Artificial Intelligence will destroy jobs – but technological pessimism is wrong September 4, 2013 DEVELOPMENTS in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be among the most exciting advances of this century. No longer the preserve of science fiction, from driving our cars to managing our health, the products of AI research are already quietly revolutionising our world. But warning bells are ringing. John Maynard Keynes coined the term “technological unemployment” to [...]
Why messing with pay is not the best way to end living cost squeeze September 4, 2013 UNEMPLOYMENT and underemployment in the UK are still far too high. But given the circumstances, the UK’s labour market is in a far better shape than we might have expected. In much of Europe, five years of stagnation have sent jobless figures through the roof. Yet the UK got away with a black eye. A [...]
Letters to the editor – 05/09 – Merkel and the EU, Sporting success, Best of Twitter September 4, 2013 Merkel and the EU [Re: Merkel must find a bold new vision or Europe will continue towards disaster, yesterday] Lars Christensen is right to argue that the German Chancellor must set out a vision for the future of Europe. Unfortunately, such a vision looks unlikely to materialise. The philosopher Jurgen Harbemas last week published an [...]
Merkel must find a bold new vision or Europe will continue towards disaster September 3, 2013 FEW politicians are now prepared to stand up for their beliefs – if indeed they have any. Ideologies and courage have been consigned to the past. But with German elections fast approaching, which Angela Merkel will surely win, the German Chancellor must voice a new, realistic vision for the EU. It is needed more than [...]
Against the Grain: It’s official: Why the statistics show even England could win the World Cup September 3, 2013 AUTUMN is fast approaching, and the focus of the nation’s sporting interest is switching. No sooner have our boys humiliated the Australians at cricket than a new challenge emerges in the shape of two important qualifying games for the football World Cup. The comedian Bob Doolally articulated the views of many when he said: “If [...]
Vodafone isn’t avoiding UK tax on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless September 3, 2013 THE screams of rage, as the statists realise they’re not going to get any money from the sale of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless, have become deafening. We’ve even seen UKUncut insist quite seriously that £84bn of tax is being avoided (£84bn is the total transaction size, not the profit or the tax). But the [...]
Letters to the editor – 04/09 – Walke Scorchie, Best of Twitter September 3, 2013 Walkie Scorchie [Re: Walkie Talkie has few design solutions as beam warms shops to 70 degrees Celsius, yesterday] Someone has built a giant parabolic mirror and, unsurprisingly, it’s melting cars and burning bars. Archimedes reputedly used the same technique to set fire to an enemy fleet. The remedy is obvious: refit the window panes to [...]
It’s time we ended the pretence that planning rules come without a price September 2, 2013 MOST agree that the UK housing market has long been stuck in an affordability crisis. Despite a fall in prices since 2007, Nationwide recently calculated that the typical house now costs 5.1 times average earnings, up from 3.9 a quarter of a century ago. In London, the ratio has risen from 5.7 to 7.7. And [...]
Entrepreneurs sit at the heart of a battle over how economies should operate September 2, 2013 FOLLOWING the financial crisis, an intellectual battle about the role of the state in “managing the economy” is opening up. The most recent evidence is The Entrepreneurial State, a new book by the economist Mariana Mazzucato. This contends that the big inventions and breakthroughs that determine prosperity and productivity growth are often produced by the [...]
Why UK recovery could rescue the great British banking sector sell-off September 2, 2013 ROLL up, roll up. Britain’s banks are up for sale. This month and next, the Lloyds privatisation will compete for attention with Barclays’s £5.8bn rights issue. Then there’s the initial public offering triplets: Williams & Glyn, Virgin Money and TSB – all set to hit the market with aplomb. And that’s before RBS has turned [...]