Sitting down and watching BBC programme The Apprentice is proving to be an inspiration to many viewers to set out on their own.
A poll carried out by Direct Line revealed that nearly 20 percent of people have thought about setting up a specific business whilst watching the programme, with a further 12 percent feeling that they should take the step of becoming their own boss in some form of enterprise.
One of the biggest things that inspired these people to believe in themselves was the feeling that they could just as well, or better, than the people on the programme. This is a very positive stance to take, though a Direct Line spokeswoman did want to advise people that setting up in business is more complex and testing than it can appear on television.
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British bank Alliance and Leicester is to be bought by Santander according to an announcement stating an agreement had been reached between the two parties.
The purchase price is understood to be GBP1.26 billion, the transaction to be made in shares. Santander will give one of their shares for every three Alliance and Leicester ones, giving the shares a value of 299 pence each which is around 33 percent higher than the share value at the close of business last week.
Interestingly, although the Alliance and Leicester as well as many other UK and international banks have suffered on the back of the credit crunch Santander have had a very good year. They have seen good returns from Latin America it appears and this has enabled them to look at acquisitions such as this one.
New Lloyds TSB current account customers will be able to enjoy a 6 percent interest rate if they open the Lloyds Plus account before 13 July.
The account is paying this exceptional rate for 12 months from the date the account is opened on balances up to GBP25,002. After the year is up the interest rate will rever back to 4 percent, still a very good rate in itself. The one proviso made is that at least GBP1,000 must be paid into the Lloyds TSB current account each month.
A spokeswoman from Lloyds TSB proudly stood by the rate offered, delighted that it was offering higher rates while many of its competitors were reducing theirs.