Hello and welcome to todays Levy Letter for Wednesday. I hope youre having a very good week and enjoying the warm and sunny weather weve had. As we all know, unfortunately it wont go on for ever, so make the best of it while you can, if youve still got it! Well have the full weather forecast on Look North tonight along with all the days top news and stories from our part of the world. Thats at half past six on BBC One as usual. I hope youll join me then.
Thank you for all the comments and messages we had yesterday after our story on the smoking ban and its impact on local businesses. We had a torrent of emails on the subject from smokers and non-smokers alike. Keep them coming in, we read them all, and I look forward to seeing what youve got to say about our next big stories. If you want to have your say, or let us know if theres something going on in your area, email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Apprentice It was the big telly hit of the year so far, and since the latest series of The Apprentice finished theres been a gaping hole in the television schedules for many people. The programme was won by the enthusiastic 30 year old Lee McQueen, and he was due to start work this week, except he called in sick on his first day! Now not many people would have the gall to do that on your first day working for Sir Alan Sugar, would they? Unfortunately for poor Lee, he came down with a flu-like virus while on holiday with his girlfriend. He informed his new bosses that he was sick when he returned home at the weekend, and is due to start in the next few days. According to a spokesman, Sir Alan is not furious. Still, I wouldnt have liked to be in his boardroom when he heard that news. On a related subject, Sir Alan has announced hes stepping down as chairman of the technology company he started when he was 21, and which made him rich. The fearsome businessman is not retiring though, hell continue to run his other companies, which include a successful property portfolio. Hes worth a very comfortable £830 million, so I dont think hell miss the extra wages that much. And if youre a fan of The Apprentice, never fear, Sir Alan will be terrorising young business people in a new series of the show next year. I somehow dont expect him to mellow now that hes got more time on his hands. Living costs A lot of people are feeling the pinch a little at the moment as the so-called credit crunch bites, with falling house prices and rising costs of living. Well a new study out today suggests that the minimum you need to earn to enjoy a socially acceptable standard of living is £13,400 a year before tax. This new estimate is higher than some existing government estimates, and isnt just the minimum needed for basic survival, but includes things like costs for mobile phones, and bicycles which help us participate in society. Also on the list of things we should be able to afford are film tickets, a bottle of wine, and a bird feeder. Im not sure many would class a bird feeder as a necessity for modern life, but then each to their own. Maybe you feel you can live without a bird feeder, but cant go without a nice bottle of wine. Or maybe its the other way around! Let me know what you think. And you can drop me a line if theres anything you think we should know about for the programme, or if you have any interesting and unusual pictures you think we can show before the weather. Send them along to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Well thats it from me for today, I hope you have a very good afternoon. Join me tonight at half past six on BBC One for Look North. Bye for now Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
