MRM, the London-based financial services PR consultancy, has promoted Charlotte Banks and Katy Allison to the positions of senior account manager and account manager respectively.

Before joining MRM as an account manager in March 2011, Charlotte spent three years as a financial journalist, working across Professional Adviser, Investment Week and IFA Online and latterly as a financial analyst at Trustnet.

Katy Allison joined MRM in September 2010 as an account executive, having graduated from Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University with a first class honours degree in public relations.

Commenting on the announcement, MRM director Andrew Appleyard said: “Charlotte and Katy are valued members of the team and their promotions reflect the remarkable progress they have both made since joining MRM. They are talented individuals and we are confident they will continue to play an integral role in the future success of the business.”

Tilting the scoreboard towards tax, there was a nine per cent rise in articles to 21 per cent as the papers drilled down to the finer details of Osborne’s Parliamentary speech. In the Mail on Sunday (@MailOnline) Stephen Womack presented readers with a clear rundown of exactly when and where the core tax changes will bite, whilst Rosie Murray West in The Telegraph (@TeleFinance) explained how to make the cuts work in readers’ favour, with tips on home buying options and Enterprise Investment Schemes.

Looking at the Budget lows Alexandra Goss in The Sunday Times (@thesundaytimes) warned that the supposed gains of a raised tax threshold may not appear quite as kind when ballooning national insurance contributions are taken into account. In Saturday’s Times, Laura Whateley (@LWhateley) highlighted the possible knock-on effect to utility bills if energy companies pass the costs of carbon floor price tax on to already over-stretched households.

Taking a more positive look at post-Budget savings, the biggest cheers were for the return of NS&I’s savings bonds, which were heralded in the Sunday Times  (@thesundaytimes) and by Emma Wall in The Telegraph (@TeleFinance) as a bit of good news in the bid to beat inflation. With The Daily Express (@dailyexpressuk) alerting savers to the need to act quickly to avoid the inevitable “stampede”, The Mail on Sunday (@MailOnline) also noted that the certificates are bound to prove popular and may not be around for too long…

Savings still stood tall with 18 per cent (a one per cent drop from last week), but the other topic tallies on the board this week were:

Charity                  1%               

Credit cards         0%      

Fraud/scams       1%     

IFAs                       0%                     

Insurance             4%   

Investment          22%   

Mortgages           10%    

Pensions              10%   

Property              7%      

Regulation          1%         

Savings                18%          

Tax                        21%             

Utilities                 5%

With regards to tax, Tanya Powley (@ftmoney) covered the potential changes to inheritance tax (IHT) legislation in the FT Weekend. She noted that tax payers should be thinking about acting now in order to reduce potential bills in the future and outlined possible ways to reduce the burden.  Jill Insley (@Basilhouse) in the Observer looked at how the government may decide to reduce the IHT  threshold or change the ruling on tax exempt gifts in order generate more revenue. Stephen Womack in the Mail on Sunday commented that the annual limit for exempt gifts is £3,000 but had it tracked inflation, it would be £6,000 by now.

Pension stories that caught our eye included Alexandra Goss and Nina Montagu-Smith’s (@ninamontagu) piece in the Sunday Times which advised readers on how they might be able to profit from the changes to the annual and lifetime allowances for contributions, while Jeff Prestridge (@jeffprestridge) in the Mail on Sunday concluded that the Government now needs to stick to its guns and push on with proposed pension reform recommendations as we can no longer afford to continue open-ended public sector pension commitments.

Looking at investments, the new Aegis Film fund – an Enterprise Investment Scheme that enables private individuals to invest in upcoming British films – was picked up in both the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Times this weekend.  Although it sounds like a promising idea having made 14% in the year to March, Toby Walne (@tobywalne) in the Mail warned that investors should be cautious as few films achieve a similar level of success as the Oscar winning King’s Speech.

 The rest of the scores this week were as follows:

Yet with a click of a mouse or the tap of a screen, enter the virtual world and it is clear to all that the Tech Geek is King. To celebrate all things weird and whizzkid, we declare this week’s Friday Links blog an ‘Ode to the Nerds of the Net’.

On your journey to the centre of the digital earth, why not travel in style with your very own Geek-mobile? The less ostentatious amongst us might prefer an old banger and an artistic pile of dirt – rolling up at Comic Con won’t have quite the same impact we know, but at least there will be spare change for a human washing machine to keep the dust at bay.

Perhaps you’re so much of a Tech Geek that an addiction to Facebook makes a baby mop look like too much effort? If you’re not too busy stalking friends or ‘liking’ videos of your nephew spewing during choir practice (what a champ!) then maybe this incredibly stat-tastic Facebook infograph is more up your street.

Now don’t get us wrong, here at MRM we have been absorbed all week by our new iPhones and we willingly admit to a bit of smartphone geekiness, but even we almost spilt our Apple water when we checked out this particularly fanatic group of boffins. To quote one inked-up T Mobile user’s back, “OMFG” indeed.

The overwhelming theme on mortgages was that although low rates have been good news for homebuyers up to now, nothing lasts forever. In the Independent, Julian Knight (@ukmoneyguru) and Chiara Cavaglieri highlighted the unparalleled stability of low interest rates that we are experiencing at the moment and how this translates to good news for mortgage holders. However, with the Confederation of British Industry predicting an imminent interest rate rise, anyone looking for a low fixed rate ought to act now.

Rosie Murray-West in the Telegraph (@TeleFinance)  also drew upon this theme, pointing out that while many lenders are already putting up the price of fixed-rate mortgages, this trend only likely to continue as swap rates are soaring on the expectation of a Bank of England rate rise.

Which?’s campaign against the surcharges placed on credit cards was responsible for a spike in credit card stories this week (@WhichMoney). The consumer body will launch a ‘super-complaint’ to force the Office of Fair Trading to examine these ‘rip-off’ charges. Simon Read’s column in the Independent looked at the companies who are guilty of excessive charges on credit card transactions. While each transaction only costs a business 20p to carry out, the consumer is often charged a massive £5.50. The Telegraph advised shoppers to use debit cards rather than credit cards to try to avoid the “ “rip-off” charges. The rest of the scores this week were as follows:

  The rest of the scores this week were as follows:

Charity                  1%

Credit cards        8%

Fraud/scams      0%

IFAs                       0%

Insurance            9%

Investment        29%

Mortgages          17%

Pensions              11%

Property              1%

Regulation          3%

Savings                 14%

Tax                         6%

Utilities                 1%

However, nothing amused us more than this heroic pensioner who decided to take on a gang/ posse/ gaggle/ troupe of burglars (what is the collective noun for burglars?) anyway, she won! Who would have thought the sweet little old lady could wield her handbag in such a ferocious manner?! However, if you’re less inclined to get involved in actual street crime then perhaps this iPhone app is for you. It’s just what we’ve all been waiting for, the chance to adopt a tramp and keep him on the straight and narrow so that he doesn’t turn to theft…

Debrett’s eat your heart out, it’s all about your Twitter listing in Covent Garden so we were chuffed to see MRM’s 140-character ‘candy’ of choice @hwallop make the ‘Top 100’ Twitter list. Good on you, Sir!

To sooth your assaulted senses, take a look at this rather beautiful and calming urbagram animation of London buses. As Anil Bawa-Cavia says “the city’s extensive bus network is used to sketch an animated portrait of the living city, it’s wonderful.” We couldn’t agree more.

Ever wondered what your job would be if you lived and worked in the Star Wars universe? What do you mean ‘no’?? Anyway, fancy finding out? Mostly Jedi Knights here at MRM Towers, though there was one Ewok Chief, ahem. No comment.

Well, for this week’s edition of Friday Fun, here’s how that nugget of advice can be taken a little too literally.

Meet ‘Mike the Headless Chicken’, who was able to carry on living a normal chuck’s life for EIGHTEEN MONTHS after the farmer had lopped off his head in preparation for the cooking pot.If you’re the sort of person who believes everything they read on the Internet (like some of us here at MRM Towers), you’ll be amazed at how Mike was apparently able to roam around his pen pecking at grain quite the thing, despite feeling so fowl (groan). His major artery was seemingly untroubled by the trauma, clucky devil (louder groans).

Okay, not impressed by Mike? Know a more amazing character? Well allow us to introduce you to someone who knows who you’re thinking of. A web genie, in fact, who can read your mind.

Think of a character, any character. Dead or alive. Human or animal. Real or fictional. Cartoon or…(uhm, what’s the opposite to a cartoon?). Anyway, now you’re ready to meet Akinator, who will correctly guess who or what you’re thinking about (according to a scientific MRM survey of three tries).

And finally, for those who view time as precious but have lots of time to check the time, here’s Helvetictoc, ‘a time-full tribute to a time-less typeface’. Anyway, it’s high time we were going.

Now where did we leave that nude human clock? I need to set it to no-longer-a-nightmare-in-the morning o’clock…just twiddle the knob at the back here to the right time and…hey, hang about…

Not for us falling into the trap of misinterpreting a harmless tweet now that we’ve had a good night’s sleep…what’s that you say? A photo shoot on Oxford Street has turned into a blood bath with a rampaging gunman? Shurely shome mishtake?

Assuming, snow permitting, you made it home to spend Christmas in the bosom of your family we hope Santa was good to you. If not, you might want to think twice about shlepping half way round the globe, or even around the corner, for a family Christmas next time. Alternatively, bookmark this site. If you’ve been similarly blighted then Ebay is clearly also an option, that is if humiliating your nearest and dearest for having poor taste isn’t your thing. Ahem.