Is George Galloway’s victory a sign that the major parties are out of touch with voters? April 1, 2012 YES Nigel Farage The Bradford West result has given the system a bit of a kick up the backside. George Galloway is a seasoned and clever performer and knows which buttons to press. It’s hard to ignore his bandwagon when it rolls into town. Respect and Ukip were the only parties to increase their votes [...]
RAPID responses April 1, 2012 Action not reaction [Re: An incompetent government hit by Spring of Discontent, Friday] Didn’t things seem to be going well a few months ago? I’m not convinced that a series of strike actions shows we’ve returned to the 70s. I lived through that decade, and things felt very different. Politicians got everything wrong. At least [...]
An uncharitable Budget has tarred major private donors as tax cheats March 29, 2012 LET’S be clear: charities rely on large donations. And the current government has, up to now, seemed committed to support philanthropy. So it was a shock to hear George Osborne announce in his Budget last week – completely out of the blue – a new £50,000 cap on income tax reliefs, including the reliefs that [...]
Why pigs in space are worth your time: The case for playing Angry Birds March 29, 2012 THIS may make me an addict turned dealer, but here’s my advice for the weekend. First, read this article. Then buy the Angry Birds Space app. It’s important to get the order right. In a world where time and resources are scarce, playing a computer game seems perverse: it expends time and money without any [...]
Time to hear the real voices of the uprising in Syria March 29, 2012 THE Syrian uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad has inspired the world. But all is not well in the opposition camp. I joined the Syrian National Council (SNC), Syria’s “government-in-exile”, for the greater good of my country, agreeing to work with different factions within the Council in the hope of ending the bloodshed imposed [...]
Is E.ON/RWE’s cancellation of new nuclear plants a danger to British energy security? March 29, 2012 YES Tony Lodge The decision by the RWE/E.ON consortium to drop plans to build new nuclear power plants is arguably the biggest setback for UK nuclear strategy since the 1970s. It hugely undermines the government’s plans to deliver a balanced and diverse portfolio of new nuclear investors, which is vitally important. It means that the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 29, 2012 Jobs for the girls [Re: Should we be nostalgic for the 1960s workplace?, Wednesday] In the 1960s I worked in market research on Madison Avenue in one of the top agencies of the day, Benton & Bowles. While most smoked, there was no alcohol around during the daytime. What I find particularly wrong with Mad [...]
Unite scored an own goal with the tanker strike – but so has Cameron March 28, 2012 LEN McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite trade union, positions himself as an arch-enemy of the government. Of the Bob Crow school of diplomacy, McCluskey remains convinced civil disobedience is necessary to halt the coalition’s deficit reduction programme. And he seems hell-bent on ruining the Olympic Games with mass industrial action. Now might seem a [...]
The jury’s out on whether Obama’s health bill is too bitter a pill to swallow March 28, 2012 THIS week, two years after President Barack Obama signed his US health reforms, known as Obamacare, into law, the central tenet of the legislation, whether the federal government can compel uninsured individuals to purchase private health insurance, came before the Supreme Court. The administration claims that the so-called “individual mandate” is legal under terms of [...]
How to prove you are smart enough to work at Google March 28, 2012 HOW many houses in Canada are painted red?” That question recently greeted an applicant for an advertising position at Google. Crazy estimation questions have become popular in many industries, particularly as the job market has tightened. Job seekers are confronting posers like: How many surgeons are there in Britain? How many people are talking on [...]