Illness and death caused by cigarette smoking is the number-one preventable public health epidemic of our day. If we can make cheap cigarettes less widely available, we can go great lengths toward discouraging young people from smoking and limit this public health disaster. The complaint cites state tax and public …

Pre-tax profits at newly privatised postal operator jump to £233m for the last six months, from £94m, hours before BIS committee questions government ministers over its float Graeme Wearden More: continued here

Why was the flotation roadshow conducted under such a gloomy cloud and why was the dividend set so conservatively? The business select committee, after its third attempt to solve the mystery of Royal Mail's post-flotation soaraway share price, cannot claim to have uncovered a killer fact. Wednesday's session ran to …

Royal Mail stamp prices risingshropshirestar.comThe now-privatised Royal Mail said it had ''thought carefully'' about the impact on customers and its business before announcing the decision last month, pointing out that the last rise was two years ago. Royal Mail's said its prices remained amongst …The News Matrix: Monday 31 March …

Higher stamp prices come into force today, with first class increasing by 2p to 62p and second class by 3p to 53p. More: continued here

Having your own postage stamp is daring to Zlatan (photos)NBCSports.comNext due up: a set of “mailing it in” stamps for your favorite mid-table team, as well as a set of “well-traveled” Andy Cole stamps with one in each of his team uniforms… really the possibilities are close to endless. Who …

Onislam.net UK Remarkable Lives Stamps Includes Muslim WomanOnislam.netIn line with commemorating the centenary year for the start of World War I, the UK's Royal Mail has announced the release of ten stamps, each of which recognizes the accomplishments of seven men and three women born in 1914. The 'Remarkable Lives' …and …

The Times (subscription) Royal Mail facing backlash over 'lost £1bn' from sell-offThe Times (subscription)In what is likely to be a trying week for the privatised postal network, Royal Mail has pushed through stamp price and parcel charge rises today that its competitors say will show that the former monopoly is …

Sam Oakland, 'political gadfly' who tried to stop closure of Portland's …The OregonianSam Adolph Oakland, perhaps best remembered for trying to stop the closure of the post office in Portland's Pioneer Square Courthouse, died last week at his Northwest Portland residence following recurrence of pancreatic cancer. He was 80. Oakland …

Here are three questions to which the business select committee should seek answers Five weeks after the Royal Mail flotation, the froth – as the business secretary, Vince Cable, described it – has not evaporated. Shares that were sold at 330p have been trading above 550p for the past three …