The sky’s the limit: Why the humble checklist beats masterful intuition October 25, 2012 THOSE of us glued to the live feed of Felix Baumgartner’s jump from the edge of space last week were also incidentally witness to one of the most powerful – and underappreciated – performance enhancement techniques known. If you were watching, the chances are you didn’t even give it a second thought. But there’s as [...]
Challenging times lie ahead despite solid GDP growth October 25, 2012 SOME good GDP news at last! The UK economy is growing again. It’s official. In fact, the initial estimate of growth in the third quarter exceeded market expectations of 0.6-0.7 per cent growth by a long way. And – at 1 per cent of GDP – it now appears to be the strongest quarter of [...]
As more criticism emerges, has the BBC done enough to deal with the Jimmy Savile crisis? October 25, 2012 YES David Bowden The tenor of current accusations, built on a febrile atmosphere of rumour and suspicion, seems to preclude any reasoned debate over what we want from a public broadcaster. We’ve seen similar panics around the BBC before, most recently after Jonathan Ross’s prank call to Andrew Sachs in 2008. This has invariably led [...]
Rapid response October 25, 2012 Better than Labour [Re: Coalition must not become complacent on economic growth, yesterday] Although the coalition should avoid complacency over economic growth, it’s also important that it trumpets the advantages of its economic policy against Labour’s alternative. Yes, austerity has not been pushed as far as it should have been. But a continued reliance on [...]
The public order act needs reform: It is an insult to British free speech October 24, 2012 DISGRACEFULLY inadequate”. “Jobless scroungers”. This is just a small sample of the insults thrown around yesterday morning. And that was just in the national newspapers. A quick venture onto Twitter would reveal thousands more, many unprintable on these pages. We might disagree or feel offended. But expressing insults (and being on the receiving end of [...]
Obama’s manifesto may fail to convince voters to give him another chance October 24, 2012 AS BARACK Obama and Mitt Romney squared off in their third and final debate, both candidates had to wrestle for ratings with the NFL’s Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions – coincidentally the hometown teams of both candidates. Like his Bears, the President eked out a victory after a solid first half. But this has still failed [...]
Pay-as-you-live: The business of sharing in the UK October 24, 2012 WHY own a bike, car or even a dress, when you can hire it and be released from the cost of outright ownership? This is the view of a new generation of UK consumers, who are seizing on the chance to access a growing array of goods and services as and when they need them. [...]
Will the FSA’s new mortgage lending rules help to improve the UK’s housing market? October 24, 2012 YES Tony Ward At last, we can stop speculating about what may come out of the mortgage market review, and get on with the business of mortgage lending. Much has been carried over from previous consultation papers and the FSA has gone out of its way to incorporate industry feedback. There is an argument that [...]
Rapid responses October 24, 2012 Free the Beeb Over the last 30 years, successive governments have shown determination to dismantle many of Britain’s institutions, from our universities to selective schools and examination standards. This has been done under the auspices of greater access for the general public, rather than jealousy economics preached so vehemently by liberal politicians. So why has [...]
Failure to fix market uncertainty is making the retirement crisis worse October 23, 2012 VIRTUALLY every developed nation is suffering from the reluctance of investors and chief executives to invest in new businesses, jobs or ideas. They’ve adopted a wait-and-see attitude because markets are missing the two components essential for confidence: trust and certainty. Investors are angry and cynical. For five years, they have consumed a daily diet of [...]