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Shares in Royal Mail, floated on the stock market at 330p, began trading at 475p. SSE, the energy supplier, raised prices by 8.2 per cent, and other suppliers were expected to follow suit. Ofwat, the water regulator, said it would block Thames Water’s request to increase bills by up to 8 per cent next year. The rate of inflation, measured by the Consumer Prices Index, remained at 2.7 per cent, and, as measured by the Retail Prices Index fell from 3.3 to 3.2 per cent. The average price of a property in the United Kingdom rose to a record £247,000. Unemployment fell to 2.49 million, and those with work rose to a record 29.87 million. Eleanor Catton, aged 28, won the Booker prize with The Luminaries. Harris Academy Upper Norwood, in London, banned pupils from beginning sentences with ‘basically’.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission questioned the ‘honesty and integrity’ of three police officers who misreported a meeting with Andrew Mitchell, the former chief whip, accused of calling police ‘plebs’.
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