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I was reading yesterday some words from the British actress Amanda Burton; she was speaking about the increasing paranoia amongst women and young girls with regards to body image. She referred to the botox-generation that we have found ourselves part of.

Even though she admitted to resorting to botox injections herself - she is part of an industry where image and appearance is everything - she raised interesting points as to how quickly young girls are being indoctrinated into a lifestyle where diet pills and cosmetic surgery are viewed as essential to being accepted anywhere now.

Whatever happened to just being yourself…?

Popularity: 19% [?]

As expected, Bradford & Bingley joins the ranks of the bankrupt banks in the UK and the mess gets swept up by the government (ie you and me).

This time around at least they’ve learnt something from the Northern Rock fiasco and are selling on the branches to Santander and “only” keeping the worst parts of the business ie the mortgage side of things. Presumably they’ll be working to shift the best of the mortgages elsewhere too but that’ll take longer.

Who will be next though? This piecemeal approach means that we can look forward to a string of banks in the same situation for months to come unless the economic outlook improves unexpectedly. In the frame seem to be the likes of the West Bromwich and Principality building societies who seem to have been appearing in the news rather too often of late and in the case of the West Bromwich they’re regularly sitting at the top of the savings interest rate tables (along with a number of now bankrupt banks).

Less obviously the Britannia isn’t on entirely firm ground and along with the Yorkshire has suffered a recent downgrade in risk rating by various agencies.

But where do you run to in times like this for safety? Well, in the UK the only truly safe place is National Savings which is effectively a part of the Bank of England and therefore covers your money 100% (ie there’s no £35,000 limit as with other banks). Sadly they only offer a limited range of accounts so it would be difficult to use that as your only bank but if I’d a large chunk of savings at the moment I’d be inclined to use that and just ring them to transfer money to my cheque account as required.

Popularity: 25% [?]

The thing about those store charge cards is that they are just sooo convenient. Agreed girls…?

Scenario: you are out for a bit of retail therapy, you are short on cash but really would love to have that new dress you saw Lily Allen wearing in that magazine. And the shoes…and that handbag. You are in the right store but just cannot make your money stretch that far.

The salesgirl senses this and suggests that you ” Fill in an application for their store card - it only takes five minutes and you can start spending straight away! “.

So you do. But the trouble is that particular store card will not be the only one in your wallet. You have several cards for several stores and the balance is straining the limit on each of them. And you just don’t want to think about the interest they are charging you for only paying the minimum balance each month…

Get real girls. Those charge cards make a fortune from the extremely high interest they apply to you; they cost far more than any good credit card ever will so why not wise up and have the courage to open up all those monthly statements that you have been ignoring?

You cannot hide them on top of the fridge forever you know…

Time to think consolidation. Get all your outstanding balances together, find a credit card that not only offers low interest rates but rewards and bonuses for responsible use, and transfer your store card balances onto one of those cards. You will pay alot less interest and get a better deal all round.

And you wont feel guilty next time you just have to have what Lily’s wearing…

Popularity: 24% [?]