If Hjermstad gets to fire up his generators over there they could experience the same

If Hjermstad gets to fire up his generators over there, they could experience the same problem as their counterparts in Colorado. “I can screw up somebody’s forecast pretty easily,” he says.* Western Weather Consultants: 00 1 970 247 8813. The price of a typical home surged at the fastest rate for more than six years last month, the Nationwide building society said yesterday. The price of a typical home surged at the fastest rate for more than six years last month, the Nationwide building society said yesterday.
Prices jumped 2.5 per cent in January, making it the strongest monthly gain since October 1994. Compared with a year ago, the average price of a home has risen by 11.2 per cent or £1,262 to £83,450, the equivalent of £42 a day.In contrast with recent surges in prices, there were strong gains in the North, North-west and West Midlands but weak rises in London and the Home Counties.The Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, said it was sticking with its forecast that prices would rise by 7 per cent this year, compared with 9.3 per cent last year.

David Parry, the society’s planning director, said: “The housing market has got off to a vigorous start. But this year looks set to settle down into a steady period of sustainable growth.”He said the latest rise in prices reflected buoyant consumer confidence. “It is likely that house hunters, and in particular first-time buyers, who took the decision to postpone purchasing last year, are feeling more confident.”The survey mirrors figures from the Bank of England showing that new mortgage loans rose by the second highest amount on record in December. A separate survey of chartered surveyors showed that prices were expected to rise over the coming months.Meanwhile a Europe-wide survey of consumer confidence, published yesterday, showed optimism on personal finances reached a record in January.Mr Parry said the housing market would be restrained by the impact of the slowdown of the US economy.

That would most directly affect London, which would also suffer from the fact that the strong price rises last year had pushed homes out of the reach of a big chunk of the market.The rebound in the housing market will be read with great interest by the members of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, who meet next Wednesday and Thursday to set interest rates. Although most City economists believe the Bank will cut the base rate by a quarter-point to 5.75 per cent, yesterday’s figures could give some MPC members pause for thought. They voted by five to four against a cut last month.Ross Walker, an economist at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “House prices went through the roof in January The domestic economy remains robust.”. Last week, Katherine Garrett-Cox, a 33-year-old mother, was appointed head of investment at a top UK fund manager, with a salary estimated at £1m. Her appointment followed swiftly on the heels of Clara Furse, who became the first female head of the London Stock Exchange. Last week, Katherine Garrett-Cox, a 33-year-old mother, was appointed head of investment at a top UK fund manager, with a salary estimated at £1m.

Her appointment followed swiftly on the heels of Clara Furse, who became the first female head of the London Stock Exchange.
There are more top-level executive women in the City than ever before, across a wide spectrum of financial industries, but these two appointments – and news of their £1m-plus salaries – were still greeted with awe.Though things are changing, there are still few women stockbrokers and investment bankers at director level (fund management, which involves less travel and more flexibility, is seen as easier for women with small children). One woman broker, who was back at her desk within a week of giving birth, says, “It’s a very competitive industry, and the longer you stay away from your clients, the easier it is for them to forget you”.Clara Furse, a mother of three, will need her famous imperturbability and her sharp tongue as she finds herself in what is known as the least enviable position in the City, in charge of an all-male board and an institution currently going through a particularly nasty phase of in-fighting and backbiting.Although women are gaining ground, the long-hours culture, says Helena Dennison, chair of the City Women’s Network, is getting worse. “We’re renowned in Europe for working the longest hours, and this impacts on women badly because we’re still the primary carers when something goes wrong.”Laurie Meister Melka, 40, is director of Latin American equity sales at JP Morgan. She lives in north London with her husband Laurent, a marketing manager, and their daughters, Arielle, 6, and Ilana, 3 Unless you have a stay-at-home husband, what you have is a nanny running the children’s lives from the cradle onwards, and I don’t think that is what our generation had in mind.