'Going to bed hungry'

14 June 2011 Last updated at 15:04 GMT By Emma Simpson Business correspondent, BBC News Jenni Ruegg: "Everything's gone up, but our incomes haven't" Many people are watching what they spend right now - but some working families are struggling to feed themselves, because they have next to no cash left after paying household bills.

Eighteen months ago, Jenni Ruegg did not think twice about filling up two trolleys with groceries at the supermarket.

But recently she could not send her children to school, because she did not have any food to put in their lunch boxes.

"I knew our budget was running low. It wasn't shock. I was just upset. I wasn't providing for my children the stuff they need," she said.

'Crying'

Putting food on the table has become a constant worry for Jenni.

And she has gone without eating herself to ensure her family is fed.

"I try to keep my husband well fed. I will have less. I've been hungry, I've gone to bed crying because I've been hungry. There are bad weeks and good weeks, but I just keep going."

The Bournemouth food bank is feeding more than double the number of people they were last year

Jenni has a lot of mouths to feed - seven children, five of them below the age of 12. But she and her husband have always worked and managed to get by. They clean offices by night, and Jenni is a school dinner lady by day.

"We're not benefit scroungers. We've always been self sufficient. We've worked hard and paid our bills," said Jenni.

But those bills have been rising fast during the past six months and their cleaning contracts have been cut by more than half, as companies have reduced their spending.

The day after she could not send her children to school, Jenni was referred to a Trussell Trust food bank and given an emergency food parcel.

When I dropped in to see the small team of volunteers in action, they were busy assembling bags of food in a small shed for the week ahead.

They hand out food donated by the public. And there are now more than 100 of these food banks up and down the country.

Demand is soaring.

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I make sure the girls get what they need with conditioner and I have what's left... if I have to have Fairy Liquid, then so be it”

End Quote Jenni Ruegg Here in Bournemouth, they are feeding more than double the number of people they were last year.

Many of those in need have suffered a dramatic change in circumstance, like losing their job, or they have been hit by a delay in receiving benefits.

But this UK food bank network is now starting to help people they never expected to see.

Director Chris Mould said: "We are now seeing an increasing number of people coming to the food bank who are in work, on low incomes, who simply can't cope.

"Static incomes, prices for food and fuel going up, and there are people making incredibly difficult choices - it's about whether they heat their homes or feed their family."

Jenni knows all about those choices.

"Everything's gone up, but our incomes haven't. I just don't understand the logic."

Getting by

She is a proud mother, who at first refused her food bank voucher. But she is very grateful for the helping hand when she needed it most.

In the meantime, she's making do: "The boys just have to have shampoo. I make sure the girls get what they need with conditioner and I have what's left. If I have to have Fairy Liquid then so be it."

"It does leave your hair soft and shiny," she laughs.

The Rueggs are a close, resilient family, hoping things will improve soon.

Before I left, we were joined by Jenni's 11-year-old son, Mace, in the kitchen. And he knows his mother is doing her best.

"We do struggle for food, don't we Mum?" he said.

"It's such a shame when you're working so hard. But my mum's probably the best mum anyone can ever dream of. She's a supermum, aren't you Mum?"

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Going for growth

9 June 2011 Last updated at 15:43 GMT By Puneet Pal Singh Business reporter, BBC News, Singapore Export-dependent economies in Asia-Pacific are facing a challenge to maintain the pace of growth As some of the biggest and sharpest minds on the global economic stage gather in Jakarta for the World Economic Forum on East Asia, sustainability of growth is likely to be the focus.

More than 500 delegates from business, government and other fields will be coming together in the Indonesian capital from 12 June under the theme of Responding to the New Globalism.

The tremendous growth of Asia-Pacific economies, coupled with a slowdown in the US and Europe, has seen a drastic shift in the global economic power in the past two to three years.

Led by China and India, emerging economies have pulled the world out of the financial crisis and put it back on the growth track.

Such has been their dominance that the sustainability of their growth is now key to global economic expansion.

"There is a good reason why policymakers are so concerned about the imbalance in the global economy," says Kalpana Seethepalli, infrastructure economist at the World Bank.

Analysts say that if emerging economies slow down, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, it will have a huge knock-on effect.

"The growing size and importance of the Chinese economy has increased the vulnerability of other Asia-Pacific countries to a sharp Chinese economic slowdown," says Rajiv Biswas of IHS Global Insight.

"There is no doubt that such a slowdown would hit other Asian economies very hard," he adds.

"Both manufacturing export economies such as South Korea and Taiwan would be hard hit, as well as resource exporters such as Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia," Mr Biswas says.

Interlinked challenges While the growth of the emerging economies has been fascinating, sustaining the current rate of increase is a tall order for policy-makers.

"Strong growth in most developing economies has contributed to a new set of global challenges," says the World Bank in its June 2011 edition of Global Economic Prospects.

The bank says "higher commodity prices, rising inflation, and the possible return of destabilising capital inflows as monetary policies tighten and interest rates rise" are some of the biggest threats.

For their part, analysts say the biggest headache for policy-makers is that all these problems are interrelated.

"The growth of Asian economies has meant a complete shift in the economic landscape," says Arjuna Mahendran of HSBC Private Bank.

"First, you have people from rural areas migrating to urban centres, that has seen urbanisation reach exponential proportions," he says.

This has resulted in a boom in demand for construction material, driving up commodity prices.

He adds that as ordinary people start benefiting from their countries' new-found success, the problems become still more complex.

"Rising wage pressure in emerging markets is the biggest concern right now," he says.

As people have more disposable income, they tend to spend more, hence driving up demand and pushing up consumer prices, he adds.

Mr Mahendran says governments have to work towards tightening their monetary policy to rein in higher prices.

Capital inflows Rising prices of food and essential commodities have threatened to derail growth in Asian economies

However, rising interest rates are an even tougher test for policymakers in the region.

As interest rates in developing economies rise, while those in the developed world remain lower, investors are pumping huge amounts of money into the region.

That is driving up property prices and creating potential problems in the medium to long-term future.

"Clearly risks remain of volatile capital flows creating Asian asset bubbles," says Mr Biswas of IHS.

However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that if managed properly, the capital inflows can be turned into an advantage.

"Capital flows to Asia are not only a challenge, but also an opportunity to facilitate medium-term rebalancing," the IMF says in its Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and Pacific.

"The question is how best to channel capital inflows toward financing broader-based growth, and in particular toward boosting investment," the fund adds.

Ms Seethepalli, of the World Bank, explains how this can work.

"The challenge is how to make sure that these inflows are not short-term, but go in to long-term investment," she says.

Ms Seethepalli says that as the public sector funds in most developing economies are already overstretched, governments can use private capital flows to fund and finance infrastructure projects in their countries.

She says that not only will this speed up infrastructure development, a key to maintaining growth in emerging economies, but it will also lower the risk of formation of asset bubbles, as capital is channelled towards the creation of infrastructure assets.

'West to East'

The growth of the Asia-Pacific region has been driven by a boom in its export sector in the past few years.

However, analysts say that the region's economies now have to take advantage of growing demand at home in order to maintain the momentum.

"Asian economies focused on export-led growth," says Ms Seethepalli of the World Bank. "They can't expect any more export stimulus to come from outside, so growth has to be offset by domestic demand."

The IMF says that the region needs to build a solid base going forward.

"Such a platform would depend on reducing inequality; raising employment prospects, which would also guard against risks to social stability; and continued efforts to rebalance growth by strengthening private domestic demand," the fund says.

Analysts say that if the region's economies can achieve the delicate balance between keeping monetary policies tight and maintaining growth, the future belongs to them.

"The shift of economic power from West to East will continue, and Asia-Pacific will remain the most attractive economic region for the next 20 years," says Mr Biswas.

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Boldly going

By Ed Butler
BBC News, Los Angeles

California's adult movie business is under pressure - internet piracy and the economic downturn have slashed revenues, while state regulators seem set to win their long battle to make actors wear condoms.

Light drizzle was falling as I pulled my car up outside a low-rise warehouse studio in northern Los Angeles.

I had been told just to pitch up - it would be fun, they had said, to see how we do things.

What I did see at first did not quite match my expectations but then again, I was not quite sure what to expect.

The porn shoot was Star Trek, the Next Generation - a triple-X parody, billed as a humorous tribute to the iconic TV space saga.

Performers in body-hugging Star Trek outfits, some with prosthetic noses to resemble aliens, wandered around looking slightly bored as a weary crew worried over lighting arrangements.

This morning was devoted to dialogue, I was told, although - as Sam, the film's artistically minded writer-director, explained to me with clear regret - there was not too much of that to be had.

Only 30 minutes of this two-hour sex film would involve plot, he sighed.

Fantasy

The demands of porn may not allow Sam to be the groundbreaking film-maker he clearly aspires to be, but at least there are films to be made.

The problem, increasingly, is revenue.

Like the music industry, pornographers are struggling to persuade their audience to pay for what they watch.

DVD sales have collapsed. Online, a great deal of porn can be accessed for free.

And the economic downturn does not help.

"What with the recession and piracy, we call it the perfect storm," one leading producer observed wistfully.

The economic climate also means the industry is even less keen to accept California's increasingly stringent workplace regulations.

For years, the authorities have been demanding that porn performers wear condoms.

Health scares - most notoriously in 2004 when three actors contracted HIV - have highlighted significant levels of infection on set.

But the industry says wearing condoms on-screen is a turn-off. The public do not want it, it will kill the fantasy, they say.

Gonorrhoea

Back on the Star Trek set, I talked to Bobbi Starr, one of the lead performers.

Calls for greater safety increased after actors tested positive for HIV in 2004

A college graduate, a former national standard swimmer and professional oboist, she seems to have packed a lot into her 27 years.

She turned to porn, she said, out of a sense of sexual adventure.

"It's just fun," she said, "and when everyone around you is having fun too, what's not to love?"

Her packed schedule today involved a couple of lines, then a four-hour sex scene. Then a costume fitting on Tuesday and she was off to have her monthly health test after that.

Each day would be 15 hours long.

"Wow, you must be exhausted?" I suggested.

"You get used to it," she smiled.

"And what about the health risks," I asked. "Have you had many infections?"

"Well, just chlamydia a couple of times, gonorrhoea - nothing much. Anyway, we test each month so, when you're diagnosed, you just take your medication and you're good to go. No problem."

There was something very Californian about Bobbi, I decided.

Expensive lawsuits

In fact there was something very Californian about the entire business.

A combination of determined enthusiasm, combined with a rebel attitude, a sort of libertarian defiance towards the forces ranged against it.

It had taken a Supreme Court battle back in the 1980s to make porn legal in California in the first place, formally distinguishing it from common-or-garden prostitution.

Now, many I met spoke of the right not to wear condoms as a key aspect of their constitutional right to free speech, as set out by the Founding Fathers.

"How can I express myself as an artist," one producer said to me, "if you're going to clothe my performers in rubber?"

I struggled to picture Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Jefferson having this in mind as they penned the First Amendment.

But then I also struggled to picture hordes of Star Trek fans queuing up to see Captain Jean-Luc Picard going hard-core with the crew of the Star Trek Enterprise. So what did I know?

The authorities though are adamant. Construction workers wear hard hats, miners wear masks - these actors have to have suitable barrier protection.

It seems likely that porn will eventually lose its battle against the California regulators, not least because - as well as state penalties - the industry could be about to face some very expensive lawsuits brought by former performers.

A number of actors told me privately that regulation could not come soon enough for them.

The producers say this will not help workers but will only force production abroad, or underground - the public always gets what the public wants.

That view was echoed by Bobbi Starr - her parting words, in fact, as she began to disrobe for her epic sex scene.

I decided I had seen enough and slipped back out into the rain.

You can hear the documentary about Ed Butler's trip to California in this week's BBC World Service Assignment programme.

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