The BBC’s Radio Four Today news programme is under attack for claiming that research into the last budget and a claim that it “mainly benefitted the rich” was”independent”, when they knew it was the opinion of the ResolutionFoundation, a left-wing think-tank run by Torsten Bell, the head of policy forformer failed Labour leader, Ed Milliband.

Downing Street have demanded an apology on-air and the independent press have pointed out that the BBC, under its Charter and Agreement, is obliged to be impartial, on which basis it has its licence fees collected for it by the State, under the threat of prosecution for non-payment.

The independent press have also pointed out that the BBC’s system for dealing with complaints is “adisgrace” and needs the monitoring and censure of an independent body,that is not like the highly biased ones that the BBC relies on for its”news”.

A body that clears ads before they go public has refused to clear an animated one for Iceland stores that features the destruction of rain forests for palm oil and highlights the fact that an estimated 25 orangutans die every day as a result.

Clearcast claim that the ad, which was produced by Greenpeace, was “too political”. The issue has unleashed “a torrent of online abuse” at Clearcast staff with their pictures being published online. Concerned that their staff felt threatened thecompany has removed pictures of its staff from its website and closed itsFacebook page indefinitely. Meanwhile the ad has been viewed 12 million timeson Facebook and more than 600,000 people have signed a petition calling for itsreinstatement.

Iceland responded by stating its commitment to removing palm oil from 160 of its products by the end of the year and placed an animatronic orangutan on the streets of London, to remind people of its cause.

o A customer who entrusted her BMW to Manchester Airport Parking Services Ltd while she was abroad came home to find 500 extra miles on the clock, the fuel tank nearly empty and a fine of £70 from a supermarket car park 20 miles from the airport with a photograph showing her car being driven by an unknown man.

The firm was dubbed “the world’s worst parking company meet and greet” by the Daily Mail last month after one family with a baby claimed that it crashed their car into a tree, and refused to pay for it to be recovered, or for a replacement. Others have accused it of losing their cars and racking up speeding tickets.

o A meet and greet parking firm run by a convicted fraudster has been caught parking its customer’s vehicles for free on public roads, rather than the “fenced and secured parking facility” customers are promised on its website.

Legacy Parking, which operates at Gatwick is run by accountant Vimal Patel, 35, who defrauded a former employer out of £155,000 to feed a gambling habit five years ago, but escaped a prison sentence.

Those booking airline seats as families and want to be sure they sit together are being squeezed by the airlines for extra charges, amounting to £390 million.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) 22 million passengers paid extra to reserve seats together lastyear and 10 million of them didn’t need to since they would have been sattogether anyway, an aspect concealed by the airline when the charges were made.On this basis the CAA has concluded that up to £175million was paid when itdidn’t have to be.

The CAA is currently investigating passenger claims that families are deliberately being split up to generate charges for sitting together.

Research by consumer champion Which? into Black Friday “Bargain offers” has found that in 87% of cases the item featured could have been bought more cheaply at other times in the year.

Which? monitored the 2017prices of 94 popular products on Black Friday, as well as six months before and six months afterwards, on the websites of Amazon, Currys PC World, Argos andJohn Lewis, all heavy promoters of Black Friday “bargains”. In one of the most misleading examples a 60″ LG 4K TV offered by Amazon on BlackFriday at £799 was £749 on at least 62 occasions after that and just £599 on four days in December and January. Hope you didn’t get conned by devious marketeers this year – check the prices of your purchases for the next six months, if youreally want to find out…

We have to confess admiration for Tim Martin, the chairman of pub company Wetherspoons.

Martin has prepared his 880-pub firm, and his customers for the looming eventuality, some would say inevitability, of a no-deal Brexit. “FREE TRADE MEANS LOWER PRICES” is the message in all his pubs, and the claim is supported by offers of drink items that Martin has already replaced EU products with. These include 750ml bottles of French champagne being replaced with Hardy’s Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir from Australia at £10.99, and Denbies Sparkling Whitedown Brut and Whitedown Rose Brut, both at £19.99, and both from England.

Also from England, rather than the EU are 330ml bottles of Blue Moon Belgian-style Wheat Ale and Thornbridge Versa Weisse Beer, both at £1.99, as are 500ml bottles of Adnams Ghost Ship Low-Alcohol (0.5%ABV). For £2.99 are 500ml bottles of SA Brains Atlantic White from Wales. Sweden is another non-EU choice of Martin, with its Koppaberg fruit ciders at £2.39 for the 4% ABV varieties and £1.99 for the Alcohol-Free (0.05%) one.

Time for some others in our business community to stop grovelling to the EU and get on with replacing it then?

Following the £700 million fine recently handed down to Audi for selling cars rigged to cheat on diesel emission tests the motor car sector continues to underwhelm with news that Carlos Ghosn, chairman of the Renault-Nissan alliance, which also includes Mitsubishi, has been sacked after being arrested on suspicion of under-reporting income of £34 million between 2011 and 2015, to cut his tax bill. Also arrested and sacked was senior Nissan executive in the US Greg Kelly, 62, on suspicion of collaboration in the fraud.

Ghosn, 64, enjoyed corporate superstar status in Japan since he turned Nissan around from near-bankruptcy in 1999.

Readers are advised that blackmail emails are circulating demanding £500 to not send details of the victim’s alleged use of adult websites to the victim’s contact list.

An example follows.

Hello!

I have very bad news for you.
11/07/2018 – on this day I hacked your operating system and got full access to your account.

It is useless to change the password, my malware intercepts it every time.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating claims that some advertisers are using participants in reality TV shows to plug products or services to their followers on social media without it being made clear to those followers that their reality TV idol is being paid in cash or kind for the “endorsement” This breaches the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines which require paid endorsements to be presented as such, to enable the purchaser to evaluate whether the celebrity claims for the use of the product are genuine and impartial, and therefore can be trusted, or whether they are paid for and therefore worth spit.

Some reality show participants, and their paymasters, already criticised by the ASA are Millie Mackintosh (Britvic) and Louise Thompson (Daniel Wellington) from Made in Chelsea, Marnie Simpso (Diamond White) from Geordie Shore, Stephanie Davis (Convits UK) from Celebrity Big Brother and presenter A.J.Odjudu (Alpro).

It is thought that some of the coyness about payments made is not unconnected to possible financial interest in them from HMRC