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Business

"All I ask is for powerful people to respond honestly to the questions, and if they can't, explain why." Bill O'Reilly

BBC NEWS | BUSINESS | UK EDITION
Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news.
UK retail sales fall 3.9% in June
Retail sales in the UK fell 3.9% in June, reversing a sudden and unexpected 3.6% record surge seen in May.

Easyjet plans cuts as costs bite
Airline Easyjet will cut flights this winter to offset a challenging economic climate and high fuel prices that have hurt profits

Scottish & Southern warns of rise
UK utility firm Scottish & Southern has warned customers it is likely to increase electricity and gas prices.

Answered Questions

wepVad asked Richard Dodd: "Retailers, particularly large supermarkets, appear to be profiting from the sale of more robust shopping bags while doing little to encourage reuse. Are proceeds from these sales monitored and are they..." Show more »"Retailers, particularly large supermarkets, appear to be profiting from the sale of more robust shopping bags while doing little to encourage reuse. Are proceeds from these sales monitored and are they actually applied to environmental issues or are the supermarkets getting a free boost to their bottom line?" Show less »
Richard Dodd answers: "None of this is about making money for retailers. Actually they are using awfully lot of money for recycling and for the facilities for recycling; they are offering customers incentives like reward points..." Show more»" None of this is about making money for retailers. Actually they are using awfully lot of money for recycling and for the facilities for recycling; they are offering customers incentives like reward points and so on. They are spending money on days when they are handing out those bags for life that can be used over and over again. Stores are not making money out of this, they are heavily investing on this and it is all costing them. In terms of encouraging reuse, this can not be one sided. "Show less«
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0 comment | Topic: Business | Email to friends | Dec 05 2007 4:50:05 PM
wepVad asked Darren Johnson: "Direct charges for bags have proved to be a simple, effective means of encouraging individuals to be responsible citizens. Why can't we implement an equivalent scheme here rather than waste time and ..." Show more »"Direct charges for bags have proved to be a simple, effective means of encouraging individuals to be responsible citizens. Why can't we implement an equivalent scheme here rather than waste time and resource discussing the problem while bag pollution continues?" Show less »
Darren Johnson answers: "I just came back from Dublin. I was so impressed, where the tax of plastic bags has had a dramatic impact reducing plastic bag usage over 90 percent. Because the way they did it with the VAT tax return..." Show more»" I just came back from Dublin. I was so impressed, where the tax of plastic bags has had a dramatic impact reducing plastic bag usage over 90 percent. Because the way they did it with the VAT tax return there has not been extra burden for retailers and actually retailers have made profit on the scheme because now they have to spend less money on the bags. There has been big cultural acceptance from day one, it has created the cultural shift. I am really impressed with Ireland. I do not see any reason why this could not work in UK. If you can introduce some sort of tax which cuts usage by 90 percent, it is clearly effective and I see no reason why it could not been introduced in UK. I just do not see why the government is so timid over the issue, if they want to introduce some simple effective green measure that would be something they could have done a long time ago. "Show less«
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0 comment | Topic: Business | Email to friends | Dec 05 2007 4:20:48 PM
Londontowner asked Carol Barbone: "Carol, cheap foreign holidays are enormously important to many people. Do you believe we should take fewer holidays overseas in order to reduce the need to build additional runway capacity?"
Carol Barbone answers: "80% of all flights are taken by 11% of the population. It's not the annual summer holiday that needs to be curbed but there must be a question mark over whether it is sustainable for a minority of the..." Show more»" 80% of all flights are taken by 11% of the population. It's not the annual summer holiday that needs to be curbed but there must be a question mark over whether it is sustainable for a minority of the population to be constantly jetting off for short leisure breaks to the Continent, simply because its cheaper than a weekend break in the Cotswolds or the Norfolk Broads or wherever. And the reason its cheaper is that airlines pay no fuel duty, no VAT and don't have to meet their environmental costs. So the price is artifically low. This makes no sense either from an environmental standpoint or from an economic standpoint. "Show less«
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0 comment | Topic: Business | Email to friends | Nov 28 2007 1:26:28 PM
keithwhu asked Representative of easyJet: "If the proposed expansion of Stansted Airport goes ahead, it will significantly add to your companies' carbon emissions - what steps are you taking to counterbalance this increase?"
Representative of easyJet answers: "The expansion of Stansted would not significantly increase our emissions, as we are always looking for the latest technology to ensure reductions. easyJet emits 27% less Co2 than a traditional airline,..." Show more»" The expansion of Stansted would not significantly increase our emissions, as we are always looking for the latest technology to ensure reductions. easyJet emits 27% less Co2 than a traditional airline, due to the nature of our business - high loads and modern aircraft. This means flying low-cost is a more environmentally efficient way to fly. "Show less«
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0 comment | Topic: Business | Email to friends | Nov 28 2007 2:06:27 PM
paul576 asked Carol Barbone: "Do you believe that the businesses surrounding Stansted can survive in a hugely competitive world if it is not allowed to expand?"
Carol Barbone answers: "Stansted does bring important benefits to the local economy but the proposed expansion of Stansted to handle an extra 10 million passengers a year (10 mppa) would not have a major impact on the local ..." Show more»" Stansted does bring important benefits to the local economy but the proposed expansion of Stansted to handle an extra 10 million passengers a year (10 mppa) would not have a major impact on the local economy one way or the other. It would be primarily to cater for more outbound leisure trips and only 290,000 of the additional 10mppa would be business passengers. It is a question of balance and one of the main difficulties in the local economy is a shortage of available employees to fill the jobs available. Expansion of Stansted would exacerbate this problem, cause more overheating and require airport workers to be recruited from much further afield, including overseas, with implications for housing and other local services. "Show less«
Is this a good answer? 4 0
0 comment | Topic: Business | Email to friends | Nov 28 2007 1:15:08 PM