COCAINE use among young people in Britain is on the rise after three years of decline, a survey showed last week. More than one fifth of 16 to 24 year-olds admitted using the drug once a month in the latest figures for 2005/2006 compared 17/2 per cent in 2003/2004, according to the European Union's drugs agency.
Meanwhile, cannabis use in the UK has fallen from 46.9 per cent in 2003/2004 to 41.2 per cent.
BEER SALES FALL FLAT IN BRITISH PUBS
BEER sales in pubs are at their lowest level since for decades, brewers said last week. Seven million fewer pints are now being sold in Britain per day compared to the beer market's 1979 peak- a drop of22 per cent according to the British Beer and Pub Association.
In pubs beer sales have fallen 49 per cent since 1979 but supermarket and off-licence sales have increased over the same period, lessening the decline. One of the reasons is the move towards drinking at home. Another is the increasing popularity of wine. But Britons are drinking up to a third more than they realise.
This is because wine and beer are getting stronger and glasses are larger. The Office of National Statistics recalculated alcohol levels so a glass of wine now equals two units and a half pint of beer could equal two units. The average man drinks almost 20 units a week, up from 16 under previous measurements. Women who thought they drank 6.5. units actually drink nine.
LOOKING FOR THE NEAREST LOO?
A Mobile phone service which alerts users to the nearest public toilets launched last month. The scheme, nicknamed SATLAV, works through text message requests from shoppers, workers and tourists. Texting the word "TOILET" to the number 80097 prompts a quick-reponse text with details of the nearest facilities and their opening hours.
Mobile phone technology locates the texter and automatically finds the nearest public toilets.
The service, run by Westminster Council includes details of 40 council-run and leased toilets, plus those run by the Greater London Authority, London Underground and some department stores. The SatLav service was the brainchild of 26-year old student Gail Knight, who won a Westminster City Council innovation competition.
THE END CARDS FOR CHEQUES
CHEQUES could disappear within a decade, it emerged last month. Banks want to kill them off as soon as possible to cut the cost of processing them and to tackle fraud. Some shops and petrol stations already refuse cheques, forcing customers to pay credit or debit cards.
Last year we wrote 1.8 billion cheques compared with four billion at their peak in 1990. There were 5.6 billion ''plastic'' purchases with debit cards accounting for more than 40 per cent of payment in shops. Card payments are expected to overtake cash by 2013.
Brits are set to spend £40BILLION online this year a survey revealed. And shopping via the internet will quadruple to £162 billion by 2020 price comparison website uSwitch, com predicted. Prices online are an average of 13 per cent cheaper than in stores. Previous reports have forecast online spending for Christmas alone would be a record £13.8 billion.
PAYING FOR PLASTC SURGERY
NEARLY a million Brits plan to borrow to pay for plastic surgery, at a cost of £1.4 billion. More than a quarter want a boob job and almost as many are thinking of a tummy tuck. A new look nose is the third most popular operation, according to a survey for Abbey bank out last week
More than half of those planning surgery claimed it was to improve their confidence, while 1 % said it was to stop people teasing them.
BRITAINS ARE EUROPE'S BIGGEST MOBILE PHONE ADDICTS
RESEARCHERS at the London School of Economics found one in eight of us is addicted to their mobile, rising to one in four among 16-to-24year olds.
Sixty per cent of people also admitted they would check up on their partner's phone, with 66 per cent of women prepared to do so, compared with 53 per cent of men. James Harkin of the Social Issues Research Centre, which conducted the study of Carphone Warehouse, said. "The mobile has now become a kind of pacifier for adults.
One in six Britons admitted that if a whole day went by without their phone ringing or receiving a text they'd end up feeling unwanted .. " Four million Brits each own more than four mobiles, a survey reveals. It found the country's 45 million adults share 71 million phones.
BRITS spend 10 months of their working lives chatting on mobiles making an average 88.518 calls, a study has revealed.
NO MORE SMOKING
CIGARETTE sales are down by one billion this year as the public smoking ban starts to hit hard. Smoker still bought 48 billion cigs between January and October 2007.
There are around 12 million who smoke in the UK but a study by research Ciano shows 240,000 have quit and 5. 7. million have cut down since the July 1 2007 ban on lighting up in public places.
Amanda Sandford of anti-smoking group Ash said .. "This is excellent news we believe that as time goes on more people will quit. "
The study also shows that 4.2 million smoke less while out drinking in bars, BUT an electronic cigarette has been launched in a bid to dodge the smoking ban. Smoker can puff away indoors on the battery powered "ecig" while enjoying a strong kick of nicotine. It has an atomiser to create realistic puffs of "smoke" and lasts for 350 drags.- the equivalent of 30 cigarettes.
But the Chinese-made, six inch plastic stick doesn't come cheap. A starter pack including a filter and a charger, is £50 while replacement filters cost £10 each.
The maker claims the device is a healthy alternative to smoking because it has no fire, tar or other harmful chemicals found in tobacco products. But it nevertheless contains 15 times more nicotine than you would get in a normal cigarette,
Claims that the sticks are a good way to give up cigarettes are disputed by experts, who say the c- cigs will still create a craving for nicotine. The devices are currently being tested out at London celebrity nightclub Chinawhites ...
The electronic cigarette was produced first in China four years ago.
Beijing firm SBT developed the e-smoking technology. Manufacturer Golden Dragon which now controls SBT expects sales to double this year.
WEALTHY FOREIGNERS TO LEAVE BRITAIN
ABOUT 3,000 wealthy foreigners are set to leave Britain as a result of tax clampdown, the Treasury has admitted. From April, foreign citizens who are exempt from UK tax on off-shore income will face an annual charge of £30,000 once they have lived in Britain for seven years.
A loophole which allows "non-doms" to escape capital gain tax will also be closed. In a consultation paper, the Treasury calculates about 4,000 would pay the £30,000 fee, but up to 3,000 would leave in the long term.
It insisted that it had struck "the right balance between competitiveness and fairness. "
BRITAIN'S richest people have sent the demand for private jets, bodyguards and personal shoppers soaring. They want luxury services to save themselves time and stress.
Garard Aquillina, head of International private banking at Barclays Wealth, said that the use of private jets has increased in popularity as a means of bypassing airport and security delays. He added, "There is a growing desire among the wealthy to have something that allows them the freedom to control time .. " The Barclays survey shows that of those with assets of more than £1 .5 million 80 per cent employ a butler or chef and more than three-quarters use a personal stylist.
BRITS are more than twice as wealthy compared with ten years ago. thanks to soaring house prices. The total value of our assets went up by £4. 343billion greater the Five Times the £ 802~billion rise in debt figures showed last month. More than half the gain was due to a 244 per cent hike in the overall value of housing. It now accounts for 43 per cent of our assets up from 28 per cent in 1996. Martin Ellis of Halifax Financial Services said .. "The financial position of households in total has strengthened substantially over the past decade and housing has played an important part .. "
WORKING ON YOUR COMPUTER
THE average British computer user spend 15.8 hours a week online - more than 34 days a year. An explosion in the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space now accounts for three hours a week. But an obsessive six per cent spend 11 hours per week more than on real-life socialising according to a survey for uSwith, com.
BUSINESSES are losing £14 million a day because staff spend so long rebooting their computers. White collar workers are forced to restart their computers at least once a day and have to wait almost four minutes for them to get going again. But it means UK firms are losing out on more than 1.1. m hours of work each day.
LIVING IN LONDON
ONE in three people living in London was born abroad and at least another 10,000 foreign-born citizen are settling in the capital each month. Figures released last month show that out of a total Greater London population of 7.4 million about five million were born in Britain.
The number of foreign-born Londoners increased from 2.3 million in June last year to almost 2.5 million 12 month later.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics show the biggest foreign-born communities include Indian (almost 200,000) Bangladeshis (115,000) Irish (113,000) and Jamaicans (108,000)
There are now just over 100,000 Poles living in London and there are also large Nigerian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan population.
Gerd is a freelance writer living in England. Gerd is the author of “GOODBYE YESTERDAY”
