This is Money Blog

Britain's financial fortunes in 2020

Readers of this blog may know of my repeated bleating since 2002 that Britain would face a bleak economic era from 2008 onwards.

So far, so good, if you see what I mean.

So what can we expect for the next decade? As ever, it's anyone's guess. This is mine: the British economy, like that of Japan after its debt boom and bust, will go nowhere - up a bit one year and down about the same the next. Likewise for the stock market - lots of ups and downs but essentially the FTSE 100 will go nowhere. So I would stab a guess of...

High-speed rail service: Fiddling while Rome burns

The latest twist in the sorry tale of Britain's rail services features that too-familiar creature, the white elephant.

Plans have been submitted for a high-speed rail line that will be able to carry 250mph trains running between London and the West Midlands, at an estimated cost of £60bn.

This is Money readers say: 'put your cash in China'

Last week we launched two polls to find out where our readers think the best investment returns will come from in 2010.

Choices ranged from backing a continued surge in gold values to predicting a brand new housing price boom.

We then asked which countries would yield the greatest returns, with the menu stretching from India to the US, from Russia to Latin America.

The results? After a year characterised by ongoing recession and ballooning government deficits, it was perhaps top be expected that both the UK (8%) and US (6%) would suffer a decline in popularity as investors turn to foreign fields.

Yorkshire BS boss answers your questions

The bosses at Yorkshire Building Society noticed the high number of questions - and concerns - raised by readers about the merger with Chelsea. (See the reader comments on our Q&A).

So, they offered to get their chief executive to set the record straight. Here's the result...

They can't grit, but they can speed bump

Bravo Islington Council: it can’t grit and clear the roads and pavement but it can install a speed bump.

Most popular (commented) stories of the year

House prices, house prices, house prices, shenanigans at Nationwide, Northern Rock, Halifax, house prices, British Airways and the increasing age of retirement. These are among the most popular stories on This is Money this year in terms of the numbers of reader comments our stories provoked.

Top stories of the year - 2009

At the beginning of the year, we faced the stark possibility of a re-run of the Great Depression. The UK economy was shrinking faster than it had done even during the 1930s. Shares were falling fast, demand for property was falling faster.

Then there was a dramatic turnaround. Global stock markets bottomed out in March and began a powerful rally. Asking prices for British homes began to rise in March and selling prices began rising in May.

Reasons why stock markets may fall in 2010

Billionaire Warren Buffett (pictured), the most successful investor of his generation, says be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.

Bearing that in mind, investors should eagerly follow a weekly study by www.investorsintelligence.com. Running since 1963, each week the US asks more than 100 investment newsletter authors whether they feel bullish or bearish about the market.

Chart of the day: the trouble with final salary pensions

The recession - and the way it's tackled - holds implications for many areas of our personal finances. One shock so far has been the speed of destruction of final salary pensions.

These schemes largely work thus: companies and members contribute money to a scheme which is invested. Hopefully its grows quick enough to be able to pay out enough to what its promised to members.

At present, most have a shortfall. In fact the collective deficit of the 200 biggest schemes has hit £100bn for the first time, Aon Consulting revealed today. In fact, it's £103bn to be precise. That's roughly equivalent to the total size of the economy of Hungary. It's big.

Spending watch: No early Christmas sales?

The great British consumer looks determined to exit the decade with a bang. Sales figures last week demonstrated shoppers' belligerent refusal to accept the end of the age of spending more than we earn on stuff we don't need.  

There's more evidence today.

John Lewis reported department store sales were up by 15.5% year-on-year in the week to 19 December. Even allowing for the fact that sales were depressed a year ago as the economy nosedived, these were impressive figures. John Lewis revealed that sales were also up by 11.4% higher than 2007.