Fierce and feisty topical phone-in debate. 
-
LSE Bond Scheme
With savings rates low and the top 100 shares still below where they were 10 years ago, investment in bonds could be the answer. Effectively, money is lent to a large company or government by buying a bond, or an IOU, which they promise to repay after a fixed time period. Until now it was very difficult for smaller investors to buy and sell bonds for themselves, but this morning the London Stock Exchange launches a new market allowing them to do so electronically for the first time. We asked Paul Killick, partner the stockbrokers Killick & Co, what kind of returns investors can expect to see.
-
Recycling Batteries
To meet obligations imposed by the EU Battery Directive, retailers who sell more than one pack of double AA batteries a day will be responsible for getting them recycled. If they sell a total of more than 32kg of portable batteries per year, or one pack a day, they will have to provide recycling bins in their shops. But there are big doubts over whether EU targets can be hit with this scheme, as only 3% of the 30,000 tonnes of batteries bought each year are recycled. However, this must rise to 10% by the end of this year, to 25% in 2012 and to 45% by 2025. James Lowman, chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, tells us how much onus is on retailers to ensure targets are met.
-
Growing Exports
Growing exports are going to be crucial to reviving our economy, and figures out today from business lobby group the CBI, show that more small and medium size businesses reported export orders rising rather than falling in the last quarter of 2009. This is the first time this figure has turned positive since the start of 2008 but it is still very shaky as while 27% said orders rose, 25% said they had fallen. Russel Griggs, chairman of the CBI's SME council explains if this is good news or a false dawn.
-
Online Shopping
According to a report out today the British are the biggest online shoppers in Europe. Britian spent almost a third of the massive £38bn total figure spent on online purchases in 2009. In addition, the size of our purchases has increased too, with the number of people paying more than £1,000 per transaction more than doubling last year. Professor Joshua Bamfield from the Centre for Retail Research, which helped compile the figures, tells us why we spend so much online compared to other countries.
Broadcasts
-
BBC Radio 5 liveMon 1 Feb 2010 05:30 BBC Radio 5 live
Podcast
-
Wake Up To Money
Award-winning business and financial news, with Andy Verity, Dominic Laurie, Mickey Clarke and...
