'The price of a drink: survey reveals cost of alcohol abuse'

The toll that alcohol takes on many people's lives is laid bare in a survey which has prompted fresh calls for action to tackle widespread chronic drinking across Britain. Alcohol's role in everything from injury and relationship breakdown to trouble with the police, emerges in a poll commissioned by a group of senior doctors. Some 11% of people polled have seen a friend or relative's relationship end as a direct result of heavy drinking. One in five (21%) know someone who has driven while over the legal alcohol limit. And 51% know someone who has been a victim of drink-related violence, or has been attacked themselves - The Guardian ​

Greene King has expanded its portfolio of food-led pubs with the purchase of Cloverleaf, a pub-restaurant chain. The brewery and pub operator, whose 2,500 pubs include Old English Inns and Hungry Horse, has paid £55.8m for Cloverleaf's 12 sites and its "strong growth story", according to Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive. The price equates to 8.7 times annualised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - Financial Times​

Tax authorities knew for almost a year that millions of people had paid the wrong amount but failed to inform the public, a report found yesterday. The public accounts committee of MPs found that HM Revenue and Customs caused uncertainty and worry to millions of people through their "mismanagement" of the tax system. The body "failed in its duty" to run the pay as you earn (PAYE) tax system properly and treat taxpayers fairly, the MPs concluded - The Telegraph​

One in four workers could be paying higher-rate tax by 2015, experts claimed last night. They predict that as many 3.5million people may be sucked into the 40 per cent band. Even teachers and nurses face being hit - Daily Mail ​