You and Yours - 03/11/2010

Consumer affairs with Winifred Robinson. Europe's top court is considering if it is illegal for insurance companies to factor gender into calculating insurance premiums; if the judges decide it is illegal women drivers can expect steep rises in the cost of motor insurance, while men will get less money from their pension plans. Farmers are being offered thousands of pounds a year to rent their fields to enterprises who install solar panels. Generous subsidies for micro generation launched earlier this year, which were aimed at homes and small businesses, are attracting speculators because the returns are so high and tax free. Trading Standards warn pensioners to beware of a winter fuel payment con. Fraudsters have been phoning up recipients ostensibly to check bank details explaining it is necessary to ensure the winter fuel payment reaches the right bank account. The only bank account they are really interested in is their own; it is a con trick. It is National Stress Awareness Day. Life is tough for many but how soon we forget the privations of years gone by. Mark Stephenson is an optimist and says we should snap out of it, count our lucky stars and give thanks to those innovators over the centuries that have put themselves under stress to make life better. Britain can't keep pushing its older generation into nursing homes and day centres if there's to be any hope of saving its creaking care system from collapse, so says the Local Government Association at the Association of Directors of Adult Services at their conference in Manchester today.