from October to December 2007

The cheap flights available from airlines such as Ryanair have been a significant factor in the growth of air travel over recent years and it has become commonplace to fly to Prague, Amsterdam or Spain for stag nights and short breaks and it raises the question of whether the sudden growth in cheap air travel was just a bubble and if, as fuel supplies run down and prices rise, the growth in air travel be justified or maintained.

The remarkable growth in air travel has been used to project large numbers of people travelling in the future and been used to justify the need for additional runways at UK airports. Those figures may be looking less certain now.

However else it can be interpreted it is clearly yet another sign of a slowdown in consumer spending as the credit squeeze bites.

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)

There is a saying that, ‘If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always had.’

It is an obvious but useful reminder that if nothing changes then things remain the same. If your situation is that you spend more than you earn and/or your debts are overwhelming then you have to do something and change things

Debt is one of the biggest problems facing us on a daily basis. Yes, the planet is suffering from climate change and we have to do anything we can to reduce the damage or we may all die but that is a different sort of problem that demands inter govermental action. Obesity is a growing problem in the developed world and like debt and credit problems it is something that has been encouraged and supported by big business. Governments are starting to take action to try to deal with the problem before health problems overwhelm the health industry. Debt problems are, however, an accepted problem but not one that governments seem anxious to face up to and whilst there are various organisations that can give advice people do feel pretty much on their own when it comes to dealing with their debt.

Some will say that is the way it should be. ‘They got into this problem so they should get themselves out of it.’ It may be true in many cases but as often as not debt probelems arise from lack of understanding of the consequences or personal disasters like divorce, redundancy and illness and whatever the causes, we are where we are now and have to deal with it.

Consider debt as an addiction. Like any addiction the first hurdle is to recognise the problem. We have become addicted to easy credit and debt. It has become the norm. Unlike previous generations we are not embarassed about our debt but we are concerned about overcoming the problems it brings.

Do you have a debt problem? Ask yourself these questions.

1)Â Do I have any debts?

2) Can I comfortably afford the repayments on the debt that I have?

3) Am I struggling to make the repayments on my debts each month?

4) Would I be ok if I lost my job, my marriage collapsed or I suffered serious ill health?

Few people can afford to ignore these questions and most people would not require a huge chunk of bad luck to find themselves in financial difficulty. We live on a knife edge and try to get the most out of life but that does leave us in a precarious position.

The answer is to prepare for the worst and if things go well life will be sweet but if things go badly at least we will survive. Track your income and expenditure and set up a budget. Reduce your spending, increase repayments on expensive debt. Slowly but surely pay off all your debts. I am not saying it is easy but the rewards of feeling financially safe and secure are enormous.

Money Magic: Seven Simple Steps to True Financial Freedom (Quick Reads)