The age of debt

Think of a person running up debts on a credit card, and you may picture a young professional, mindlessly storing up trouble for themselves. The Consumer Credit Counselling Service, however, suggests that people in their fifties are running up the highest debts.

According to research carried out with Age Concern, baby boomers contacting the CCCS for help owe an average of (pounds) 19,845 each, excluding their mortgage - a figure which is rising. The average for the under-50s is (pounds) 14,701, and those over 60 owe (pounds) 17,455.

The introduction of university tuition fees, it is suspected, may be contributing to the higher debts, although Malcolm Hurlston, chairman of the CCCS, also cited a general change in attitude

towards debt among the age group. Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: ''Older people have historically been reluctant to get into debt,

but some of the next generation

of pensioners appear to have

quite different attitudes.

''With the government switching the emphasis from the state to

the individual to provide for later life, retirement is likely to come as a shock for those who are not saving enough.''

Skinny PS2 to go, please

Six million people are owners

of a PlayStation2 in the UK. Since they need

all the shelf space they can get for games, they will be delighted to hear that a skinny version of the PS2 is

to hit the shops on November 1 - half

the bulk of a PS2 for

the same price

(about (pounds) 100).

Low-carb beer rap

Can drinking beer ever make you healthy? Course not, which is why an advert for Michelob Ultra, a reduced calorie and carbohydrate beer, has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority for implying that the product could be consumed as part of a healthy lifestyle, and to maintain fitness.

The ad contained an image of two joggers and the slogan ''Lose the carbs. Not the taste'', which the ASA deemed irresponsible, although not misleading.

The maker of the beer, Anheuser-Busch Europe, was unhappy with the findings, but promised not to publish the advert again. Linking alcohol

with sex is just as dubious in the eyes of the advertising watchdog. Beverage Brands, manufacturers of the alcopop WKD, argued that a poster

with a picture of a security

guard standing next to a

strategically-placed raised

barrier was not meant to be sexually provocative. The

ASA ruled that it breached

the code of practice for

containing the innuendo.

Beef ban lifted

A six-year ban on Portuguese

beef was lifted yesterday, after

the EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner said

the country had made significant efforts to control the spread of mad cow disease.

Last year, the EU high court ruled against lifting the ban, deciding that health inspections had not been thorough enough. The EU head said yesterday

that later inspections ''showed

that Portugal has fully implemented the rules and taken all the

actions required''.