Jim Morrison was arrested after this report was considered: “Morrison’s programme lasted one hour during which time he sang one song and for the remainder, he grunted, groaned, gyrated and gestured along with inflammatory remarks He screamed obscenities and exposed himself. An album by The Fugs, Virgin Fugs, was described by Hoover as “repulsive to right-thinking people and can have serious effects on our young people”, but the decision was not to prosecute The Doors were not so fortunate. The Passat is a larger car than before but it’s not that much heavier. It is fabulously refined and Trevor won’t hear much from the diesel engine even when pushed.The facts are that the 2.0 TDI engine will get to 60mph in under ten seconds and go on to a maximum of 130mph, and that’s only marginally slower than a 2.0 petrol, but it is the manner in which it drives which Trevor should find so rewarding.

It is just a question of what body style he wants wrapped around that unit. The 2.0Tdi engine can be found in Audi A3s, Skoda Octavias and Seat Leons to name just a few. I think it is a toss up between a Passat 2.0 Tdi S, or a Volkswagen Golf GT Tdi, depending on how much space Trevor needs. Certainly an ex-demonstrator Passat should be marginally cheaper than a brand-mew Golf GT. This provides the ability to control the amount, timing and pressure of the fuel injection to a degree of accuracy that was never previously possible. This accurate control optimises the combustion process, generates maximum efficiency and significantly reduces noise.

It also enables particulate emissions to be minimised, to the extent that exhaust smoke is virtually unheard of. The result is increased performance, better fuel efficiency and reduced emissions. A CAR FOR THE HEAD I think that Trevor should stick with Volkswagen Group products, especially as they make some of the most impressive diesel engines around. Computer controlled injectors act as taps which open and close in microseconds. Simply pushing the accelerator pedal is no longer enough.
The Common-rail Direct Injection engines would seem to be the answer for Trevor, as they combine economy with lots of torque, and that means he can accelerate without changing gear too often. These units have a pipe along the top of the engine which contains fuel under extremely high pressure.

He likes the car because of its handling, build quality, satellite navigation and climate control, but principally because of the engine, which allows him to have effortless driving in high gears because of the high torque at low revs, and good acceleration He is now considering replacing it. The Civic Type S has a variable valve engine, which requires lots of gear changes to get a response. He likes the idea of a diesel BMW, but won’t pay extra for the badge. The Alfa Romeo 159 intrigues him, but he questions its reliability. Trevor has correctly identified a radical change in engine technology over the last few years, and variable valves (VVT) systems have been the answer to delivering maximum power when required, although it does require more effort by the driver.

That leaves 10 play-off berths open, with 16 teams contesting them, and no clear picture of who will make it

Take the Chicago Bears, for example. An eight-game winning streak had them looking comfortable, but they were upset 21-9 by a Pittsburgh Steelers side who had lost three in succession. The veteran running back Jerome Bettis enjoyed his first 100-yard rushing game of the campaign in snowy conditions, and his two touchdowns proved the difference.
“We were desperate,” said the Steelers’ Hines Ward “It’s a one-game season every week for us. We’ve got to play like it’s the play-offs because we don’t have a lot of room for error.” There was more joy for Pittsburgh as two of their main rivals were beaten. The San Diego Chargers surprisingly lost 23-21 at home to the Miami Dolphins, who thereby kept their own slender hopes intact, while the Kansas City Chiefs fell 31-28 in Dallas.The Chiefs had forged a 28-24 lead on the strength of Larry Johnson’s 143 rushing yards and three touchdowns, but with 22 seconds left, Drew Bledsoe threw his third touchdown of the game, a one-yarder to Dan Campbell, to put the Cowboys in front. Even then the Chiefs could have tied it, but their kicker, Lawrence Tynes, missed a 41-yard attempt as time expired.The New York Giants were made to work hard for a 26-23 overtime result in frosty Philadelphia.

With only three weeks remaining in the regular season, the battle to secure a play-off place is coming down to a complicated game of mathematics. Asking Keane to tackle the job at this stage of his career has to be seen as the last word in optimism.Soon enough, and even at £70,000 a week, he is likely to find himself yearning for the old certainties of Old Trafford. There, or somewhere like Juventus or Milan, some of football’s old values still remain At Madrid it is the Florentino Perez show At Old Trafford Keane had to deal with mere crisis At Bernabeu the problem is unending, certifable madness.. For a start he would have to rewrite the entire Real Madrid value system, and without either Spanish or a modicum of diplomacy the odds against his success seem hugely prohibitive. Perez’s interest is doubly inexplicable in view of his casual acceptance that Claude Makelele should be shipped out to Chelsea two years ago.The absence of the durable Frenchman is a void Real have not begun to fill. More likely it will provide further evidence that Real’s despotic president, Florentino Perez, is drifting ever further from football reality.Keane might have made sense in the middle of Perez’s galacticos splurge.

I accept that you would not have taken Jacob’s life had you, for a moment, thought that she disagreed with what you were to do. Mrs Wragg also told the 10-day trial that Jacob had not been close to death, but had been “happy and jolly” on the day he was killed. But during her lengthy sentencing comments, the judge told the East Sussex court that she had “no doubt” that Mrs Wragg was “complicit” in what he did. She went on: “That being so I consider that there is nothing to be gained by taking from you your liberty. A survey of the educational backgrounds of the country’s MPs reveals Labour ministers are far more likely to have had a private education than their backbenchers – 25 per cent as opposed to 16 per cent.
It also reveals that the percentage of Labour MPs with a private school education has been steadily rising since 1987 – from 14 to 18 per cent.However, it shows the Conservatives are still the real party of privilege with 59 per cent of their MPs from private schools.The survey has been carried out by the Sutton Trust, the education charity run by Sir Peter Lampl.”The educational profile of our representatives does not reflect society at large,” said Sir Peter.”This is symptomatic of the educational apartheid which blights our system and offers the best life chances to those who can afford to pay for schooling.”Overall, it showed that one in three MPs came from an independent school background – compared to just 7 per cent in the country at large. But the Government has just agreed to a second runway at Stansted airport.* Switch off electricity, and gadgets such as the television; don’t leave gadgets on standby.* Reduce central heating to below 20 degrees centrigrade.. But households are using even more energy; up by 2 per cent since 2000.

Energy efficiency is improving, but still far behind some EU countries on new homes. Resistance in Whitehall and among house builders to tough targets being imposed on heating efficiency for new homes.Making a difference in the homeSome of the things we will have to do to reduce global warming:* Switch from ovens to steamers.* Leave the car at home – a government survey showed traffic levels on Britain’s roads rose by 79 per cent between 1980 and 2003; road transport produced 22 per cent of British emissions of carbon dioxide in 2002.* Take the train, not the plane: aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. That is a politically complicated thing to do, but that is the only way in which we are going to get anywhere near those long-term targets that the Government has set,” he said .Sir Jonathon also revealed that the CSD has already had clashes with the Department of Trade and Industry over the methodology used in its reports, but had been proved right. At the age of 10 he will not get many more chances to add to that tally. Ryanair is being accused of levying what amounts to a “stealth tax” on travellers. It will have been a long walk into JP McManus’s office for the unfortunate person who had to tell the owner they had forgotten to declare his pride and joy for Saturday’s main event ­ which means there will be no Long Walk for Baracouda.

How can we apply different philosophy to the latest entrants, whose economies have been recently liberated from the communist yoke?JOHN ROMERLONDON W5 Bygone pedantries Sir: As a grandmother myself, I clearly remember being taught that words beginning with “h” took “an” if they were three or more syllables long (Errors and Omissions, 10 December). In class, a couple of us argued that this must have been an arbitrary decision by some pedant, but we were accused of being stupidly rebellious, and told that if we wanted to get to university, we had better do as we were told. One of my aunts used to struggle to pronounce both the “h” and the “an” before “hotel”, convulsing my generation.JEN PARRYDIDCOT, OXFORDSHIRE Mother of the nation Sir: Presumably the writer of your headline “Single mother poised to be Chilean President” (12 December) about the electoral prospects of the former minister of health and of defence in Chile will in future be referring to David Cameron as a “father of two” and Tony Blair as a “father of four”?ANGELITA BRADNEYLONDON SE5. Just as Scotland, Wales, Ulster and England have budgeted on a national scale to reap the benefits of a larger economic unit, so the EU cannot ignore inequalities among its members. Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Greece have been “subsidised” since their accession to the benefit of the Union as a whole.

This creates space between the bonnet and the hard engine beneath, so reducing the potential for injury. So off we waft, because wafting is what a big, plush Citro?should be about. The engine – we’ve started with the 3.0-litre, 215bhp petrol V6, mated to the six-speed automatic transmission of all C6s – is deliciously smooth and quiet, helped by ‘active’ engine mountings which oscillate in concert with the engine to cancel vibrations. The side windows are laminated, which absorbs more sound, and the moving experience is serene even when giving the engine its cultured head Except for one thing. A Citro?on a modern version of the DS’s oleopneumatic suspension – which nowadays doesn’t sink when the engine is off – should still be ultra-supple over imperfect roads In reality it’s good, but not the paragon I’d hoped. There’s some fidgeting underfoot, as if even Citro?s magic suspension can’t quite cope with the challenges posed by the handsome but inappropriate 45-profile tyres with their shallow sidewalls. Yet the steering remains a bit vague and other-worldly, giving you only the less desirable part of the expected floating sensation.

So I press the Sport button and get beamed back to Planet Earth. Sport relieves the suspension of having to make so many calculations, because it starts from a firmer base. The ride is barely any more fidgety, and given the improvement in steering response the ride comfort now seems entirely acceptable The gearbox shifts smoothly and keenly. Even the brakes work progressively; the violent snatch of the old DS’s brakes was something Citro?did well not to emulate in the C6, although the engineers managed it in my C4. And now, in Paris, near the journey’s end, I try the other engine: the 2.7-litre V6 turbodiesel built as a joint venture with Ford/ Jaguar/Land Rover. Citro?says 80 per cent of C6s will be so powered and it was made for this engine; it’s great in all the other cars to which it has been fitted, and it’s great in the C6. What, then, are we to make of the C6? It seems very pricey for a car based on a stretched Peugeot 407 platform, even if you can have electrically reclining rear seats and you’re swathed in luxury.

But then it is made on a separate luxury-car line (along with the 407 Coup? there won’t be many of them (to keep it exclusive) and it’s excitingly different from the prestige cars everyone else buys You’d be brave to buy a C6, but you’d be glad if you did. THE RIVALS AUDI A6 3.0 V6 TDi £31,045 We’re getting used now to the fierce-looking new Audi front-end, and this A6 from them is a good-looking, beautifully-finished car with a great engine and the welcome bonus of four-wheel drive. JAGUAR S-TYPE 2.7 D V6 from £28,895 No-one could call the awkward-looking S-type beautiful, but it rides and handles with typical Jaguar poise and has the same excellent diesel engine that is used in the C6. MERCEDES-BENZ E280 CDI from £32,180 Not so new now, but still understatedly elegant, the E-class would be the ultimate rational purchase were it not so unfortunately expensive The electronic brakes can feel snatchy.. SPECIFICATIONS Model: Mazda 6 2.0 TS2 Estate Price: £18,100 Engine: 2.0-litre petrol Performance: 0-62mph in 9.9 seconds; 35.3 mpg CO2: 191g/km Worth considering: Ford Mondeo estate, Honda Accord Tourer, VW Passat

The 6 has been around for a few years, and as is the custom in the motor industry for models approaching middle age, Mazda has given it a facelift.

These days, as governor of California, he’s had to garage his 11-13mpg fleet and drives a hydrogen-powered “green” Hummer.Britain won’t be getting the Big Bad Hummer, at least as an official import. We’re being offered Hummer Lite, the new H3, which at 74.7in wide (plus mirrors) won’t go through a six-foot width restriction, but is large, not gargantuan.Five vehicles could be called Hummers, and the stroke of brilliance has been to make them look the same.AM General designed the original in response to the army’s tender for a high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle or HMMWV. An American invasion force is heading for Europe, and the vehicles look familiar from CNN The Hummer is coming to a dealer near you. But will it be viewed as a liberation to be able to own the biggest, meanest SUV on the planet, or will Brits regard the vehicles as over-weight, over-thirsty and over here?

The Hummer is an icon Stars of sports, screen and rap have queued up to own one Its fan websites include www.

humvee , and it has appeared in films, TV series and music videos.
We can thank a certain Austrian bodybuilder for the civilian Hummer. Arnold Schwarzenegger helped the original manufacturer, AM General, to convince its parent company that it would be a good idea to offer civilians a version of its military vehicle, and he has been closely involved with the development of smaller derivatives, the H2 and H3.”I was involved every step of the way,” he said at the launch of the H2 SUT in New York’s Times Square. No, what Trevor really needs is a Vauxhall.Not just any old Vauxhall but an Australian-built Monaro. Based on the old Vauxhall Omega, the similarities end there, because under the bonnet is a 5.7 litre engine from a Chevrolet Corvette. The bodywork is equally brash – it’s a large coupe that looks as though it means business. Certainly Trevor could not complain about the top speed, so when he goes to Germany he can hit 178mph and blast past all those speed-restricted BMW and Mercedes. It is also great when you go around corners.And it turns from an aggressive sports car into a commuting pussycat.

Hit it and you can inspect tens of thousands of pages – 2,400 on Frank Sinatra alone – and see what the Untouchables made of Sinatra, Jim Morrison and John Lennon, or, indeed, Albert Einstein and Errol Flynn.
When it came to singing, Frank Sinatra had exquisite taste, but his judgement appeared to leave him outside the concert hall as he associated with gangsters, racketeers and hookers. Sinatra’s defence in 1951 was: “When you go into show business, you meet a lot of people, and you don’t know who they are and what they do.” This from the man who gave Lucky Luciano a solid-gold cigarette case inscribed, “To my dear pal, Lucky, from your friend, Frank Sinatra”.The most intriguing aspect of the Sinatra files relates to what he did, or rather didn’t do, during the Second World War. By and large, the authorities did not need conscription, as the Axis threat was so immediate and so serious that the majority of able-bodied men between 18 and 40 made themselves available. In 1940, Sinatra had answered a government questionnaire, “What physical or mental defects or diseases have you had in the past, if any?” with the word, “None”. In November 1943, The New York Times reported that he had been passed 1-A for military service by the New Jersey draft board.

A few weeks later, he was downgraded to 4-F, which is “unacceptable for medical reasons”. The reasons were the chronic perforation of his left eardrum, chronic mastoiditis and emotional instability.An informant told the FBI that Sinatra had bribed a doctor with $40,000 for that report. They asked him to attend again, but his 4-F status was confirmed. The file states: “During the psychiatric interview, the patient stated that he was neurotic, afraid to be in crowds and afraid to go in an elevator.

He had been very nervous for four or five years and is run down and undernourished.” Afraid of crowds? Frank Sinatra?Ol’ Blue Eyes returned to performing in public, making films and presumably taking the stairs wherever he went. As one headline put it, “Sinatra 1-A with US girls: rated 4-F by army doctors.” If the FBI had proved bribery, Sinatra would have been arrested, imprisoned and branded a coward. It is doubtful that his career would ever have recovered.Rumours circulated, not with the suggestion that he might be a coward, but that Sinatra might instead be a communist, and the FBI noted the societies he supported, including “The American Crusade to End Lynching”. The FBI concluded that he was a “pronounced non-conformist and free-thinker” and Sinatra himself, in 1949, said: “I’m right, not left.” The Bureau prepared a 50-page report on Sinatra in 1950 and we learn that Sinatra, presumably in an effort to improve his standing, had offered his services to the CIA, but they concluded: “We want nothing to do with him.”Whereas Sinatra always knew what he was doing, Elvis Presley was gullible and the victim of a con man, Laurens Johannes Griessel-Landau of Johannesburg.

She made her mark at Glyndebourne two seasons ago, the same year as Kozena. Most of the audience were initially busy being disappointed at the no-show, but it was clear that the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment had warmed to her, and by the end everybody knew why. Tall and stately, Ernman turns out to possess a disarming smile and a voice that can apparently do anything and become anybody. Items from four Mozart roles, including one of each sex from The Marriage of Figaro, found her willing to try out all she could do.
First was Dorabella from Cosi fan tutte, given a dissection that would have sounded clinical were it not for the impact of the voice’s wondrous sound.

He has a soulful voice, but his blurred melodies lacked impact.Better were the Kooks, who are led by singer and creative force, Luke Pritchard. The singles “Sofa Song” and “Eddie’s Gun”, both about unrequited lust, echoed the insouciance of Pete Doherty and the ruddy-faced charm of the the Jennifers, the early incarnation of Supergrass.Thanks to the Libertines, tonight’s audience were well acquainted with the unlikely comeback of Chas & Dave, who played “Snooker Loopy” and the still remarkable “Rabbit”. Its speedy lyrics did not back up their claim to be rap pioneers, but they still held the torch for a robust English wit.Which is not an idiom allowed shrift by Hard-Fi’s Richard Archer “We’ve got something to say,” he growled. It’s a year that has seen the Dead 60s emulate the success of the Ordinary Boys with their more muscular, if still derivative, ska-punk. The Liverpool group were only effective here with the frenetic “Riot Radio”, as it became clear this was a night for anthems rather than grooves.
Even the gloomy Editors were in a party mood.

“It had more to do with individuals not assessing the pitch correctly. While McManus is without Baracouda this Saturday and had to watch last week as Inglis Drever’s owner, Graham Wylie, picked up the Racehorse Owners’ Association owner of the year award ahead of him, he will have his Champion Hurdle hope Lingo batting for him in the Christmas Hurdle at Sandown on Boxing Day. He was awarded a prestigious Mussabini Medal for achievement in UK international sports coaching last month.Cooley said: “I am most grateful to the ECB and to Duncan Fletcher for the opportunity to work in England. If performance was directly related to sleep, players would have it monitored, and any player who fails to get eight hours of shut eye dropped England lost, get on with the game.. Troy Cooley will quit as England’s fast-bowling coach next year and return to Australia. Cricket Australia has revealed that Cooley will take up a similar job in his homeland when his current contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board ends in May. Cooley will be based in Brisbane as head of the Centre of Excellence fast-bowling programme, working with the national team and state associations.
Cooley joined England in 2003 and has been hailed as the man who developed the talents of pacemen Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones and Matthew Hoggard.

Pre-match nerves ensure that cricketers often play after a poor night’s sleep but most of the time no one takes any interest. It was probably a once in a lifetime moment for Flintoff, in a career in which he will play over 200 one-day matches for England. Flintoff, along with those members of the team that were involved in England’s Ashes victory, had their sleep interrupted in order to appear on the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year show. Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones and Stephen Harmison all appeared at the beginning of the programme, an obligation that kept them from their beds until approximately 1.30am.
Flintoff remained in his room until around 2.15am and would have finally put his head down at around 3.30am. Whether he could get to sleep after collecting the most prestigious individual award in British sport is another matter. The late night could be used as the reason for England’s lacklustre performance, but those who do so are missing the point. Sunday night was a great night for cricket in England and Wales, and it was right for the players to be involved in the celebrations.

The Suzuki GSX-R750 is the little brother of the legendary GSX-R1000, which is better known to motorcycle speed freaks everywhere as the “Gixxer Thou”. So awesome is the Gixxer Thou’s reputation that the 750 tends to get dismissed as a pale imitation of the mighty beast. The macho subtext is that real men need the bigger bike’s ability to spin its rear wheel out of corners at 120mph and cannot decently be expected to get by with less. The flaw in this infantile pretence is that few riders can achieve such feats and even fewer do.

The upshot is too many blokes riding bikes that scare the living daylights out of them when they could be having fun.
I have always had a soft spot for 750cc machines. It’s blue.’ Peugeot 307 (£94) Anna Christofides, three, needed a chocolate biscuit after her experience in the Pug. It may have those bling-bling ‘alloys’ and bold styling, but she had absolutely nothing to say about the 307. Real Life Toys, www.realifetoys.co.uk, 01767 319080; Hot Rod Comet, www.urchin.co.uk, 0870 1126006; other marques available from your local car dealer or toy store.. (Classic) Mercedes-Benz 300SL (£165) Keanu Taylor, five, was unhappy with what, to adult eyes, is a gorgeous little machine: ‘It’s like an old man’s car.’ Is the Mercedes image that bad? BMW Z4 (£119) Aspirational roadster, driven with determination by Annabella Walker, four: ‘I like it. It has nothing to do with the famous parent company, is hand-built and sells for £3,000. Renault Modus (£110) – Winner Sam Thornton, three, beat more fabled marques and experienced drivers in his two-cylinder, non-turbo Modus.

After his victory and celebrating with a packet of Monster Munch, he was matter-of-fact: ‘It was a pedal car, but it had buttons as well.’ Real Life Toys – Toylander (£3,000) JoJo Thornton, six, was impressed: ‘I was sort of fast, but I worked out that when I lifted my foot off the pedal, the car slowed down.’ Co-drivers Maria Christofides, Margot Calutas and Caroline Morris agreed. Comet (£199) Based on a classic 1950s pedal car, the Murray Comet Heavy and traditional Sadly, a pedal fell off Louis Walker, one, at the wheel. Real Life Toys – Mayfair (£2,500) Ashleigh Shepherd, six, loved this generic, vintage-look car, but then her grandfather owns the company Available as a kit or fully built Wood and aluminium construction. Is there a better Christmas gift?For more information on Caterham track days go to www.caterham.co.uk/ trackdays/index.htm. From banks to newspapers to car companies, there is an obsession with youth. No consumer is more valuable than a child, because once you’ve got them hooked on your brand, they are unlikely to stray away. No surprise then, that car-makers have noticed the marketing potential of the pedal car.

There’s always going to be the odd thing that makes the news.”A Serco spokesman added: “The technology works extremely well. It found the system was a cost-effective alternative to prison, and praised it for being value for money.
But it also said that only 85 per cent of offenders in the cases it had reviewed had been tagged on time. But I can’t see how shoppers will decide to shop somewhere just because they have a good energy-efficiency certificate.”He added that the uncertainty over how the directive will be implemented will discourage new developments.. Anglo-Danish security specialist Group 4 Securicor has been called before the Committee for Public Accounts after a government report highlighted concerns about criminal tagging. The National Audit Office published its report on the electronic monitoring of adult offenders earlier this month. Public sector buildings such as libraries will also have to display these certificates, while new developments will have to meet stricter standards on issues such as insulation. Businesses, excluding heavy industry, consume around a third of the energy used in the UK.But the ODPM has angered retailers by going beyond the remit of the directive by forcing commercial operations whose premises are open to the public, such as shops, to display the certificates as well.Paul Browne of the British Retail Consortium said: “These kinds of certificate are useful for things like white goods.

Earlier this month the EC wrote to the ODPM, threatening legal action over its failure to do so.The directive will require the owners of all large commercial buildings to hold certificates showing how efficiently they use energy. Under extra proposals for the legislation, due to be published in April, businesses such as these will have to put on public display a certificate giving their building an energy-efficiency rating.
The European Commission’s “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive” was supposed to be made law in the UK at the start of January. The Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, has achieved the rare feat of simultaneously incurring the wrath of Brussels and British business over the same piece of legislation. His Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) is planning to force supermarkets, banks and other companies using large commercial buildings to comply with a new European Commission directive on energy efficiency. At HSBC, the figure is impossible to calculate from the statistics that the bank releases.Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest, has been able to keep its cost-income ratio down despite refusing to embark on a major branch closure programme, and allowing customers to call their local branches rather than a call centre.HBOS’s low costs indicate that it is well positioned to continue its success in winning business from the big four as new chief executive Andy Hornby, a former retailer, takes charge.And with Santander, which has a reputation for low-cost operations, starting to ramp up its offer after taking over Abbey, the fight for the British bank account can only become more aggressive.. It parted company with its head of retail, Roger Davis, a few months ago.Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland will show cost-income ratios in the UK of around 53 per cent, while HBOS, which is making inroads into the traditional big four’s territory, will have a ratio of 44.7 per cent. This means reacting to what people want – such as call centres operated locally rather than in India.”As the world changes towards a lower-cost environment, the banks that are able to offer the better service will be the ones that have lower cost-income ratios,” said Mr Sandall.This ratio will command plenty of attention in the bank reporting season, which moves into top gear next week, with Barclays on Tuesday and Lloyds TSB on Friday.Ian Gordon, banking analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, predicts that Barclays will show the worst cost-income ratio of all the big banks, standing at 58.3 per cent for last year.

Only a fifth pointed to better rates and just 5 per cent cited lack of convenience or the local branch closing. This would indicate that the big banks could carry on their programme of shutting branches so long as they were able to maintain service by using telephony, the internet or other methods.Nick Sandall, the head of retail banking at Deloitte, said that competition will continue to intensify even though the “cake has not got any bigger”.He added that the banks have to work harder to be more customer friendly. In the crucial ABC1 demographic sector of top earners, 49 per cent had changed banks and 31 per cent had thought about it.When asked what prompted a change, poor service was the main reason, mentioned by 48 per cent of customers. This would indicate that all the competition to offer better and better interest rates – Barclays last week launched an account giving a 10 per cent return – may not be havinge the effect that the banks had hoped.
On the eve of results announcements for the UK’s big four high-street institutions, Deloitte expects competition to increase as the major banks react to assaults on the market by HBOS and Santander, the Spanish owner of Abbey.Research conducted last month by polling group YouGov for Deloitte shows the belief no longer holds that customers are more likely to change their spouses than their bank accounts.In a study of more than 2,100 customers, YouGov found that 45 per cent of them had switched either their account or another financial product from one bank to another Another 29 per cent said they had thought of changing. The myth of customer loyalty to high-street banks has been exploded by a study for accountants Deloitte, which has found that nearly half of all customers have changed accounts and nearly one-third have been tempted to switch. However, it is poor service – not attractive rates – that is the major reason for switching.