Rationing of stamps by British mail ahead of 30% raise results into stampede

Royal Mail’s decision to ration postage stamps ahead of steep price increases led to panic buying and growing anger yesterday.

Small businesses will be hit particularly hard by the increases, with the price of first-class stamps going up from 46p to 60p from April 30 – a rise of 30 per cent.

The price of second-class stamps will rise even more steeply – by 39 per cent, from 36p to 50p. The increases are the biggest since 1975.

Read more: Mail Online 

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Gold rises but ....

[ Reuters ] 7 Dec

Gold edged higher Wednesday, driven by a pickup in the euro and by a rise in exchange-traded fund holdings to record highs, although caution ahead of a crucial European Union summit this week will likely limit gains in the bullion price.

Spot gold rose 0.5 percent to $1,735.74 an ounce by 1459 GMT, set for a second consecutive day of gains.

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Iran Warns of Oil at $250 a Barrel if Sanctions Imposed

[ The New York Times ] 5 Dec

Alarmed by the possibility of new Western penalties that could abruptly reduce or even halt its oil exports, Iran issued a warning on Monday that crude oil prices could more than double to $250 a barrel if such sanctions were given serious consideration. 

Iranian leaders are increasingly concerned that oil sales, Iran’s main source of income, are now at risk in ways that they were able to avoid in earlier rounds of Western sanctions. Those sanctions were imposed to press Iran, so far unsuccessfully, to halt its suspect nuclear program.

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