His pre-Budget statement was based on reconciling enterprise and fairness. The tangles he is now getting into in his efforts to reform employee share schemes and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) perhaps show the limits to this approach (see page 1). Both reforms face pressures often at odds with each other: flexibility, cost, and Inland Revenue paranoia.
Mr Brown wants share schemes to embrace many types and sizes of business. Hence the three "modules" in the scheme: free shares, partnership shares and matching shares You can have eight combinations of these schemes Great for flexibility.

But the more complicated a scheme becomes, the more it costs to administer. Small businesses will never take on a scheme they fear will be more expensive than the old one.Much the same goes for CGT. The more the Chancellor tries to target tax relief at high growth, hi-tech companies, the more mind-bogglingly complex the system becomes - and all the more expensive for the company involved.The Inland Revenue views any reform to CGT with deep suspicion. It believes any reliefs given to CGT payers will tempt people to manipulate their affairs to present as much of their income as possible as a capital gain. This would enable the naughty taxpayer to escape their due burden of tax.There are two reasons why the taxman should be more relaxed.

For a start, the Revenue is no beginner at sniffing out tax evasion. Most of the tax experts I spoke to this week believe the Revenue is more than equal to the task of deciding when income is dressed as capital gain.Secondly, we have already seen how cutting taxes does not always mean a fall in tax take - quite the reverse. It often means people will be more forthcoming about their affairs. This is supported by the American experience, where they reacted to the stagflation of the Seventies by cutting CGT to just 20 per cent across the board.Mr Brown and his advisers believe this low rate of CGT is one of the main reasons for the flowering of high-growth, high-tech companies through the US. People know they can keep the fruits of their labours, so entrepreneurs invest, confident that they will be rewarded for taking risks. Translating this into UK tax reform is another matter, as Mr Brown is now finding out.So what does all this mean for you? If you're an employee who prefers shares to an annual cash bonus, and you don't mind keeping the shares for five years, it's good news. The flip side is you will no longer be able to sell your bonus shares until three years are up.

Sugar-cube towns are carved out of bare mountains or perched above sheer drops into the sea, and a corniche curls and tunnels its way round the cliff to connect the towns and villages between Sorrento and Salerno. These 50 kilometres comprise one of the most beautiful stretches on the Mediterranean.Sorrento is the largest resort town, and attracts many older British visitors in winter It sits on a clifftop, yellow and crumbling. Hotels look out across the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius beyond. The posher ones have their own lifts down 100 metres of rock face to diminutive coves of grey volcanic sand, and rows of sun-loungers on concrete piers of floating jetties.Positano has more panache to it. From the sea, it's not hard to imagine the village as a giant waterfall tumbling down a steep ravine. Close up, it is a quaint jumble of square, bleached houses and toy-sized gardens.

Amalfi is a more mainstream resort, with small hotels looking out across a picturesque harbour Inland, Ravello wins on the romance stakes. It splashes down a mountainside, with the Mediterranean just visible in the distance.A week's stay in early March at Il Faro Hotel in Sorrento costs a total of pounds 936 for two adults and two children sharing a family room with Thomson Holidays (0990 502555), including flights and half-board accommodation. Vacanze in Italia (08700 772 772) has a variety of self-catering accommodation; a two-bedroom apartment in Amalfi, for example, costs pounds 656 per week any time till April including car hire, but not flights. Other tour operators you could try include Italiatour! (01883 621900) and Magic of Italy (0181- 748 7575).Q.My 11-year-old daughter Lucy will be "doing" the Second World War at school next term. This will include a special project on the plight of the children who were evacuated from cities to avoid the risk of being bombed.

I am not at all keen on museums that glorify war, so can you suggest somewhere I can take her to get an overall, balanced view of the subject?Anne Fisher, Newcastle upon TyneA You should take Lucy to the Imperial War Museum in London. If you are of pacifist persuasion, you may feel uneasy about visiting a museum with a name like this, not to mention the array of weaponry on display, including an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. Don't be put off; this is one of Britain's best museums, as thought-provoking for children as it is for adults. The only unease I felt, when I took my own daughter there recently, was in the portrayal of the horrors of war - particularly the shocking Belsen 1945 exhibition - rather than its glorification.As far as the evacuees project is concerned, you are in luck.

There is a temporary exhibition, dedicated to this very subject, on at the moment. You can listen to recent recordings made by child evacuees, now in their sixties and seventies, recounting their personal experiences. There are also examples of poignant letters home to their mummies and daddies, and diaries describing the minutiae of day-to-day life of urban children in the unfamiliar countryside.Another intriguing temporary exhibition is called Enigma and the Code- Breakers. It is made up of hi-tech interactive displays, and explores the world of code-breaking in wartime.However, without a doubt the star attraction in the Second World War section of the museum is The Blitz Experience (for which, be warned, queues of up to half an hour long can build up).

In all that time, and despite repeated requests to the broker, I have never received a copy of an annual report or any other communication direct from the companies in which I am a shareholder.From talking to other investors I know I am not just unlucky. But I am a patient fellow, I will send a copy of this article to the broker and give him one more chance. If nothing happens I will take my business elsewhere.PS: When is the market going to crash? Not yet, Alvin Hall tells me. He's the American guru who's becoming a television star over here with a new BBC series on money and how to manage it. Alvin reckons markets around the world will be fired by Millennium fever and will make sure we go into the new year on a high.PPS: Thrilled to see one of my investments, The Money Channel, bounced a third this week on news that it had signed a sales and marketing agreement with Granada. One national newspaper referred to the company as "Adam Faith's Money Channel" but my researches have not revealed an A Faith among the shareholders There is however a Mr T Nelhams-Wright who owns 13.7 per cent Are A Faith and T. Nelhams-Wright one and the same? I think we should be told.Terry Bond is a private investor with a substantial portfolio involved principally in British and American equities.

He is also a director of ProShare (UK) Ltd., the organisation which looks after the interests of the investor in the corridors of power. He is responsible for guiding the development of the investment club movement.. A CRASH helmet is now standard for children. Ellis Brigham stores have added helmets to their rental service because schools are making them compulsory for under-10s on ski trips; the same company reports that virtually 100 per cent of parents buying skis for children also buy a helmet. And in some resorts they are necessary: in Scandinavia, for example, lift-passes are free for children - provided they are wearing a helmet

But for adults, it's a different story.

The recent deaths of Michael Kennedy and Sonny Bono highlighted the issue of whether adults should also wear helmets, and last year's Good Skiing Guide campaigned for their use.
Drawing a parallel with the growing use of safety helmets by cyclists in London, the guide was "confident that skiing and snowboarding will follow the same pattern". But Snow+Rock, which offers four types of adult helmet (from pounds 69.95 to pounds 129.95) in its retail catalogue, was unable to report much evidence of this, revealing only that sales were "in double figures".In a debate in US Ski magazine, both sides agreed that the deaths of Kennedy and Bono - caused by collisions with trees - would not have been prevented by helmets; and the pro-lobbyist accepted that "the risk of a catastrophic head-injury [while] skiing is statistically infinitesimal".With odds like that, it seems that hard-headed British adults don't feel the case for helmet-wearing has really been made.. British skiers are creatures of habit, and some of their habits are quite peculiar Take the chalet holiday, for example. Back in the Forties and Fifties, when money was tight and skiing was an adventure, the idea of mucking in with a makeshift chalet community was obviously acceptable, perhaps desirable; but why does the tradition still live on, though there are few other circumstances in which holiday-makers would willingly share bathrooms and meals with a group of perfect (or imperfect) strangers?

Adherence to the discipline of staying for a week in a single resort remains fairly strict, too, at a time when other travellers are demanding the flexibility of short breaks, twin-centre holidays, and so on. And the ritual of Saturday transfers lives on, to the extent that when Eurostar - which normally dashes back and forth through the Channel Tunnel - provides a service for skiers, it has the frequency of an obscure branch-line train, with arrivals and departures in the Alps offered on only one day each week.
Yet things are changing.

Innovations such as First Choice's Friday-night flights and the growth of the North American market, where most operators offer 10- and 11-night packages as well as weeks, have loosened the traditional strait-jacket. The proportion of skiers travelling "independently" (ie making their own arrangements, or booking through a small operators) has increased, from less than 5 per cent at the beginning of the Eighties to 24 per cent last season, further freeing up the market.And, to the consternation of Alpine resorts, which have always appreciated British skiers for their willingness - not shared by their local clients - to commit themselves to a full week of skiing and spending, there is a growing trend for weekend breaks.Gavin Foster says that when he started Ski Weekend with his wife in the 1985/6 season, "there might have been some companies featuring weekend breaks at the back of their brochure, but there was no one in the marketplace actively selling them". In its first season, Ski Weekend had 350 clients; this season it expects to have 2,000 And it is not alone in the market- place now. There are other weekend specialists, notably White Roc and Flexiski; and several ski operators, such as Momentum Travel, offer weekend breaks alongside a more traditional holiday programme.Foster came up with the weekend-break idea while working as a ski-instructor in Chatel ("I was a bit mature for that sort of work; I was bored, and that got me thinking"), where he set up Ski Weekend's first season. "But it soon became apparent that Chamonix, to which we sent a few clients, had far greater scope as a weekend destination," he says. Since then, Chamonix has been Ski Weekend's Alpine base, with about 70 per cent of its clients skiing there; it has an office and representatives in the resort and, on an average weekend, seven or eight mountain guides and instructors out on the slopes each day.Ski Weekend's prices start at pounds 369 which, in the pre-Christmas season, buys a three-night trip to a three-star hotel in Chamonix, including the scheduled flights and airport transfers.

However, two visits are a good idea whether you're travelling in a group or independently.Most guided tours look at the treasures of Tutankhamun, and then it's back to the bus and on to the carpet shop. There's lots that you'd miss on a single trip, like the mummies of the greatest pharaohs of Egypt.Nearly all of the pyramids are near Cairo (there are nearly 40 major pyramids), and the two pyramids of Dashur are not to be missed. Built when the Egyptians were still experimenting with pyramid building, the first was started at too steep an angle, and had to have a rather major design change half way up, hence the name: "Bent Pyramid".The other is nearly as big as the Great Pyramid at Giza, and the massive burial chamber can be appreciated in spooky silence, without hoards of other tourists They can be visited in a half-day taxi trip from Cairo. Taxis are easy to use, and cheap - EGP60 (pounds 10) or so for half a day, plus a tip of 10-12% (tipping is very important in Egypt, for any type of service).The famous Pyramids of Giza are visited by every tour group, but it's hard to appreciate them when surrounded by other tourists and the din of coaches. Instead, go in the evening, when it is possible to hire camels or horses and go out in the desert to see the sunset - and take some arty photos.. MY SILENCE last week was not brought about by any lack of subject matter.

Instead I was enjoying the considerably better weather in the south of Spain. There, as here, there is much concern over the way in which income from investments has declined

For the average UK ex-pat the effect has been dramatic. Spain is in Euroland and pre-EMU convergence brought interest rates down with a thump. True, the European Central Bank has moved them up again, but deposit interest is nothing like that to which many people became used.
Investment providers have been inventive in their endeavours to deliver higher returns to a market that is, perhaps, not as well educated as it should be. The situation over there seemed little different to here, with high-yielding corporate bond funds clearly much in demand, not always with positive consequences for investors.I doubt many fully understand that these high-yielding funds achieve the yield premium over British Government securities by purchasing bonds of a lower quality.

Managers will say underlying portfolios are well diversified, with professionals at the helm.I have no argument with that, but the reality is when interest rates start to tick up, as they have done recently, this end of the market tends to get hit more severely than higher-grade bonds.But the real trouble is that the underlying investor has little understanding of this. The most vulnerable find themselves seeking those investments that inevitably carried the higher degree of risk. No wonder elderly people, dependent upon their investment income, and seeing their living standards declining with it, are seeking alternatives, ones often beyond their true comprehension.Take the latest run of derivatives-based products. This is financial engineering on a grand scale, more suited to the trading floors of multi- national banks than the drawing-rooms of little old ladies.Put simply, an investment product provider will create an investment instrument which invests part of its portfolio in zero dividend bonds, or similar, to guarantee as far as possible the return of the original capital, using the balance to acquire positions in the futures market that will enhance the overall portfolio return.In particular, there are a number of products within which "put" options are sold against various market indices, thus creating value within the portfolio to distribute as income. The risk, of course, is that the put is "called".In other words, that the market in question falls and the investment portfolio has to make good losses that might have been incurred by the purchaser of the option.Confused? Imagine how a retired, 70-something widow feels.Selling a put option in these circumstances is taking a bet on the market in question not falling. The buyer of the put option is effectively insuring themselves against potential loss.If the market does go down, they will be paid by the seller. A number of recent products have included option contracts in a variety of markets, including London and Europe.

Christine Collette's flight to Liverpool, on easyJet's last departure of the day, seemed routine enough at first. "We all got on to the plane, and began to fasten our seat-belts ready for departure," she says. "Then an announcement was made that we should leave the belts unfastened, because the plane was being refuelled."The implication, she says, was that there was a risk of fire and that passengers should be able to leave the aircraft quickly in the event of any mishap.Ms Collette was appalled. "I immediately left the aircraft and went back into the terminal."Refuelling aircraft while passengers are on board is by no means unusual; indeed, on many charter flights the occupants are legally required to remain on the plane during "technical stops" to refuel. But it seems, to say the least, curious that an easyJet captain should alarm passengers by raising the prospect of danger, however slight. The easyJet spokesman says that Ms Collette misinterpreted the pilot's announcement.

"He was merely suggesting that passengers could make themselves more comfortable until the aircraft was ready to depart."ONE OF the more enjoyable tasks here is receiving readers' opinions on our stories - especially when they robustly dispute our writers' views. "The hotel where the writer stayed," says Margaret Lewis of Northumberland, about La Residence on Mauritius, "is a monstrosity that should never have been built on an unspoilt beach." Eureka House was described in our story as a "dull tourist spot", but Dr Lewis describes it as "fascinating, with its furniture made from precious tropical woods, and gives a rare sense of 19th-century Mauritius". And as for the pounds 954 our writer had paid for flights on British Airways: "I would never recommend anyone to travel on BA with its boring runway stop in Nairobi, when you can fly direct on a much superior Air Mauritius Airbus So there.". THE 1858 Old Chapel in Pitt, three miles from the centre of Winchester in Hampshire, was converted to a private home in the Eighties. The Grade II-listed former school and chapel has a vaulted ceiling and two galleries, three bedrooms, a 25ft kitchen, dining area and a sitting room with double arched doors, vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows The gardens are enclosed Offers around pounds 260,000 to Penyards, on 01962 860300. THE BELL House Chapel in Alton, Hampshire, was the location for the film of Ruth Rendell's Achilles Heel. The main area is open with a 56ft barrel-vaulted ceiling and was a photography studio, with plans for a mezzanine floor.

Grade II-listed, and built by WD Caroe in 1913, it has a darkroom, vaulted kitchen area with gas Aga, a bedroom in the former vestry and a gallery used as an office. Price pounds 350,000, John D Wood, on 01252 737115.
THE CONVERSION of Boltby Chapel, five miles from Thirsk in Yorkshire, includes a service lift linking the three levels. It has a security system, four bedrooms, two bathrooms and two shower rooms, an open-plan 33ft living-room, and dining and kitchen areas on the top floor which make the most of the exposed truss beams. Priced at pounds 275,000 from Strutt & Parker (01423 561274)..

The scent that surrounds Dunkertons, a small, independent cider producer, is seasonal, too, as the apples are still being picked and pressed for next year's cider. Once inside The Cider House restaurant and bar, the penetrating aroma of apples is replaced by the tang of woodsmoke from the log fire over in the dining area, and of home-cooked English food. The Cider House occupies two 400-year-old barns, with pale oak beams untouched since they were built. Outside, Hereford cows graze in a meadow; just out of sight are the orchards which provide the apples and pears to make Dunkertons organic cider and perry. Outside, too, is the mill, one of the few locally still in working order, where the cider apples are pressed, fermented and blended - although three ciders are made with single varieties of apple. You can buy these in the shop; better still, let someone behind the bar pull you a pint - dry, medium-dry, medium-sweet or sweet - or enjoy the award-winning bottled organic sparkling cider.
These are pure, delicious and refined versions of traditional farmhouse cider which above all taste of apples - and they're the perfect accompaniment to the restaurant's food. Breads and chutneys are home made, and cottage pie is made with Hereford beef cows, fed on the pomace left over from brewing.The Cider House at Dunkertons, Pembridge, Leominster, Herefordshire (01544 388161) Mon-Sat 10am-5pm (or dusk in winter), Thur-Sat dinner (book first), Sun lunch.Mulled ciderSusie Dunkerton - who, with her husband, owns Dunkertons - has tried various combinations of spices and reckons that there shouldn't be as strong an influence of cloves as there is with mulled wine.

She's finally settled on the sachets of spices available from the Burrow Hill Cider Company (01460 240782), another independent cider maker These contain cloves, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add one sachet to two pints of medium- dry cider - some sweetness is needed to bring out the best in the spices - and warm it in a saucepan on the stove for about five minutes. She adds a dash of orange juice and, as Christmas approaches, sometimes apple brandy or rum. Serve with brown sugar lumps for optional extra sweetness.Hereford Cider BrandyNot made by Dunkertons but at the King Offa Distillery at the Museum of Cider in Hereford, this is an English equivalent of the French Calvados. It's sold in the Cider House by the glass or by the bottle to take home.

Today, however, it is once again in business as an adventure park and cultural centre. Celebrations take place amid steel pipes and compressors, conferences are held and music is made. At weekends, the light artist Jonathan Park sets the blast furnace backdrop ablaze with technicoloured lighting as a symbol of a new era for the Ruhrpott.No longer a white elephantBack in the days when all the chimneys puffed smoke, many areas of this region had been off-limits to inhabitants. Factory premises, danger zones and deserted dump rooms were all out of bounds, but that has all changed.

Now audiences flock to the Ruhr Classical Music Festival held here. The Maximillian colliery in Hamm has been transformed into a glass elephant by artists. Images of the futureThe past may have been transformed, but it has not been forgotten. Pictured middle right is a multimedia project called Ruhrwerk, or "Ruhr works", that marries an awareness of the old heavy industries of this century with a vision of employment in the future. Images of technological progress are projected onto steel plates beyond wet coal which lies scattered across the stage in front.Flying high in a gasometerUp until 1988, Oberhausen's gasometer was still being used to store gas fuel. It is the largest building in the area and it was probably most effected by the closures in the region.

This 117 metre-high hollow structure was due to be demolished, but according to artists it has now found its true raison d'etre, as an exhibition centre and adventure park. A glass elevator takes visitors to the very top for a breath-taking view into the abyss, and the outside walls are used by artists for lighting installations. Duisburg's gasometer has also found a new fate, this time as a practice pool for sports divers.Underground clubbing at KruppsIt has never been easy to get into the Krupps, neither in its steel manufacturing days nor today. Would-be members of the Mudia Art club are required to make a written application and have a one in 12 chance of being accepted.

Once inside, visitors can admire bears, praying monks, naked men and women in cages, all to the sound of hip-hop, dance and classical music. Mudia Art does not merely have bizarre spectacles on offer, but also Andre Heller's magical, fairytale-like installation Meteorit, a multimedia adventure room Words by Jorg-Uwe Albig/`Geo' magazine. For those of us not sickened to the stomach by endless fashion twittering over what, and what not, to wear to "that party", here's a simple but effective hot tip: it's safe to say, ladies, that we could all do a lot worse than opt for a little something courtesy of Sonia Rykiel. It's not too obvious a label - rather, to this particular fashion editor's mind, it is somewhat under-rated - but it is reassuringly expensive nonetheless. Neither is it so sparkly or saucy that those wearing it are likely to resemble nothing more than the proverbial Christmas tree come midnight on 1 January 2000.
Instead, any woman wise enough to invest in what has now become one of the great classic French brands can rest assured that she will a) be unlikely to run into anyone wearing the same thing (quelle horreur!) and b) have just that sexy je ne sais quoi, that Gallic sense of drama that ensures she wipes the floor - sartorially speaking at least - with anyone else in the vicinity.Rykiel's autumn/winter collections are always her strongest - she remains queen of the knits - the super-skinny, body-conscious look that has been her signature since she started out in the late Sixties is always good to see.

Departures are from Gatwick on Thursdays and Sundays from 8 June. Through discount agents such as Quest Worldwide (0181-546 6000), you can get a fare of only pounds 273 return for travel in June. It can be combined with Virgin flights to Los Angeles or San Francisco. Alternatively, any of the big US airlines will sell you a ticket to Vegas through their hubs.. A MAZDA what? Well, that proves the point.

I have only seen one Demio in motion beyond the confines of a Mazda dealer's forecourt, and that was the one I drove a fortnight ago

You'll see plenty in Japan, though. In 1997 it was the eighth best-selling car, hailed as the answer to so many questions. Such as why bother with that comp-licated four-wheel drive paraphernalia when you can achieve the image with a plastic nudge bar, plastic wheel-arch extensions and a pair of roof rails? Or, why have a small, tall estate car-cum-MPV which looks dull and utilitarian when you can have one which looks like a 4x4?
You get the idea This is a car with a confused identity. Mazda gives it MPV credentials by posing it in promotional pictures with its two larger MPVs, the Premacy and the imaginat-ively named MPV (no, there isn't a word missing). True, the Demio has a tall and capacious body, and its back seat does slide and fold, but it's a little bit half-hearted.You're probably wondering, then, why anyone should want one at all. Maybe the company just lives in hope that someone will buy one by mistake instead of one of those French van-based creations, the Renault Kangoo and the Citroen Berlingo Multispace. In which case, I should tell you what to expect.First, the good bits.

The engine is just a 1.3-litre, but it's smooth and lively and pulls the Demio along with an eager buzz. It is dead easy to drive and park, and some people even think it looks quite cute It carries plenty of stuff, too.Now, the bad bits. It feels tinny, and a lot cheaper than it should for pounds 10,565. An electric sunroof and four electric windows try to hype it up to its expense level, but you can't even adjust the door mirrors from the inside And as for the dashboard... well, stark, shapeless angularity might have a brutalist chic in right circumstances, but here it just looks like a giant Kleenex box recreated in hard grey plastic.Despite all this, I didn't dislike the Demio. But I understand why people, if they get as far as the showroom, lose their nerve That dashboard unclinches the deal Oh yes, and the imminent arrival of Toyota's Yaris Verso Similar idea, but done with flair.. HACKS AT Rover's press launch of the new 25 and 45 greeted the cars' ceremonial unveiling with spontaneous silence.

Surely the revamped 200s and 400s did not justify such razzmatazz? Neither is a tour de force, technically or aesthetically. Both are interim models that foreshadow better things to come. So why all the fuss? Because the new 25 and 45 represent the new face of Rover. They and the 75 flagship (said by Rover to be selling well, despite media reports to the contrary) are the cars that will drive Rover back into profit, perhaps by 2002.
Parent BMW has pumped billions of pounds into its British subsidiary and Rover dealers have invested millions more. So if money talks - and such sums were unheard of during the Honda courtship - Rover is making sure the message gets home "We've turned the corner," says sales director, Jim Lynch.

Barclays has the most active Internet accounts among UK institutions, with 400,000 customers online. Lloyds TSB has 100,000 customers online and ambitions to reach one million by the end of next year. Lloyds plans to launch a new Internet subsidiary, provisionally branded e-bank.PC banking via a bank's intranet requires customers to use extra software, either custom-provided by the bank or personal accounting programs such as Microsoft Money or Quicken. Online Internet banking does not require you to have extra software although many people do use programs like these to manage their money and most of the online banks will allow you to download your account data into the program or spreadsheet of your choice.When you apply for an online bank account you will receive a PIN (personal identification number). This will not be the same as the PIN you already have for use with ATMs You must also agree to the bank's terms and conditions These are governed by the Unfair Contract Terms Act of 1977. This means most of the liability for any fraud is placed on the bank.All banking services available to UK customers are supposed to work with PCs running Windows 95/98/NT.

But fewer function satisfactorily with Apple Macs running Mac OS8 or later. You will need to be using Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Communicator/Navigator 4.0 or later versions. Among the banking services which proclaim their Mac compatibility are Lloyds TSB, the Co-operative Bank (but not Smile) and Citibank.The services available vary widely, several allow the option of viewing six months' statements but Lloyds TSB, for example, offers you only the current statement. Some banks allow you to schedule future payments out of your account and all have different rules on standing orders and direct debits.

IS THAT bulge in your pocket a wallet full of store cards, or are you carrying wads of cash? Judging by figures on their use over the past six months, it must be cards. Research shows the use of cards issued by a range of stores rose by 19 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March. So what is the attraction? Answer: they confer the status of regular customer, and none of them charges an annual fee. Perhaps they are targeted at the shopper rather than the person who pays the bill, because except for John Lewis, which charges 18 per cent APR, and Fortnum & Mason, whose credit customers pay 16.8 per cent, all other stores charge interest rates in excess of that on most credit cards.
Burton Group, whose card is usable at Top Shop, Evans and Dorothy Perkins, weighs in at 29.9 per cent APR Laura Ashley charges 30.9 per cent, Next 28.9 per cent. Sears, whose card covers Miss Selfridge, Olympus, and Lilley & Skinner, levies 26.9 per cent. Timecard, usable in Comet, B&Q and Woolworths, charges 28.5 per cent APR.Store-card issuers claim users often gain extra benefits, such as free catalogues and promotional evenings They also offer interest-free periods of up to 56 days. But most generic credit cards offer a similar interest- free period.

Although they levy an average pounds 12 a year, this is offset by the lower interest, ranging from 22.9 per cent for Barclaycard to 23.4 per cent APR for Access.. PRESENT housing market conditions mean that more and more people are seeing renting as a more attractive proposition than buying. With house prices in the doldrums, a home is no longer seen as an investment, and job insecurity and negative equity have made potential buyers more cautious. Renting is seen as simpler and more flexible.
In many ways this is true.

But if you don't read the small print of your lease and negotiate a fair deal, renting can become a costly headache. It is important to remember that a lease is legally binding, and the wording will have a specific legal meaning If you don't understand it, get legal advice The main expense for the tenant will be the rent. Check the lease yourself to see whether it provides for rent increases. The Housing Act 1988 allows some tenants to get an assessment of the rent by referring the matter to the Rent Assessment Committee for the area.Find out whether the tenant will have to pay the connection fee and deposit for the supply of utilities and the quarterly bills, and who pays the council tax.Make a note of what furnishings are supplied with the property and what you will have to supply.

Most properties are let fully furnished, but one landlord's idea of fully furnished may be different from another's.Find out if there is an additional service charge for the cost of maintaining and repairing communal areas in flats, such as hallways and grounds. Find out what the services are and the average service charge over the years. Ask to see the accounts and inquire whether there are any unusually high expenses envisaged.Normally the landlord pays for repairs to the property itself, and to the furnishings provided. The only time a tenant should pay the repair or replacement bill is when the item is damaged by deliberate misuse.The lease will, however, usually require the tenant to leave the property in a similar state to its condition at the start of the lease. The tenant should make sure that fair wear and tear is allowed for, otherwise he could find the landlord arguing that everything should look like new.The only way of recording the original condition of the property is for the landlord to make a full and detailed inventory of the contents. You should take the time to check the inventory is correct before you sign it. If an item is in a bad state of repair, you should make a note of this on the inventory.