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news 03Introducing:the Ethical ChildSavings PlanFollowing the Government’s decisionto discontinue all Child Trust Fundsfrom the end of the year, we havenow closed to new applications forour Ethical Child Trust Fund (ECTF).However, if your child has anexisting ECTF with us, you can stillcontribute up to £1,200 into theiraccount each year, either monthly(minimum £5) or with a lump sumpayment (minimum £50).In addition, we’re very pleasedto announce the launch of a newproduct which promises to invest justas ethically and to provide flexiblesavings options for children.The Ethical Child Savings Plan(ECSP) lets you invest between £15and £25 per month (from £15 online)on behalf of a child for a fixed term ofbetween 10 and 25 years. It’s similarto our Child Tax Exempt SavingsPlan, but it aims to only invest in waysthat do not harm the environment,people, animals or wildlife.To find out more, see page 25.Boom in technology useWe now spend almost half ourwaking hours either online, on thephone or watching television.According to the broadcast regulatorOfcom’s annual CommunicationsMarket Report, the average adult isawake for 15 hours and 45 minutesevery day, and 45 per cent of that timeis spent using technology.On average, adults watch 212minutes of video – including television,online clips and DVDs – each day.We spend 91 minutes a day listeningto the radio, and around 80 minutesa day are spent on text messaging,social networking and emailing. In 2009we sent 104 billion texts, up from 27billion in 2004.More than 70 per cent of peoplehave access to a computer at home,while just over a third use them atwork. Plus, more than half of over-55-year-olds now have access tobroadband, mostly for emails.£67,000is how much membershave raised so far for theMultiple Sclerosis SocietyThe MS Society was Past High Chief RangerJim Launchbury’s chosen charity duringhis year in office. Michael Grealy, thenew High Chief Ranger, has chosen theRoyal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)as his charity appeal for the yearahead. To find out more aboutMichael, see page 13.News in briefNo stress – just get married!Being married makes you more relaxed,according to scientific research. Students atChicago University were given tests that theybelieved would affect their career prospects,and those who had a partner wererecorded as having much less of thestress hormone cortisol. ProfessorDario Maestripieri says: “Althoughmarriage can be pretty stressful, itshould make it easier for people tohandle other stresses in their lives.”‘Value’ brands same as dearer optionSome supermarket ‘value’ products arevirtually identical to their more expensivebrand equivalents. A trading standardssurvey discovered that, in almost half theproducts sampled, there were no nutritionaldifferences between the value and the dearerbrands – in fact half of the tasters preferredthe value products. According to www.moneysavingexpert.com, going downone brand levelcould cut a typicalfamily’s shopping billby £850 a year.UK to become biggest in EuropeBritain will be the largest country in Europeby 2050, the Population Reference Bureauforecasts. The UK’s population is predictedto swell from 62.2 million to 77 million,making it bigger than France (predicted: 70million) and Germany (predicted: 71.5 million).India is forecast to become the largestcountry in the world by 2050.Its population, currently 1.19billion, is expected to hit 1.75billion – adding the equivalentof the entire population of theEuropean Union in just 40 years.Lick the pavement? yes, for £400!We Brits are willing to go to some extremelengths for free money, so says a survey bywww.moneysupermarket.com. More thanhalf (57 per cent) of the 2,089 people askedsaid they’d be willing to wait for four hours ina queue for £400. Twenty-four percent said they would take partin a medical experiment,and 25 per cent saidthey would even lick thepavement for the money!