Technology has the power to transform – but it won’t render jobs obsolete August 5, 2013 FEARS that technology would destroy jobs and create mass unemployment have recurred with each wave of innovation since the Industrial Revolution. I was reminded of this when reading a book by the prominent trade union leader Clive Jenkins, from the late 1970s. The Collapse of Work did not beat around the bush. To Jenkins, technology [...]
A triumph of austerity: What Britain can learn from the Baltic states August 5, 2013 FOR the last five years, the UK has had one of the largest budget deficits in the EU. Britain’s public debt has exceeded 90 per cent of GDP. Only Europe’s real crisis countries have pursued even looser fiscal policy. The British and southern European governments have neither safeguarded public finances, nor stimulated economic growth. Perhaps [...]
Letters to the editor for 6 August 2013 August 5, 2013 Boosting business [Re: Open for business: How universities can boost our long-term recovery, Friday] Stephen Caddick is right to call for more active collaboration between business and universities. This is happening already through the University Technical Colleges (UTCs) across the country. These institutions are high quality technical schools for 14 to 19 year olds, bringing [...]
New regulation threatens the success of Britain’s thriving insurance sector August 4, 2013 SINCE the financial crisis, policymakers have focused on regulating banks. But while banking plays a central role in the financial sector, insurance plays another. The UK insurance industry is the largest in Europe. It manages investments amounting to 26 per cent of annual GDP, and accounts for £10.4bn in tax revenue, employing 290,000 people in [...]
City Matters: Innovative new public art is changing perceptions of the “Square” Mile August 4, 2013 THE attentions of many City workers will naturally be turning to exotic destinations as we enter the holiday season. When it comes to choosing a cultural hotspot to visit this year, however, it may be worth looking closer to home – and not just because of the unusually warm British summer of the last few [...]
Why we urgently need to inject competition into our banking sector August 4, 2013 THE banking industry has struggled to generate positive coverage over the past five years and unfortunately, the public largely continues to view it negatively. The question is: will the new regulatory regime, as well as a new governor at the Bank of England, deliver change within our banking system and unleash what is urgently needed – competition? The [...]
Letters to the Editor – 05/08 – Planning laws, tourist bonds, best of Twitter August 4, 2013 Planning Laws [Re: How hidden taxes and levies are pushing up UK house prices, Thursday] Alex Prince, in his letter to the editor last Thursday, implies that opposition to building developments arises exclusively from a local desire to retain green spaces. But another key reason for nimbyism is that an adjacent development will often reduce [...]
Why Britain should not view Germany as a role model for economic success August 1, 2013 ACROSS Europe, policymakers are casting envious looks towards Germany. From a French perspective, the country’s persistent low unemployment rate is desirable; British policymakers long to copy its relatively robust growth and export performance; and from across the continent, the balanced budget that Europe’s largest economy projects for 2013 seems like something to strive for. But [...]
National Minimum Wage turns 15 – but it still fails to help those most in need August 1, 2013 YESTERDAY, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) celebrated its fifteenth birthday. It has not been the disaster some feared – largely because the Low Pay Commission set rates conservatively, taking ability to pay into account – but nor has it entirely helped those it was designed to. Today, there is pressure to push the minimum upwards. [...]
Open for business: How universities can boost our long-term recovery August 1, 2013 THERE’S been widespread talk recently that the British economy, finally, is taking off. Addressing what will sustain this recovery over the long-term should be a top priority, and the UK government must avoid a pseudo-recovery fuelled by quantitative easing, or relying on puffing up the public sector again. A serious recovery demands a serious rethink of [...]