Many 'self-employed' women get by on less than £10,000 a year

Self-employed women earned 40% less than self-employed men in 2012, according to the figures published by HM Revenue & Customs. ItsPersonal Income Statistics 2011-12 report shows that, while average income for a self-employed man was £17,000, the equivalent for women was just £9,800.

The gap is widest in London, where women earned less than half the £25,700 average income of a self-employed man. Next came the east of England and the east Midlands. In almost every region apart from London, the south-east and Scotland, self-employed women earned less than £10,000 a year, the report reveals.

The revelations follow research by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which showed that the gender pay gap in the UK widened for the first time in five years in 2012, from 9.5% to 10%. It found that women have made up more than half the 10% growth in self-employment since the recession began.

Some economists have speculated that many people who register as self-employed may have done so after failing to secure employment, because the rise in self-employed individuals, to almost 4.4 million, has coincided with a fall in employee numbers.

Frances O'Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said: "There may be perfectly good reasons for being self-employed, but it would be naive to think that all these workers are really budding entrepreneurs."

She added: "These figures instead suggest that many employee roles are being replaced by self-employed positions. Bogus self-employment is bad news for workers because they miss out on vital rights at work – such as paid holidays and employer pension contributions – without having the advantage of being their own boss."

The Women's Budget Group, a campaign organisation, noted in a recent report that "much of this increase [in women becoming self-employed] was effectively in precarious work or zero-hours contracts, rather than the creation of new businesses."

Scarlet Harris, spokesman for the group, said: "Clerical, cleaning and caring work, which is predominantly carried out by women, has experienced some of the fastest growth in self-employment in recent years. These women, who already suffer poverty rates of pay, are now having to contend with the poor working conditions and complete lack of job security that self-employment brings. These shocking gender pay gap figures should end any delusions people have about the UK's four million self-employed workers."

Evidence has emerged that the government encourages benefit claimants to register as self-employed, so as to remove them from official employment statistics. A BBC investigation last month found that advisers exhort individuals on the welfare-to-work scheme to become self-employed, in order to shift them from unemployment benefits to working tax credits.

Self-employment also tends to negatively affect an individual's personal finances. Debt charity StepChange has warned that the self-employed are, on average, burdened with four times the debt of employed workers.

A conference entitled Women's Assembly Against Austerity convened last month, following a report revealing that low-income women have been worst-hit by austerity measures and the economic downturn.

Scotland Yard in new undercover police row

Scotland Yard stands accused of covering up "institutionalised sexism" within the police in trying to block civil claims launched by women allegedly deceived into sexual relationships with undercover officers.

Police lawyers are applying to strike out, on secrecy grounds, the claims of five women who say they were duped into intimate long-term relationships with four undercover police officers working within the special demonstration squad (SDS), a Metropolitan police unit set up to infiltrate protest groups.

The legal bid, funded by the taxpayer, is being fought despite widespread outrage and promises of future transparency by Scotland Yard, following official confirmation last week that an undercover officer was deployed 21 years ago to spy on the grieving family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The Observer understands that police lawyers are asking the high court to reject claims against the Metropolitan police on the grounds that the force cannot deviate from its policy of neither confirming nor denying issues regarding undercover policing.

It is understood that Scotland Yard will say in a hearing, scheduled to be held on 18 March, that it is not in a position to respond to claims and therefore cannot defend it.

Last week an independent inquiry revealed that an officer identified only as N81 was deployed in a group "positioned close to the Lawrence family campaign". The spy gathered "some personal details relating to" the murdered teenager's parents. It was also disclosed that undercover officers had given false evidence in the courts and acted as if they were exempt from the normal rules of evidence disclosure.

A separate report on a police investigation into the SDS found that three former officers who had had sexual relations with women who had not known their true identities could face criminal charges.

Harriet Wistrich, a lawyer at Birnberg Peirce & Partners representing the women, said it was absurd that Scotland Yard claimed to be transparent while blocking her clients' bid for justice in open court. On Friday the former director of prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, accused the police of engendering a "culture of conceit".

Wistrich said: "They should just hold up their hands and say, 'this is terrible, we recognise that and are doing everything we can do to put it right'."

Wistrich said Scotland Yard had made no move to reverse its legal position despite calls by Theresa May, the home secretary, for transparency in the wake of what she last week described as "profoundly disturbing" findings.

"They are basically saying that we have this policy and we have to uphold the policy because we gave lifelong assurances that we would not reveal their identities. This is nonsense when some have confessed themselves to being undercover officers.

"In total, we have got five different officers between the eight claimants and our own evidence suggests there was a deliberate kind of encouragement to do this. We are not just talking about a bad apple … but a rotten-to-the-core, institutionalised sexism."

The officers accused of forging long-term sexual relationships with women while undercover are Jim Boyling, Bob Lambert, John Dines and Mark Jenner.

Last week May announced a public inquiry into the work of undercover police officers shortly after the publication of the inquiry on allegations of spying on the Lawrence family.

There are additional calls, including by shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, for an examination of the role of undercover officers in providing information for a blacklist operation run by major companies within the construction industry which forced more than 3,000 people out of the sector.

Brian Richardson, a barrister who has set up an umbrella group, Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, said: "It is extremely important that the proposed inquiry considers the infiltration of the Lawrence family campaign and that of [all] the targets of police surveillance. However, we must continue to campaign to ensure that the inquiry is fully transparent and that those responsible … are held to account."

SODA : Qui sont Ludo et Slimane, les deux copains de Kev Adams ?

Pas de Simpson sur W9 ce soir, mais une soirée spéciale Kev Adams ! La chaîne va diffuser plusieurs épisodes de la saison 3 deSoda. L'occasion d'en savoir plus sur les acteurs qui campent les rôles de Ludo et Slimane, les deux potes d'Adam.

Fait presque exceptionnel, W9 ne diffusera pas de soirée Simpson ce samedi soir. Pourquoi ? Parce qu'elle consacre une grande soirée à Kev Adams. Pour cela, la chaîne de la TNT va diffuser, en prime-time, plusieurs épisodes de la saison 3 deSoda avant le spectacle Kev Adams : the young man dès 23 heures.

Si les téléspectateurs commencent à connaitre le jeune humoriste, peu savent qui sont réellement les acteurs qui campent les rôles de Slimane et Ludovic, les deux grands copains d'Adam Fontella (Kev Adams).Slimane Elboughi est joué par William Lebghil, un jeune homme de 23 ans qui a fait une école d'art dramatique avant de camper le rôle qui lui offre aujourd'hui une jolie exposition. Pour preuve, il a interprété le personnage de Karim, l'un des personnages principaux dans Les Mythos, le film de Denys Thibaud sorti en 2011.Gaël Cottat (Ludo dans Soda) est beaucoup plus âgé que le personnage qu'il est censé interpréter. A 27 ans, le jeune homme est également auteur (poèmes, scénarios) et réalisateur. Son premier roman est paru en 2007 Tant que les papillons auront des ailes et son second romanmots pour maux est paru en 2009. Il a également tourné dans de nombreux courts-métrages avant de jouer un rôle secondaire dans La vérité si je mens ! 3 en 2012.

Anger outbursts linked to swift heart attacks

PARIS: People who have outbursts of anger are at greater risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the two hours immediately after the episode, European researchers said Tuesday.

The study -- a big review of published papers -- is the first to give powerful statistical backing to suspicions that strong emotions can drive cardiac risk, although the underlying biological causes remain unclear.

In the two hours immediately after an angry outburst, an individual’s risk of myocardial infarction or acute coronary syndrome rose nearly five-fold, to 4.7 percent, compared to times when the person was calm, the study found.

The risk of stroke tripled, to 3.6 percent, it also found. There were also higher risks for arrythmia, or an erratic beating of the heart.

The risks rose proportionately if the person had a history of cardiovascular problems or was frequently angry.

"Although the risk of experiencing an acute cardiovascular event with any single outburst of anger is relatively low, the risk can accumulate for people with frequent episodes of anger," said Elizabeth Mostofsky at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts.

"This is particularly important for people who have higher risk due to other underlying risk factors or those who have already had a heart attack, stroke or diabetes.

"For example, a person without many risk factors for cardiovascular disease, who has only one episode of anger per month, has a very small additional risk, but a person with multiple risk factors or a history of heart attack or stroke, and who is frequently angry, has a much higher absolute excess risk accumulated over time."

- Risk rises with anger episodes -

The researchers calculated that one extra heart attack per 10,000 people per year can be expected among people with low cardiovascular risk who are angry only once a month.

This rises to an extra four per 10,000 people with a high cardiovascular risk. Among people who were frequently angry, five episodes of anger a day would result in some 158 extra heart attacks per 10,000 people with a low cardiovascular risk per year.

The tally would increase to around 657 extra heart attacks per 10,000 among those with a high cardiovascular risk.

The paper, published in the European Heart Journal, looked at nine previously published studies covering wide groups of people whose anger profile was known.

The data trawl found more than 5,000 cases of heart attack and at least 800 of stroke. The methodology used in these published papers varied, but an unmistakeable association emerged from all of them, the authors said.

Previous attempts to clarify the question were based on small sample sizes where few patients reported having outbursts of anger, they said. As a result, the picture was fuzzy or lacked credibility.

The paper was not designed to explore why anger is so clearly linked to heart attack.

The authors point to previous research which found that psychological stress increases heart rate and blood pressure. Changes in blood flow can cause blood clots and may stimulate an inflammatory response from the immune system.

Further research is needed to pinpoint this mechanism and to finetune options for doctors mulling whether the best treatment should be drugs to lower cholesterol or blood pressure or psychological help or physical exercise to curb dangerous anger episodes -- or perhaps a combination.

In an independent commentary, US specialists Suzanne Arnold and John Spertus from the University of Missouri and Brahmajee Nallamothu of the University of Michigan said the findings called for an all-round approach.

"Treating anger in isolation is unlikely to be impactful," they wrote in the journal.

"Instead, a broader and more comprehensive approach to treating acute and chronic mental stress, and its associated psychological stressors, is likely to be needed to heal a hostile heart." (AFP)

 

Pakistan aim final berth, Bangladesh seek pride

MIRPUR: Buoyed by their last-over win over arch-foes India, a rejuvenated Pakistan will look to seal a berth in the title clash as they lock horns with beleaguered hosts Bangladesh in their last round-robin Asia Cup match here on Tuesday.

The top two teams qualify for the summit clash and Pakistan, having collected nine points from three appearances, will go into the match as favourites. The momentum swung their way after 'boom boom' Shahid Afridi's enterprise laid India low at the Shere Bangla Stadium here last night.

For the record, Pakistan had lost to Sri Lanka in the tournament opener, before getting their campaign back on track with successive wins over Afghanistan and the big one against India. A win for Pakistan will only make things more difficult for India, provided Sri Lanka lose both their remaining games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh, which seems highly unlikely.

India lost to Pakistan two days after their defeat to Sri Lanka. The Indians won their opener against Bangladesh, and their run-rate stands at -0.027 to Pakistan's +0.438. Reeling under two big defeats, including one against first-timers Afghanistan, Bangladesh would try and look to regain some lost glory against their famed opponents.

In One-day cricket, Bangladesh have upstaged Pakistan just once, that too way back in the 1999 World Cup in England. And again, Bangladesh, who played the final of the last edition, would be looking to prove that the loss to Afghanistan was a mere aberration and the side has the potential to humble stiffer opponents.

Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim would be happy to see the return of all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who was banned for lewd gestures by the country's cricket board. As far as Pakistan are concerned, they will be on a high after the positive result against India.

Mohammad Hafeez was back amongst runs, and that is a good news for Misbah-ul-Haq's team going into the business end of the competition. He has also been making significant contributions with the ball. Twice run-out in this tournament, Misbah would be hoping for a better luck and get some runs under his belt against the hapless host nation.

On the bowling front, pacer Umar Gul and spinner Saeed Ajmal would be leading the Pakistani attack. However, Pakistan would do well to guard against complacency.

Teams (from):

Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Al-Amin Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Shafiul Islam, Naeem Islam, Rubel Hossain, Shakib-Al-Hasan, Ziaur Rahman, Abdur Razzak, Anamul Haque, Imrul Kayes, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Shamsur Rahman, Sohag Gazi, Shakib al Hasan.

Pakistan: Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha, Abdur Rehman, Fawad Alam.

Pak vs Bangladesh: Abdur Rehman stopped from bowling

DHAKA: Pakistani spinner Abdur Rehman was stopped from bowling during Pakistan’s Asia Cup match against Bangladesh for bowling three consecutive ‘beamers.’

The Pakistani spinner came to bowl in the 11th over of the match and delivered three consecutive no-balls which were higher than the batsmen waist. The umpire stopped Rehman from bowling the rest of his over.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim won the toss and decided to bat in a must-win Asia Cup match. Behind brilliant batting Bangladesh set a 327 run target for Pakistan.

Bangladesh have lost both their matches so far -- against India and Afghanistan -- and made five team changes in their bid to remain in the tournament.

Pakistan, who need to win to meet Sri Lanka in Saturday´s final, were forced to replace injured opener Sharjeel Khan with middle-order batsman Fawad Alam in their line-up which beat India by one wicket on Sunday.

Tigers roar atlast in Asia Cup

DHAKA: Bangladesh piled up a huge total of 326 runs for three wickets against Pakistan in the eighth match of the 12th Asia Cup here at the Shere Bangla National Stadium on Tuesday.

Bangladesh who have been winless so far in the tournament showed aggression with style for the first time.