Financial sector bonuses paid out to the lucky few in the five-month period between December and April for the previous financial year reached £10bn, compared with £8bn in 2008, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures are likely to inflame the debate over banking industry pay at a time when there are massive public sector cuts combined with a pay freeze and banks also under fire for not doing enough to support the UK economy.

Last week, Britain's five largest banks reported financial results that showed they had made combined pre-tax profits of £15bn in the first six months of the year.

The return to profitability of the banks, with Royal Bank of Scotland making its first profit since 2007, has increased the pressure on banks to increase their lending to small and medium- sized businesses, many of which complain they are having loan applications turned down.

Telegraph online

Fears are growing that the callous coalition of millionaires Con-Dem Government are planning to renege on a commitment by the previous Labour Government that money would be invested into desperately needed medical research for mesothelioma, the incurable lung cancer.

In a statement on February 25^th 2010 the then Justice Secretary Jack Straw said that the UK “must now become a global leader in research into asbestos related disease” and committed the Government to help create a National Centre for Asbestos Related Disease.(NCARD)

Despite over 2,000 people a year now dying from mesothelioma and it being the 12th most common killer of men and the cancer of most rapidly increasing incidence in women, there is little money spent on research into the disease.

However Stephen Hepburn Labour MP for Jarrow, received a highly negative reply from the Department of Health, when he asked whether the Government would support and provide funding for NCARD and how much would be spent on research into asbestos related diseases in the next three years.

UCATT website

People diagnosed with cancer and other serious illnesses could ultimately be up to £1,000 a year worse off as a result of tax changes announced in the recent budget, charities havewarned.

Proposed changes to the way tax credit entitlements are calculated mean that from 2012-13 households receiving tax credits who see their wages fall during the year will have the first £2,500 of income they lose disregarded when their new tax credit entitlement is calculated. So, if a family's income falls by £3,500, for example, the newest calculation will only take account of a £1,000 fall. Backdating of tax credit claims will also be reduced from three months to one month.

Citizen's Advice cites the recent case of a couple in their 50s, where the husband was earning £20,000 a year and the wife £5,000 when he was forced to take nine months off work for intensive cancer treatment. He was able to return to work but the couple faced a huge drop in income. Now, the husband's cancer has returned and his income has been replaced with statutory sick pay and working tax credit. Their household income, after housing costs, has fallen from £372 a week to £202, and they are able to claim backdated tax credits of £406.

If the same thing were to happen when the budget changes kick in, their income would drop much further, to around £185 a week and they would only be eligible for £86 in backdated tax credits, according to Citizen's Advice.

Last month, trade union groups also accused the coalition government of penalising the poorest as a result of the planned changes. "While the rich have been let off the hook, those on middle and low incomes are being left to pick up the cost of the recession," said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

Citizen's Advice and Macmillan have written to Treasury ministers asking them to reconsider the proposed changes.

Guardian online

The looming spectre of a double dip recession intensified today as the UK's services sector saw its growth stall last month, jeopardising hopes of a sustained recovery. A survey of the sector that makes up the bulk of Britain's economic output showed that its growth slipped to its slowest since it emerged from recession a year ago.

Many of the companies surveyed said cancelled public-sector contracts were beginning to hurt their businesses, forcing them to cut jobs and dealing a blow to chancellor George Osborne's hopes of reviving the private sector by reducing public spending. The gloom was further compounded by warnings from leading retailers that consumer spending is cooling off after a strong start to the year amid uncertainty about the economic outlook.

The darkening picture in the services sector follows similar reports this week on both manufacturing and construction and sent the pound lower as traders fretted over the fragile nature of the UK's economic recovery. Accompanying complaints from retailers such as high street chains Next and Carpetright that consumer spending is flagging bolstered economists' views that a surprise jump in second-quarter GDP was probably a blip and likely to be followed by subdued growth, especially once the government's autumn spending review spells out the full scale of the fiscal squeeze.

Guardian online