London can be top of the pile for skills and tech: New York shows us how August 19, 2015 Everyone in this city has their own story. Mine, like so many Londoners, is of someone whose parents moved here to make a better life for themselves and their family. And now, as my campaign picks up momentum, I’m fighting hard to become Labour’s candidate to be mayor of London. What an incredible honour. I [...]
Don’t turn ecigarettes into another tool of the state health nannies August 19, 2015 The technological breakthrough of ecigarettes has placed the medical establishment and taxpayer-funded public health advocates in a bit of a quandary. The agreed strategy to date has been to advise smokers that, in broad terms, they must “quit or die”. But a colossal range of weird and wonderful new smokeless nicotine delivery products has inclined [...]
As research shows most graduates are in non graduate jobs, do too many go to university? August 19, 2015 Tim Worstall is senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes If the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is telling us that 58.8 per cent of graduates are doing non-graduate jobs, obviously too large a proportion of that age cohort is going to university. This is true whether we consider either of those [...]
Don’t fear low inflation: It’s great news for consumers while it lasts August 18, 2015 The latest retail figures in the UK showed good growth. Things are also looking up in the US and in much of the euro area. The world economy has settled into a period of steady growth with very little inflation in the major economies. Indeed, just yesterday, official figures revealed that consumer price index inflation [...]
Culture – not economics – explains why London pupils excel at A-Levels August 18, 2015 Last week saw the ritual tears and joy of the announcement of A-Level results. An encouraging aspect was the increase, albeit small, in the percentage of entries in traditional academic subjects, now standing at 51.2 per cent. This is yet another example of incentives at work. The universities have been signalling that non-academic passes, no [...]
China slowdown: The two reasons British business should remain optimistic August 18, 2015 It’s easy to be down on China. Last week’s negative headlines after the unexpected devaluations of the renminbi (RMB) played into the “China slowdown” narrative which has taken root as this year’s accepted story. But we’re not giving China enough credit. By opening up the RMB to more market forces, it has moved one step [...]
EU referendum: Would the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party make Brexit more likely? August 18, 2015 Robert Oxley, campaign director of Business for Britain, says Yes You don’t have to support Jeremy Corbyn, nor agree with his views on a range of subjects, to recognise his election would make Brexit more likely. His proposal for Labour to hold a special conference to decide its response to the EU referendum is a [...]
Why the government should take outsourcing a radical step further August 17, 2015 Government raids on the methodology of business are commonplace. Some are more successful than others. But as the challenge of George Osborne’s edict to contemplate departmental cuts of as much as 40 per cent sinks in, the search will intensify. As I sat recently in the splendidly refurbished BT Tower – a guest of [...]
Does NHS Survival have patients in mind? The only way to truly save the NHS is to liberate it from state control August 17, 2015 The summer is ebbing, football is back, and this weekend saw the launch of yet another campaign to “save the NHS”. The dramatically named NHS Survival – an “umbrella group bringing together patients, public and professionals” – echoes previous dire warnings that we had “24 hours to save the NHS”, or “14 days to save [...]
The next crash: Why the global hotel boom signals probable disaster ahead August 17, 2015 It’s seven years since the last crash. We know there will be another one soon but where will it happen? Looking at the cranes in the sky has always been a reliable indicator. I remember surveying Reykjavik’s skyline in 2007 and wondering who was going to live in the fancy apartments being erected. Now they’re [...]