The Let’s start the last month of 2008 with a look at BBC Business News:

Mortgages: As they fall, so do house sales and prices. “Bank of England figures show that just 32,000 mortgages were approved, 1,000 fewer than in the previous month”. BBC.co.uk comments, “The number of mortgages approved, but not yet lent, is a good indicator of medium-term trends in lending”.

Banks: “the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has guaranteed not to repossess the properties of customers who fall behind on payments for at least six months. The bank, which owns NatWest, is Britain’s fifth largest mortgage lender with a 7% market share”. But the most important fact reading BBC.co.uk is that, “the government has bought a 58% stake in RBS as part of its recapitalisation plan for the banking sector.”

Companies: The Irish airline RyanAir has made a fresh takeover bid for the Irish flag-carrier Aer Lingus to the tune of €748 million. The article reports, “Ryanair’s previous offer for Aer Lingus, which valued it at €1.5 billion, was blocked by the European Commission on competition grounds”.

Environment: “Official advisers to the UK government have demanded Britain slash greenhouse gases by a fifth of current levels by 2020 – the toughest target so far”. The article reads, “The Committee on Climate Change said the cut (21% on 2005 levels) is needed for the UK to play its fair share in combating dangerous change. The independent committee recommends that by 2020 it should be made almost impossible to burn coal for electricity without technology to capture and store the carbon emissions”.