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The annual rate of inflation fell to 0.3 per cent as measured by the Consumer Prices Index (or to 1.1 per cent by the Retail Prices Index). The Bank of England predicted a touch of deflation in the spring. Unemployment fell by 97,000 to 1.86 million in the last quarter of 2014. The FTSE share index rose to 6,914.62, close to its record of 6,930.2 on 30 December 1999. In a lecture at King’s College London, Sir John Sawers, who was until November head of MI6, said: ‘The Ukraine crisis is no longer just about Ukraine. It’s now a much bigger, more dangerous crisis, between Russia and western countries.’ Sex-and-relationships education should be compulsory in all state primary and secondary schools in England, the Commons Education Committee said in a report. In England and Wales, 51 per cent of adults are single, according to the Office for National Statistics.
David Cameron, the Prime Minister, said that people who were too fat to work should not be able to claim benefits if they refused help to lose weight. Then he said that young people out of work, education or training for six months would have to do unpaid community work to get benefits. ‘It is the duty of every Christian adult to vote,’ the House of Bishops of the Church of England Synod said in a 52-page pastoral letter on the coming election. The letter also mentioned that ‘the traditional arguments for nuclear deterrence need re-examining’. The company that owns Birmingham City Football Club went into receivership.
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, advised anyone paying a window cleaner in cash to get a receipt with his name and address. Political opponents pointed out that Mr Balls had in the past happily submitted expenses claims for things such as cleaning without receipts to support them.
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