2 One and a half million people visited Oxford Street & Regent Street on Saturday 6 December
3 Sales of home sewing machines have gone up 50% in John Lewis. Sales of haberdashery & dress fabrics are also up
4 Jamie Oliver is making Sainsbury’s cheese on toast this Christmas
5 Lawyers specialising in State aid are thriving
6 Ryanair carried 4.32 million passengers last month, a rise of 11%
7 Lobbyists are asking that restrictions on foreign ownership in American airlines should be lifted so that foreign investment can help the struggling industry
167,500 – current annual rate of house building in England
133,000 - the number of 3-bedroomed houses which could be built with the current stockpile of 1.2 billion unused bricks
9 Supermarkets are struggling to combat an outbreak of theft of expensive cuts of meat
10 The Spam factory in Austin, Minnesota has introduced double shift working 7 days a week to keep up with demand
11 London’s poshest builder has gone bust. These days there is just not the demand for high price projects such as building a special chute for quick access from the bedroom to the basement swimming pool
12 British expats in the Dordogne & the Riviera are feeling the pinch, especially if they have euro mortgages
12,000 British companies had credit insurance withdrawn last week. Euler Hermes, which has 36% of the global credit insurance market, have issued a profit warning
14 Sales In Asda stores show:
Curry ingredients up 40%, ready meals down 40%
Champagne up 100%
Hair dyes up 27% but 40% of customers are cutting back on hair
cuts
