The Live Music Act came into force on 1 October 2012 with the effect that venues in England and Wales with a capacity of less than 200 people no longer need a licence for live music. The Act seeks to remove some of the restrictions on live music put in place by the Licensing Act […]

The Community Right to Bid is part of the Localism Act and came into force on the 21 September. This Act is an attempt to ensure important assets remain in public use and stay part of community life. This could be the village shop, the pub or library. Under the Localism Act, voluntary and community […]

An Equity Release Mortgage allows the over 55’s to take out a mortgage on their  property in return for a lump sum, a lump sum with a further drawdown facility, an  income or a combination of the three. The mortgage is secured against your property and you can continue to live in your property. Equity […]

Squatting in residential premises will become a criminal offence from 1 September 2012. Recent high-profile cases have brought the issue to the forefront including one property reputedly belonging to Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich’s ex-wife, Irina, and more recently in March squatters moved into a property worth £1.6million owned by the infamous footballer Joey Barton. […]

The government, in what appears to be yet another U-turn has pledged support to a review by economist Andrew Dilnot on the way care is paid for by elderly individuals in our society. This is weeks after Health Secretary Andrew Lansbury said there was no commitment to finding the money to finance the proposals. At […]

Tony Nicklinson, a man paralysed from the neck downwards after suffering a severe stroke while on a business trip to Athens, yesterday lost his High Court case in which he asked the court to allow doctors to end his life without the fear of being prosecuted themselves for doing so. Mr Nicklinson is only able […]

All the focus in the run up to the Olympics was the security of the games, how would the public transport network cope and how many medals Team GB would win. Now as the Olympics has drawn to a close and Royal Mail workers are swapping their postbags for gold paint brushes it is time […]

When it rains, it pours. Not only is this expression relevant to the weather that we experienced in June, it also bears some resemblance to the number of controversial health and welfare questions that were brought before the Courts last month. In one case a 32 year old, “intelligent and articulate” yet anorexic woman (known […]

It is with some irony that at the Open Golf in Lytham yesterday one of the world’s top golfers, Rory McIlroy, experienced the nerve wracking anxiety of the weekend golf hacker by hitting a wayward shot which felled a spectator on the course! McIlroy had little cause for concern when he struck his drive but […]

The character Mr Micawber in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield is a good source of quotes on the subject of happiness. In the novel, Micawber, an eternal optimist, is repeatedly convinced that ‘something will turn up’. His name is often used to refer to someone who lives in a constant expectation of a better life. A […]

England may seem to be the land of plenty for Premier League players with massive salaries, mansions, swimming pools and Bentleys to boot, but as the last season ended and with a new one starting in a few months time, life as a footballer is not all it’s cracked up to be for many professionals […]

Today, the BBC has published worrying figures, obtained by the Labour party, which suggest that the number of elderly people in England who receive state funded care has fallen by 11 percent over the last two years. The Labour party received 121 responses after asking 153 councils various Freedom of Information questions. The responses showed […]