No Smoking Day is upon us, and with that we receive a timely reminder of how much money can be saved through stubbing out the habit for good. Life insurer Aviva has released statistics showing that if smokers quit, they will pay significantly less on their life insurance premiums.

Women who hit 35 on their next birthdays, can save up to £40.56 if they’ve quite smoking and are on a 15 year level term assurance (without critical illness cover) and with a sum assured of £75,000. Men who are 25 on their next birthdays can, with 30 year level term (with reviewable critical illness cover) with a sum assured of £125,000, can net a saving of £151.56 annually.

Astonishingly, a smoke-free 45 year old male will make a maximum saving of £276.60 annually for his 10 year level term policy (no critical illness cover), with a sum assured of £50,000.

Aviva revealed that 15% of their customers are still smoking, and, according to the Office of National Statistics, two thirds of British smokers do want to quit. The habit comes at both a financial and physical cost, with information about quitting available at smokefree.nhs.uk. This site will provide you will details about how smoking affects your health, and also allows you to operate a smoking cost calculator. If your pack of 20 cigarettes costs £5, and you smoke 20 a day, it is costing you £1825 annually; the equivalent of 30 Premier League tickets, or 6 weekends in Paris.

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With all this snow and ice freezing up car engines cooling systems, you’ll want to crack open the anti-freeze. However if you’re a pet owner as well as a driver, you’re going to want to make sure that you you screw the lid back on tight or clean up any accidents. According to the RSPCA and the Feline Advisory Bureau household pets, and cats in particular, are very fond of the taste of anti-freeze and will happily lap up any spillages.

Unfortunately it’s also extremely damaging to an animals’ kidneys and ingesting even the smallest amounts can prove fatal. The RSPCA has published a list of symptoms of antifreeze poisoning in pets and recommends that you contact your local vet immediately if your pet shows any of the following:

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Following the pound’s recent comeback against the euro, British holidaymakers travelling to Europe this summer are in for more good news, as fuel prices have plummeted across the continent by up to 12% for unleaded petrol and as much as 31% for diesel, according to a recent Post Office survey.

Switzerland was cheapest for unleaded petrol at just 91p a litre. However, driving in Austria and Spain can work out even cheaper if you opt for a diesel-powered hire car. The cost of diesel is just 83p a litre in Austria and 87p a litre in Spain. Unleaded petrol in all three countries now costs around 34% less than in the Netherlands, the most expensive of 12 destinations surveyed by the Post Office.

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More than 60,000 cars have been sold under the government’s scrappage scheme, figures released today show.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said that the strong uptake of the scheme, which was launched just two months ago, showed that the initiative was a success. Consumers know a good deal when they see one. These figures speak for themselves,” he said.

However, the scheme’s popularity could mean that the £300 million of government money allocated to the scheme could be exhausted far sooner than the March 2010 deadline. Over a tenth of the funding had been used up by the end of May.

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The Pensions Regulator has warned that pensions are at a greater risk of fraud, dishonesty and risky behaviour by employers who want to make savings during the recession.

The body has called on employees, trustees and pensions professionals to act as whistleblowers if they become suspicious that employers are not fulfilling their pension obligations.

“Employees and pension scheme members should report any concerns to trustees, whose duty it is to protect their interests. Trustees should contact us,” the regulator said.

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Strikes have been breaking out at oil refineries throughout the UK this morning with more than 1,000 workers walking out in sympathy with a mass protest against the use of foreign workers.

Hundreds gathered on the third day of the original strike at Lindsay oil refinery in Immingham, North Lincolnshire, after owner Total negotiated a £200 million contract with an Italian firm.

Around 700 workers staged an unofficial strike at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland, and another 400 walked out of a refinery in Wilton, Teeside. The strike is also expected to spread to Wales, where police were called to Aberthaw power station near Barry after a demonstration broke out.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said the angry British workers were “entitled to an answer” as regarding the decision to contract work out to a foreign company.

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UK-based loan sharks are offering dodgy high-interest “pay-day” loans, according to a leading debt charity.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service said that lenders were targeting the unsecured loans, which often carry far higher annual rates than high-street personal loans, at young debtors through social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo.

A recent Conservative Party report revealed that some borrowers are paying as much as 10,000% interest on “pay-day” loans. Whilst this was an extreme case, lenders would commonly charge around £250 for lending £200 for just one month - equivalent to an interest rate of almost 1290%.

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Two local authorities in England have announced plans to launch their own ‘banks’ to assist small businesses in securing credit.

Birmingham City Council and Essex County Council want to make loans available to local firms which have been refused credit from High Street banks. The two councils say they will screen thoroughly companies applying for cash to make sure that they are financially viable.

However, critics of the scheme say that the move is too risky, and that local authorities lack the necessary expertise to issue loans.

“We intend to do a thorough risk assessment, we’re not just using local government officers, we’re using banking people,” said Mark Wallace from the pressure group Tax Payers’ Alliance.

“I think having had their fingers burnt so badly in the Icelandic banks disaster, councils should be looking for a safe investment,” he added.

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The Nationwide Building Society has announced that it is to cut the price of its fixed rate mortgage deals by up to 1%.

The rates cut will apply to its two, three, and five-year deals and will take effect from tomorrow (21st January).

Nationwide has already slashed its standard variable rate by half a percentage point to 3.5%, following the latest cut in the official Bank Rate.

Customers with a 40% deposit who sign up for a two-year fixed rate mortgage and pay a £955 fee will see their rates fall from 4.88% to 4.39%, or from 5.38% to 5.09% with no fee. The biggest drop applies to three-year fixed rate deals, from 5.88% to 4.88% in the case of customers with a 25% deposit who pay the £955 fee.

The building society said that the cuts were a result of the lower cost of borrowing on the financial markets.

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The European Commission has predicted that the economy of the eurozone will shrink by 1.9% in 2009 and grow by only 0.4% the following year.

The commission said that annual inflation in the 16 countries that use the euro would be 1% in 2009 and 1.8% in 2010. By 2010, 10% of the workforce is expected to be unemployed, up from its current 7.5% level.

Official figures show that the eurozone has been in recession since last September. Its key interest rate currently stands at 2%, its lowest level since 2005.

The commission says that it hopes to “create the conditions for a gradual recovery in the second part of 2009″ in the eurozone economy.

Last week, Germany unveiled a package of measures worth about €50 billion (£45 billion) to stimulate the country’s ailing economy.