Payout for child fathered by deep cover PC.

It has been on the news the last couple of days that a woman 'Jacqui' has been awarded nearly half a million pounds in compensation for having a baby with a deep undercover Police Officer.

Apparently he was part of team created to infiltrate protest groups back in the mid 80s and she was one of the activists under investigation.

According to the BBC report, fellow former SDS officer Peter Francis told Radio 4's Today programme that sex was "used by almost everybody who was serving in that unit".

He added that undercover officers were "expected, not ordered" to "engage in relationships" and that while there was no policy on becoming involved in sexual relations, there was "no policy saying that you couldn't either".

Now I have read the report a few times and can see no mention of a gun being held to Jacqui's head forcing her to have sex.

There is no mention of her having a gun held to head forcing her to keep the child.

The sex was obviously consensual.

To all intents and purposes, Jacqui had a relationship with a man, didn't marry him but had his child and he then disappeared.  Unfortunately, this is not an unusual occurrence.

So why is this pay out of taxpayers' money justified?

Sunday Night Mash Up

This weekend I finally received the results of the three ACCA exams which I sat at the beginning of December, I passed two (F5 - Performance Management and F8 - Audit & Assurance which is the one I failed in June) and failed one - F4 - Corporate & Business Law.

The Law module is the one that I struggled with right from the off.  There are no calculations and no definites, it is all too woolly.  This precedent says you can do this, this precedent says you can do the opposite.  But I have to pass it as it is a compulsory module so the resit will be in June.

Also this weekend I finally bought a car!  I am collecting it next Saturday and I can't wait, although when I am going to read now is beyond me, those two hours each day that I spend on the bus are my reading times.

I am going to do a post about the car dealers as they were lovely.

This weekend saw me start my 1940's diet experiment (it has been a busy weekend), so have been prepping and baking and cooking, I now have a week's worth of meals and snacks.  Hopefully I will lose a bit of weight, feel healthier and save a bit of money.

Save £1000 in a day!

As always happens around this time of the year newspapers and magazines are full of ways to save money so I thought I would have a go.

1.  Apparently if you have more bedrooms than people in a house, then you can save with a water meter.

My current annual water bill is £320, according to the Water Meter Calculator my annual water usage would cost £221.

£99 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

2.  You can claim a tax rebate if you wear a uniform which you are responsible for washing/laundering yourself.

I do not wear a uniform.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

3.  Check that you are receiving the correct child benefits.

I have no children.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

4.  Earn £125 by switching banks

Due to my credit score (which I am working hard to improve) I am currently unable to change banks.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

5.  Check that you are on the best energy tariff.

I check my tariffs every year and move as necessary.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved

6.  Analyse your budget.  Are you spending more than you earn?

I don't have a credit card, neither do I have an overdraft, therefore, if I haven't got it, I can't spend it!

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

7.  Sign up for free monthly tea and cake at John Lewis, or a free daily coffee at Waitrose.

I have neither John Lewis nor Waitrose locally.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

8.  Haggle down other utilities.

I phoned Virgin last year and said I was cancelling, I had £5 a month knocked off my bill.  Unfortunately this has been wiped out by the annual price increase.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

9.  Reclaim mis-sold PPI.

I have never been mis-sold PPI, I have always fully understood it and refused it if I felt it was not necessary.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

10.  Check around for better mortgage deals.

I do not have a mortgage, the house is fully paid off.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

11.  Check around for a better car insurance deal.

I do not have a car.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

12.  Check around for a better credit card deal.

I do not have a credit card.

£0 saved.

Total: £99 saved.

So whilst £99 is a good start, it is far, far short of the £1000 predicted, and frankly, by the time I have taken a day's annual leave to have the meter fitted, I am not going to be making a saving.

Has anyone else tried to save £1000 in a day?

The 2014 52 Week Cash Challenge

This is something that I am going to attempt to do, although I have altered it slightly.

I first came across the 52 Week Cash Challenge via a friend who is on benefits, the reason I mention this will become obvious later in this post.

The idea is that you find an empty jar or pot, and at the start, or end, of week 1, you add £1 to this jar; week 2 you add £2; week 3, £3 and so on until week 52.

Unfortunately, this means that over the last 4 weeks of the challenge you would have to put away £202 (£49 + £50 + £51 + £52), now I work full time and can't afford to put this much money away in just one month, so the fact that someone on benefits can means there is something wrong somewhere.

So, my little tweaks are - I am using a bank account instead of a jar, this is so that I can get a little bit of interest; and my amounts will be - week 1 £1, week 2 £52, week 3 £2, week 4 £51 and so on.  I know I could just put £26.50 per week away, but this makes saving more fun and will make me more likely to carry on with it.

Is anyone else thinking of having a go?