Archive for the ‘Consumer matters’ Category
Is the Royal Bank of Scotland hiding something?
June 26th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
As the latest news confirms, the last week has been a disaster for millions of customers at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Nat West (my bank) and Ulster Bank. Almost all the media attention has been on the adverse impact on so many customers and the efforts of the banks to mitigate these impacts. But we […]
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The water shortage in the south-east of England
April 5th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
Following two consecutive exceptionally dry winters, seven water companies in London and the South East of England today bring into force a hosepipe ban as the first in what may be a series of measures designed to reduce demand for water when the supply situation is so critical. As well as being affected by the […]
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Why we all need regulation
March 27th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
This afternoon, I attended a workshop convened by the National Consumer Federation to debate the question “Are regulators failing consumers?” and to start the process of producing a Consumer Charter For Regulators. I was there in my capacity as a member of the Communications Consumer Panel. in my break-out group, I argued that the Charter […]
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What bonfire of the quangos?
January 20th, 2012 by Roger Darlington
In October 2010, I did a posting about the new Coalition Government’s intention to abolish or merge some 300 so-called quangos, including both the ones on which I sit, the Communications Consumer Panel and Consumer Focus. Fifteen months later, only one merger has actually happened – Postcomm going into Ofcom which was in fact proposed […]
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The challenge of rising energy prices
October 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
This week, I attended a roundtable on energy policy organised by Consumer Focus on whose Board I sit. It was a fascinating event on an important topic with some very knowledgeable speakers from both the UK and elsewhere in Europe on both the top table and in the audience. For UK consumers, the average household […]
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Where now for consumer advocacy in the UK?
October 14th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As I explained in a posting at the time, a year ago today, the Coalition Government announced it’s so-called ‘bonfire of the quangos’ and the public servants who run and staff these bodies are still working through the consequences. My particular interest concerns the consumer movement. The Government announced that Consumer Focus and the Communications […]
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How consumers and citizens make choices
August 20th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Some of the reading I’ve done recently has made me think more about how and why people make decisions in the economic and non-economic spaces. This has led me to write an essay for my web site entitled “How Consumers And Citizens Make Choices”. You can read it here.
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How serious is fuel poverty in Britain – and how much worse will it get?
July 14th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Fuel poverty means being unable to afford to keep warm. The Government considers a household to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10 percent of its income on fuel for adequate heating (usually 21 degrees for the main living area and 18 degrees for other occupied rooms). The Centre of […]
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Should regulation be light touch or right touch?
July 4th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
I’ve spent most of my working life involved in regulatory debates. This started when I worked at the Communications Workers Union which organises staff in the telecommunications and postal industries since both telecoms and posts are regulated. It has continued since I took early retirement from the CWU through my membership of the Communications Consumer […]
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1,000 days of Consumer Focus
June 27th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
As the Chief Executive of the organisation Mike O’Connor has highlighted in a note to all staff, today marks 1,000 days since Consumer Focus was created on 1 October 2008. For me , it is an even longer association, since I joined the Consumer Focus Board upon its creation in January 2008 and I was […]
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