Life isn’t short: But we’ve learnt to squander our time like spendthrifts August 23, 2012 SUMMER’S lease is drawing to a close again. With less than a month until the autumnal equinox on 22 September, we’re running out of time to complain about the disappointing weather or attempt to cook burgers in one another’s backyards. Or, from another point of view, there’s four weeks left before the summer of 2012 [...]
New infrastructure cannot dig us from our economic hole August 23, 2012 BAD borrowing figures have increased the pressure on the government to change its course, abandon austerity and crank up new public infrastructure projects. Indeed, with a cabinet reshuffle expected in the next few weeks, a number of people have been saying that David Cameron should shuffle his chancellor, George Osborne, off to the backbenches. Neither [...]
As SSE raises its energy prices by 9 per cent, is the firm right to blame UK green policies? August 23, 2012 YES Matthew Sinclair So long as the government sticks to radical EU targets for the energy sector – particularly for a drastic increase in the use of renewable energy – domestic and industrial consumers will continue to face punishing increases in prices. Attempts to reassure investors with expensive commitments like the carbon price floor will [...]
Rapid Responses August 23, 2012 Work experience [Re: Rigour in GCSE’s is essential but we need students fit for business, yesterday] While it’s important to provide children with work experience, there must be guidelines to ensure it is meaningful. In my last year of secondary school, I was allocated a two week stint in a local supermarket, while I watched [...]
Rigour in GCSEs is essential but we also need students fit for business August 22, 2012 WHILE youngsters celebrating exam successes today should be applauded for their hard work, many will be in for a rude awakening when they go into the world of work. Unfortunately, they will find that the traditional link between academic results and achievement in the workplace no longer holds as true as it once did. Our [...]
Romney risks being thrown off course by his blundering fellow Republican August 22, 2012 BEFORE primaries became the more common mechanism of selecting party nominees, the Republican National Convention served as the venue for delegates to wage their famous intra-party battles. Teddy Roosevelt stormed out in 1912 to form the Progressive Party, the moderate Dwight Eisenhower trumped the conservative Robert Taft in 1952, an ideological battle that Barry Goldwater [...]
Companies must work with the UK’s tech-savvy NEETs August 22, 2012 YET again, figures from the Department for Education show a rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs). But conversely, new research this week reveals that the unused digital skills sitting within the community of over 1m unemployed young people are valued at £6.7bn by UK businesses. The same [...]
After the UK government deficit rose in July, do we need to make further spending cuts? August 22, 2012 YES Richard Wellings The government has behaved recklessly. Assuming a strong recovery, with high growth and rising tax revenues, it gambled that relatively modest spending cuts would be enough to fulfil the deficit reduction plan. The latest borrowing figures betray the magnitude of this miscalculation. It seems likely that the deficit will remain dangerously high, [...]
Rapid Responses August 22, 2012 Football antics [Re: An Olympian defends football stars – at least off the pitch, yesterday] My interest in football has declined over the years, as I’ve been forced to watch almost daily nonsense from overpaid footballers and their yobbish behaviour. Please don’t make excuses for these bad examples. It’s disgraceful. Team GB demonstrated a commendable [...]
Forget Nadir – the SFO does not have the resources to fight fraud August 21, 2012 ALTHOUGH the jury is still out on nine of the charges in the Asil Nadir case, the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) successful conviction of Nadir on three charges is a nice win following a two-decade long pursuit of the tycoon. Sadly, this success is not indicative of the SFO’s recent experience. The Nadir case needs [...]