When it comes to thinking up creative holiday gifts, it's worth taking a look in your pantry. If you're looking for a way to make your own holiday gift from scratch, consumables — better known as food — can be the way to go. After all, you're giving something that shows that you're willing to spend time on a gift, something that tastes great and something the recipient doesn't have to find a way to store.

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Using cash during financially-strapped times. Why cash is king in a way that Elvis never was. Get Rich Slowly

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Spencer Winfield at stockbroker Charles Stanley replies: When providing performance comparisons for a portfolio, a stockbroker or fund manager will normally compare the rise or fall of the portfolio they manage against a particular index or indices.

The index will generally be chosen at the portfolio's creation and used as a benchmark against which the portfolio's performance can be measured.

The choice will depend on the requirements of the client in the case of a bespoke portfolio run by a stockbroker, or the fund's objectives in the case of a fund manager.

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It followed shocking figures from the construction sector and ongoing concerns that the low level of bank lending is starving the economy and forcing companies out of business.

Adam Lent, head of economics at the TUC, said: 'With unemployment rising rapidly and inflation falling, the time for incremental cuts is over.

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The situation has raised fears that investors may look for a quick exit from New Star funds. Already assets under management at the group have fallen to £14.3bn last month from £19.8bn at the end of June.

Just last week, trading in the New Star's International Property fund was suspended in a bid to halt a Northern Rock-style run on assets - meaning that investors in the fund could not withdraw money for the time being.

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And the energy company, Britain's largest, has called in 300 staff to address problems with energy payments.

HELPLINE NUMBER: 0800 048 0101

The Mail on Sunday has been contacted by 1,500 readers worried that they are being forced to maintain unnecessarily large credit balances on their accounts because of the way the energy companies collect direct debits.

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The losses will add to a growing tally as firms struggle in the worst economic downturn since the First World War.

Unemployment is at 1.8m, its highest level for 11 years. It is expected to rise to 3.3m by 2010.

Every day, about 1,200 join the dole queue and the number of vacancies is falling fast, official figures show.

Aston Martin plans to axe up to 600 jobs. This is about a third of its British workforce. The car maker has already extended its Christmas shutdown from December 23 until January 19. It had planned to reopen on January 5.

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And nothing Alistair Darling said last week will make any difference.

Until May, Lee Tibbenham and his partner Melissa Smith, who have a one-year-old son Joseph, were on a fixed-rate mortgage of 5.85% and paying £480 a month on their Norwich flat.

Now they are paying a crippling 9.7% standard variable rate - £690 a month - and struggling to get by. But no other lender will offer a better rate.

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The market is already anticipating another significant reduction in borrowing costs after last month's surprise 1.5 percentage point drop in the base rate.

City opinion is evenly split between those who expect a half point cut and economists forecasting a far more radical approach, according to a survey by the financial information group Reuters.

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Extra money was also promised for the Warm Front scheme, which helps poorer households with energy-efficiency measures, such as insulation.

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