The home builder Bovis Homes has revealed a growing North-South divide in activity in the housing market, as it more than doubled annual pre-tax profits and reinstated its dividend after a two-year hiatus. guess handbags
Bovis said that reservations were up 11 per cent in the first nine weeks of this year, although the South, which accounts for just under 70 per cent of its land, is driving this uplift. fashion trends 2011
David Ritchie, the chief executive of Bovis, said: "We believe that the affordability metric in the South is stronger than in the North."
Bovis's pre-tax profits grew by 147 per cent to £18.5m for the year to 31 December, on revenues up 6 per cent to £298.6m.power balance
With all the hype surrounding his arrival at Hull KR, Willie Mason was a relieved man following his Super League side's 40-22 victory over the Crusaders.guess handbags
Mason made a big enough impact in his 54 minutes to be named man-of-the-match on his debut in front of the Craven Park faithful on Sunday.
The former Canterbury, Sydney Roosters and North Queensland enforcer admitted he was uncertain before the game whether he had the fitness to perform on the pitch with the Super League season now in its second month.
"It was good, everything worked out well," he said a week after arriving in England.
"I was stressed as to how it would all unravel and it couldn't have gone better in my dreams.
"Having not played in five months it was a bit daunting."
After leaving the Cowboys last year, Mason has spent the past few months training by himself because of visa problems.fashion trends 2011
"I was thinking last night, imagine if I blow out in five or 10 minutes, so it was good we got a good start," he said.
"I've been in this kind of circus and performed and I was glad to play all right after flying halfway around the world."
Hull KR's marketing department has been in overdrive in the past week promoting the controversial former NSW and Test prop's arrival at the club.
With the team losing three of its opening four matches, there was plenty of expectation on the large shoulders of Mason.
He showed off his skills by superbly setting up Liam Watts for a try.
The home side led 24-6 at the break before the Crusaders scored three tries with Mason a vocal figure behind the sticks in rallying his new teammates.
"We were electrifying in attack but there were some slip-ups in defence which we were all accountable for," Mason said.power balance
Former Bulldogs five-eighth Blake Green settled Hull KR with a try before Chris Welham sealed the match.
The Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee (SLARC) justified the 24 per cent rise by arguing that councillors have taken on more duties over the last five years and must look after larger wards. guess handbags
Increases in councillors’ salaries have lagged behind those in the rest of the public sector, the report found, and they have been forced to accept a pay freeze this year and next.
However, the report was highly critical of Glasgow City Council’s practice of paying councillors extra money to sit on ‘arms-length’ companies running council services.
It found that more than £260,000 had been paid to more than 40 councillors for sitting on firms that “deliver broadly the same service as previously carried out by the council.”
Scottish ministers said they would “consider carefully” the recommendations but warned that public spending is facing severe cuts. Opposition parties argued that councillor pay should not be increased.
Derek Brownlee, Scottish Tory finance spokesman, said: “As the public sector across Scotland deals with the consequences of Labour wrecking the public finances and a pay freeze in place to protect jobs, now is the wrong time to increase the cost of politics.”
If the changes were implemented, a ‘backbench’ councillor would see their annual salaries increase 16.5 per cent to £18,916. This equates to three-quarters of the median Scottish salary but does not require a full-time commitment.
Council leaders would be paid between £44,000 and £63,000 per year, depending on the size of their local authority, with Glasgow and Edinburgh getting the maximum amount. summer fashion trends
The total pay bill would increase from about £22.8 million to £28.3 million per year. The report admitted this is a “substantial sum” in the current financial climate but argued it must be seen in the context of councils’ £10.9 billion revenue budget.
It argued that councillors have seen “significant changes” in their workload since the introduction of larger, multi-member wards in 2007, while leaders now have more say in formulating national government policy.
The report admitted its recommendations were “challenging and even potentially unaffordable” but argued that Scottish ministers of issuing mixed messages by insisting pay levels must not prevent Scots becoming a councillor.
Iain Livingston, the body’s chairman, suggested the increase in pay could be funded by reducing the number of councillors.
Under its previous leader, Steven Purcell, Labour-run Glasgow City Council set up a series of Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOs) to provide local services, such as managing its property portfolio. gucci handbags 2011
The report found this practice has led to most Glasgow councillors being paid extra to sit on one of these companies to the extent the wage budget for senior members had been exceeded by 41 per cent.
The committee found “no justifiable reason” for these “untenable” payments and argued they should be discontinued.
James Dornan, leader of the council’s SNP group, said: “We feared, and consider we have shown to be correct, that this system would be used to pay off supporters and keep other councillors under control for internal party discipline purposes.”
Some of England's best-performing hospitals could close and "many thousands of jobs" may go as the NHS struggles with "unprecedented" cuts, health trust leaders have warned.summer fashion 2011
The Foundation Trust Network, which represents about 200 top hospital groups, has warned in a letter to the deputy chief executive of the NHS that, despite claims that hospitals should expect to make savings of 4% next year, in reality many have been forced to squeeze budgets by an average of 6.3%. This represents £644m this year alone. At such a level, a big teaching hospital such as Sheffield would need to make £50m cuts next year.
"For many organisations this means serious financial stress that will lead to the loss of many thousands of jobs and will seriously endanger waiting times and services for vulnerable patients, as well as threatening organisational survival," wrote Sue Slipman, director of the Foundation Trust Network.
Speaking to the Guardian, Slipman said the NHS accepted it had to make efficiency savings of £20bn over four years, but added that the government was also capping payments to hospitals and penalising trusts if patients were readmitted. "The effect in some hospitals is they are facing cuts of 15% next year … it is the policy of unintended consequences."
In London, the Chelsea and Westminster hospital will need to make savings of 10%, amounting to over £22m next year. Guy's and St Thomas's is looking to save £53m, while South London Healthcare needs to cut £50m and the Royal Free and North West London trusts will each slash spending by £40m.
Slipman called for the government to limit the savings to 4% next year. "What [foundation trusts] are being asked to do goes beyond what efficient [hospitals] are able to deliver," she said.guess purses
There is also concern that ordinary hospitals, which struggled when the NHS was relatively awash with cash, will be unable to become foundation trusts, as the government wants, at a time of deep cuts. The Department of Health has identified seven such hospitals, including Portsmouth, Trafford and Whipps Cross.
Nigel Edwards, of the NHS Confederation, said: "It is not yet clear what will happen to any individual organisation. It is very important that we have clarity so that these changes can be made in a planned way, with as little disruption to patients as possible."
Labour's health spokeswoman, Emily Thornberry, said the government had claimed it would save services when in opposition, only to cut back once in office.
Simon Burns, the health minister, said the government "wanted to drive up the quality of services. Doctors know that better care can cost less and we can use the tariff to incentivise better, more efficient care for patients."
But a survey of family doctors reveals that patients in England face increasing rationing of healthcare in the next few years as a result of the government's NHS shake-up. A survey of 800 family doctors, by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank, found that 71% expect the switch to GP-led commissioning of healthcare will force new consortiums of doctors to focus on controlling their costs, which will lead to growing restrictions on juicy couture swimweartreatments the NHS can provide, limit the number and type of procedures patients can have, and offer less choice.
• This article was amended on 9 March 2011. In the original the Foundation Trust Network was said to represent 136 hospital groups. This has been corrected.