The latest figures show that there had been 85 major accidental leaks in the last year, which compares to 61 in the previous year. The higher the number of oil leaks, the greater the chance of an oil spill erupting similar to that of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in April this year. While there were no deaths last year on Britain’s oil rigs, there were 50 major injuries, which is a significant increase from 30 in the previous year. However, these figures exclude an incident which occurred on a helicopter travelling from a gas facility over to Aberdeen, in which 16 people died when the helicopter crashed during the journey.

Steve Walker, the head of the regulator’s offshore unit, said that there were many improvements to be made in order to make Britain’s oil and gas industry safer for workers. In particularly he regarded the increase in the level of hydrocarbon releases as a major problem, citing concerns that the offshore industry was not taking enough steps to reduce the potential for major accidents. Oil and Gas U.K. director for health, safety and employment, Robert Paterson, said that the industry would reflect on this data and would move forward to identify what it can improve for the future.

Yet, despite these huge negatives, the reality of it stands at this- it would not be possible to sustain human life at this juncture without strong dependence on oil. It guarantees prosperity. The cheapest and most convenient option yet for electricity, heating, transportation, cosmetics and so much more, oil is the only alternative to ensuring a smooth and functional life.

It has been argued that people from all over the globe have together created an industrial empire which can sustain itself only by consuming huge amounts of energy. While this might be held to be true, the fact remains that oil consumption has recently been decreasing. Demand for heating oil, primarily in the developed world has started coming down as newer and more advanced technologies come to the fore. There is still a long way to go to get rid of the addiction to oil but the ground work has been done. Hopefully in the near future, there will be a range of alternatives which are as effective and cheap as oil while at the same time, not as scarce or as polluting. But until then, oil is the best and most effective way to ensure a good life for all concerned.

There are a number of reasons why interest rates in Britain are likely to stay low for a while. The unique combination of tax increases and spending cuts will lead to a halt in interest rates until the financial situation has changed. It is of course inevitable that everyone in this country is going to be paying for the government’s debts in one way or another.

The Bank of England, which controls the UK’s interest rates, is currently regulating the base rate at just 0.5 percent, which means the banks are offering little or no interest for savers. However, the biggest problem at the moment is the fact that borrowers are still charged high rates. The banks can continue to do this so long as the government still owes them enormous amounts of money, which it will do for considerable time yet.

Meanwhile, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) has announced that the prospect for Britain’s GDP growth to recover to pre-recession levels in the medium-term is becoming less likely. Chief economist at the IHS Global Insight organisation Howard Archer expects interest rates to start increasing by the second quarter of 2011, with a 1.75% by the end of next year. Other analysts suggest that the interest rate forecast could be good for the strength of the pound, which may benefit from an increase in inflation and unhindered growth against other currencies. Currency analyst and independent financial advicer Tom Hampton said that sterling could reach EUR1.22 by the middle of August and EUR1.27 at the end of this year.

Recently in Moscow, Russian capital city, the temperatures reached record rates, setting the highest levels since almost a century and probably the second hottest summer in Russia ever recorded. The fires in the are of European Russia are almost 35 in less that two weeks and the draught has killed almost 50-60% of the wheat crops. The country is in a state of emergency, many people die from the temperatures being over heated or exposed to the sun for too long. A thick layer of smoke has covered the capital causing serious risks for the health of the citizens.

This is just a minor consequence from the climate change. In the past several years Russia was a leading example of a rapidly expanding and modernized economy. The oil, red diesel, and gas extraction industry has reached maximum levels of production and the metal industry is working with increased rates of export -steel production in Russia supplies many of the European countries with both fuels and building materials. These industries are polluting seriously the nature and the ecosystem in Russia and, even though critics of the artificial climate change claim that this is impossible to happen, the outcome of that rapid economical expansion is recogniseable today when Russia burns in heat.

From the forest cutting in Russia many hectres of tree land have been destroyed this giving the opportunity for low level plant life to develop. In the heats that have attacked Russia the low level plats dry easily and the spreading of the fire is even easier since, even though quite massive and dangerous during fires, the high trees are easier to control when on fire and the fire itself spreads slowlier. Thus large amount of smoke goes in the atmosphere and is currently attacking the Russian capital creating potential risks for the health of the people.

Customers with good credit card ratings generally have much wider options open to them and can apply for cards which have lower interest rates. However, if you have a poor credit rating then you could consider the Vanquis Credit Card. Anyone can apply for this card, on the condition that they have not applied for a Vanquis card within the last 6 months, are able to verify their home address, are not bankrupt and are registered to vote.

Generally speaking, APR is an effective way to compare the costs of different credit cards. However, it is important to be aware of how your card is going to calculate the interest when you borrow. One of the methods is adjusted balance, which is when new purchasing fees are included when your balance is taken from a previous statement, taking into account all payments which are subtracted. Another method is the average daily balance, which is the most common method of calculation used by card companies. Your balance is tracked on a daily basis; charges are added and payments are deducted when they take place. Your previous balance is also takes into consideration the amount of money you owed at the end of the last billing period. This is generally not the best calculation, as it allows finance firms to charge interest even after a debit balance has been paid off.

For example, there are a number of scam artists operating on the popular site Craigslist (a site which is used to advertise job openings and for people to buy sofas and other such things from each other), which is trying to encourage people to report fraudsters once they have proof that they are circulating a scam. You could be looking at rent vacancies in London and suddenly find an ad by an unknown sender, which advertises a studio flat right in the centre of London for just £100 a week. Some people would instantly recognise this as a scam, because no studio flat in central London is going to be this cheap. However, some people who are moving to London from abroad might be completely unaware of this and may start to make enquiries with the seller. The seller will then ask for a transaction, usually in excess of £1000, before a viewing can be arranged.

This is when it is time for you to stop and report to the authorities. However, some people have gone ahead with transactions like this, and then they arrange a viewing with the supposed seller, only to find that nobody turns up. From this point on you are powerless and it is highly probable that you will never see that £1000 again. The best thing anyone can do is to check carefully where you are buying from - if possible only use credible websites that you know you can trust. eBay has an excellent system where users can check the rating of sellers before they consider buying a product. This will help safeguard you from any potential scam artists circulating around the internet.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 1.11 percent for blue chip stocks at a total of 10.329.26 points for early trades. Alcoa also achieved a net profit of $136 million for the second quarter, which compares to a loss of $454 million a year ago. Attention is now centred on Intel, a microchip giant, due to report on its earnings on Tuesday, July 13th.

The latest report from the IEA (International Energy Agency), an energy strategy branch of the OECD (Organisation for Cooperation and Development) highlighted a rise in global oil demand, at 86.5 million daily barrels, which is a 2.1 percent increase. However, the IEA is expecting a fall in oil demand in China and other countries in 2011, when oil prices are expected to average at $79.40 dollars a barrel. However, markets are expected to remain stable for now at least. In the meantime, the United States Department of Energy is expected to publish its weekly report on the state of oil reserves on Wednesday, July 14th.

Surveys conducted by Nice (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) revealed that bad eating habits have lead to about 40000 deaths and this has contributed to putting the economy in considerable stress. To combat this situation, the Institute has prepared a set of guidelines. It stresses that the intake of salt and saturated fats must be reduced to encourage general weight loss. It also suggests that people should be educated that eating artificial food and fats can cause serious health issues such as heart problems.

Low fat food and healthy food items must be made available to the general public at an affordable price to prevent them from resorting to unhealthy and saturated foods. Advertisements luring customers into buying unhealthy food must be aired only after 9 pm.

Another important measure the government must take is to reduce the number of fast food outlets. The common man must be encouraged to exercise regularly and take only those foods that are rich in vitamins, and other necessary nutrients.

Research also reveals that people hardly notice if the salt level is 5-10% in the food stuffs they purchase. Many people can’t be bothered to watching the nutrient value of what they eat and this way of thinking has to be changed.

While Nice has endeavoured to make people aware of their unhealthy choices, The Food and Drink Federation have charged them with being unrealistic. They argued that the food world is always engaged in making food and drinks that do not harm the consumers’ health. They believe that the report is unfairly targeting one aspect of the fast food industry and that people do have the right not to eat those foods.

It is important to remember that fast foods are not by themselves totally responsible for the health problems people suffer from consuming too much. It is mainly up to the individual to make better decisions. No amount of restrictions on fast foods will change the behaviour of people.

In any case, what is important is, both the NICE and the government through the NHS are primarily engaged in protecting the consumer by offering important information on the impact of consuming too much fast foods on health. It is important that they continue to find other ways to spread the word.

The demand for oils and white diesel has not fallen. Presently the world has a serious need for oil and with a number of countries becoming more industrialized and expanding their commerce ability the need will likely increase greatly. Thus these new fields when they become operational will only be able to fill an already growing demand.

Cost of bring the new source to the market. Many oil companies will tell you that the cost associated with producing a barrel of oil from a new source is extremely high. What this means is that any new discovery of oil will not automatically lead to a reduction in oil prices when it hits the marketplace. There is likely to be a slight increase.

The development of alternative sources of energy. Although currently they make up a small portion of the energy source worldwide, alternative energy is still increasing in usage and popularity. This is simply because the technology that drives alternative energy sources is constantly improving. Depending how massive a step forward these sources make by the time new oil discoveries are brought to the market, the demand for oil may be reduced.

There are other factors that will affect the price of oil including economic stability. We all would expect falling oil prices with new oil reserves being found, but it is not as simple as it sounds. There are a number of reasons why this is so and it is important not to ignore them.

If you look at most other western countries (particularly the Americas), their education system far outweighs the UKs, and it is a necessity to learn how their countries political and economic system is run just to graduate! Not to mention (in Canada) students need the equivalent of about 6 A levels and need to score at least 60% just to pass, most graduate with about 8 subjects. To get into a university place it is necessary to receive grades in the high 80’s or 90’s. When you then add in the fact that general final exams that are written at 18 are roughly the same difficulty of what UK universities offer in second year, it almost breaks ones heart to pay school fees.

So why is it that we are falling so desperately behind as a country? Why is the general mood if you want to get a good education you must go private? What has gone so wrong? If you ask me it is the lack of external governing boards. The government needs to get out of education, and let people who know what they are doing sort out the education system. Good education leads to good government, all of the politicians who are arguing like children at this point in time would do well to remember that.