Corporate Tube sponsorship could take the pressure off overburdened commuters August 15, 2013 THIS week’s inflation figures all but confirm that Londoners will face a rise in Tube and bus fares of over 4 per cent in January. This may look small compared to projected increases of up to 9 per cent on some of the busiest rail routes into London, but it is still regrettable. It doesn’t [...]
Premier League return will benefit more than just well-paid players August 15, 2013 THE PREMIER League returns tomorrow. Although most of us will be interested in the quality of the football on offer, the amounts of money involved are no less significant. It’s Europe’s highest revenue-generating league by a margin of over €1bn (£850m), with combined club revenue of over £2.3bn in 2011-12. But while players continue to [...]
Letters to the editor – 16/08 – Land prices, A-levels, Best of Twitter August 15, 2013 Land prices [Re: UK needs to stop deliberately inflating residential land prices, yesterday] A study on Hong Kong showed that, even in that extreme example, a substantial share of house prices is explained by building restrictions, not a genuine shortage of land. Physical scarcity of land is mostly a theoretical possibility. There are hardly any [...]
For-profit universities could deliver welcome change to higher education August 14, 2013 IN A bold and commendable move, the government last week granted university status to BPP University, making it the second for-profit private higher education institution in the UK. It comes less than a year after the University of Law (formerly the College of Law) became the first private university to be established since Buckingham (officially [...]
It’s time our qualifications system broke free from the A-Level stranglehold August 14, 2013 AS STUDENTS collect their A-Level results, we should ponder why Britain continues to have state-mandated qualifications in the first place. Why is it that the government continues to promote A-levels, and to prescribe their structure and method of assessment, when there are useful and valued alternatives such as the International Baccalaureate (IB), the City and [...]
Eurozone hauls itself out of recession but growth remains fragile August 14, 2013 THE Eurozone has finally exited its longest recession. Rather than smashing through the barrier, it limped over the line with 0.3 per cent growth in the second quarter of this year – although even this was enough to exceed weary expectations. It is clear that any recovery remains fragile – fortunately, even those EU leaders [...]
Letters to the editor – 15/13 – Building homes, Best of Twitter August 14, 2013 Building homes [Re: The French build three times more new homes than we do, yesterday] There are many interesting comparisons with France. Populations are similar, but France is growing slower – around 300,000 per year, so babies will soon get second homes. Total mortgages outstanding were €800bn (£683m), compared with £1, 265bn in the UK. [...]
Housing bubble threat underscores pressing need to revise Help to Buy August 13, 2013 HELP to Buy has been widely criticised by experts, academics and journalists as a dangerous policy. In the long term, in a supply constrained system, simply increasing lending does not build a single extra house. And due to the planning system’s failures, we have an incredibly supply constrained system. From 2000 to 2007 lending doubled, [...]
Against the Grain: We should prescribe zero hours contracts for the Monetary Policy Committee August 13, 2013 THE NEW governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, said last week that interest rates will not be raised until unemployment falls below 7 per cent, a process he thinks will take three years. The battle of Austerlitz in 1805 was one of Napoleon’s greatest victories, leading to his complete domination of Continental Europe. [...]
Manufacturing sector’s untapped potential can lift us out of recession August 13, 2013 THE government claimed a “march of the makers” would drive Britain out of recession. Fast-forward a few years, and it might just be becoming a reality. Figures last week showed UK manufacturing is on the up – rising at its highest pace since the end of 2010. Overall output rose by 1.9 per cent in [...]