Lessons from Finland: How we can reform maths teaching in schools December 9, 2012 THE UK’s educational standards remain low. Our pupils have fallen behind those in Germany and have been overtaken by peers in Poland. The last round of OECD tests for 15 year olds showed that the UK’s position in literacy, science and maths has fallen again. The coalition has attempted to reverse this decline and has [...]
Christmas is the ideal time to revive the City’s tradition of charitable giving December 9, 2012 FEAR that the UK could slip into a triple-dip recession heightened last week, as the services sector posted an unexpected slowdown. Yet remarkably, over half of us are still giving to good causes, despite the challenging economic outlook. This encouragingly high proportion of the population, includes many in the Square Mile. Contrary to myth, City [...]
A French scheme that could boost British innovation December 9, 2012 TODAY the UK government will lay before Parliament its future strategy for UK life sciences. It will rightly highlight the success of the Biocatalyst Fund, an initiative which is already helping bioscience small businesses to accelerate the development of future therapies. But existing government support is not enough. That is why we are calling for [...]
As Britain’s economic indicators worsen, are we heading towards a triple dip recession? December 9, 2012 YES Chris Williamson The likelihood of a triple-dip recession has risen. It may still be avoided, but much depends on developments overseas. Official data confirms the disappointing indicators, meaning a contraction in the fourth quarter looks inevitable. Retail, exports and manufacturing all fell sharply in October. To constitute a recession, GDP would also have to [...]
Rapid responses December 9, 2012 Austerity forever [Re: Careful chancellor: there is good austerity and bad austerity, Friday] George Osborne does appear to be slowly realising that his measures aren’t working, but my worry is that it’s now too late. All the international evidence shows that fiscal retrenchment only works if cuts happens quickly, take place across the board, and [...]
Shale gas is a good idea – but it is too soon to count on it to save us December 6, 2012 THE government’s gas strategy document, published alongside the Autumn Statement this week, rightly said that gas should play “a major role in our electricity mix” for decades to come. George Osborne was also right to focus on how to make private investment in new gas-fired power stations work without subsidies. But uncertainty is still a [...]
Black Swan author challenges the belief that pressure is bad for the economy December 6, 2012 BANKS should be more like cats than washing machines. So suggests Nassim Taleb, ex-trader and controversial author of The Black Swan, who has a new book out in time for Christmas. What he means is that living things – cats, economists, bankers – display a property that even our best-designed machinery lacks: a quality that [...]
America’s bullying on foreign tax will penalise UK firms December 6, 2012 NEXT week, the Treasury will publish draft legislation detailing how Britain’s financial sector will be forced to implement a punitive piece of US tax legislation. Although hailed this week by George Osborne as a weapon in the fight against tax avoidance, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) has severe implications for hundreds of British firms. [...]
Was the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee right to reject further stimulus? December 6, 2012 YES David Kern The Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) decision to keep quantitative easing (QE) at £375bn was the correct one. Opinion has shifted in recent months against adding to QE. But the MPC remains divided on the subject, and an increase cannot be ruled out if the economy weakens further in early 2013. Such a [...]
Rapid responses December 6, 2012 Bank liabilities [Re: A case of lies, damn lies and our rocketing national debt, Wednesday] I’m always amazed how easily many swallow the idea that government debt and other commitments from “financial interventions” can be safely separated. By doing so, we hide the fact that the true debt figure increased from roughly £500bn to over [...]