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 [...]
Letters to the editor for – 03/09 – UK risk disease, Help to Buy, Best of Twitter September 2, 2013 UK risk disease [Re: Both Left and Right should fear the threat to medical research in the UK, yesterday] London has the capacity to build a world class cluster for biomedical innovation. But John Hulsman highlights a stark example of a risk averse culture in this country – a disease we need to treat if [...]
Both Left and Right should fear the threat to medical research in the UK September 1, 2013 RARELY has an issue in the UK managed to unite such odd bedfellows as the Thatcherite Right and the Guardian-reading Left. But the curious case of the interim refusal of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to recommend Bexsero (the first approved vaccine for limiting Meningitis B) for inclusion in Britain’s immunisation programme [...]
City Matters: The City should be proud to support aspiration regardless of background September 1, 2013 AFTER a long summer, this week students across London are heading off to work and university for the start of a new academic year. Many of these talented young people will have gained invaluable insight by spending part of their break preparing for the world of work through summer placements across a range of industries, [...]
US debate on Syria may be a watershed for the West in the Middle East September 1, 2013 A WEEKEND is long time in politics. Since Thursday, we have discovered that the UK will no longer be involved in any military strike on Syria. Barack Obama, meanwhile, despite concluding that military intervention is needed, has delegated responsibility for any action to the US Congress. Mindful of the political disaster that befell David Cameron [...]
Letters to the Editor – 02/09 – Syria vote, Education reform, Best of Twitter September 1, 2013 Syria vote [Re: Cameron will look back on this vote as a political blessing, Friday] Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the fallout from last Thursday’s vote is the ineffectiveness the Conservative whips. They were clearly fairly confident of their chances earlier in the day, with reports suggesting that the panicked phone calls [...]
Strikes on Syria may force the US and its allies into a war they will struggle to control August 29, 2013 DURING more than two years of conflict in Syria, Western countries have studiously avoided any direct participation in the fighting. Now, despite UK MPs’ vote against intervention last night, many nations (notably the US) remain on the verge of launching strikes against Syrian military targets following its regime’s apparent use of chemical weapons. But while [...]
The coalition must fight to defend performance-related pay for teachers August 29, 2013 PUPILS will return to school next week with the usual trepidation and excitement. But this year more than most, teachers may feel the same. From September, all schools will be able to link teachers’ pay more closely with performance. The government’s reform to pay will transform the market for teachers. Pay rises based on length [...]