Is Ed Miliband right to propose restrictions to immigration to protect British workers? June 24, 2012 YES Andrew Harrop Ed Miliband is trying to avoid being typecast as an urban liberal with a relaxed attitude to migration numbers. So his speech was grounded in two other dimensions of his political personality – he worries about people struggling on low incomes and he wants more responsibility in how people and businesses operate [...]
RAPID responses June 24, 2012 Return to O-levels [Re: Cameron must back Gove for the sake of Britain’s children, Friday] Michael Gove’s proposal isn’t perfect, but it’s an improvement on the failing system we have today – a de facto two-tier system of double-digit top grades and a long list of failures. Let’s hope Gove can defeat his third-rate political [...]
Gove’s exam reforms will confront wasted potential in British schools June 21, 2012 OUR EXAM system should be up there with the best in the world. It should push bright kids and be renowned for its academic rigour. At the moment, GCSEs simply don’t do that. Every year, GCSE results day is accompanied by accusations of “dumbing down” and respect for them is diminishing among employers and universities, [...]
Unlikely pairings of demons and classics hold lessons for timid politicians June 21, 2012 NO ONE will ever produce a film called David Cameron: Vampire Hunter. Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, got a Hollywood blockbuster this week that reinvents his life as a fight to the undeath. Lincoln’s cod-historical battle with soulless, slave-owning bloodsuckers adapts a mash-up biography/monster novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, whose back catalogue of left-field bestsellers [...]
Even the ultra rich are struggling to keep their wealth June 21, 2012 FOLLOWING one of the most volatile periods in the last 15 years, the aggregate investable wealth of high net worth individuals (HNWI) declined by 1.7 per cent last year – the first fall since 2008. This came out of the latest research from the World Wealth Report, published this week by Capgemini and RBC Wealth [...]
RAPID RESPONSES June 21, 2012 Modest proposals [Re: We need a flat tax with no loopholes to reduce avoidance, yesterday] There’s a strong argument for saying that, considering the incompetence of successive British governments in spending tax revenues, legally minimising tax contributions is actually the most ethical option for British taxpayers. Edward Fox The easiest and most effective way to [...]
Reform, not a bailout, will save Italy June 20, 2012 WITH Greece on life support from the European Union and Spain squirming in the financial vice grip of its insolvent banks, talk of an Italian bailout is nigh. Without a growing economy to generate wealth, Italy is having a hard time convincing current and prospective bondholders that it can pay its debts. But throwing money [...]
Obama is banking on Latino votes but the economy is the issue that unites June 20, 2012 THOSE expecting Barack Obama to provide a rousing campaign speech in Ohio were left disappointed. Instead, the President decided to make headlines the following day, issuing an executive order halting the deportation of illegal immigrants who meet certain criteria. It’s a move that may well have reinvigorated the President’s re-election prospects. Immigration is one of [...]
Banks are unable to assess risks of lending to SMEs June 20, 2012 ALBERT Einstein famously quipped that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A lesson, perhaps, that chancellor George Osborne and Sir Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England, should heed. The Bank of England and the Treasury have announced they’re working together on an £80bn “funding for [...]
Will Vince Cable’s proposals to strengthen shareholder power be good for business? June 20, 2012 YES Richard Saunders It’s a good outcome. These proposals give shareholders more leverage and that will encourage companies to take note of their views. Nobody wants unseemly public rows every year but, equally, companies need to be clear about the links between pay and performance. The series of negative votes in this year’s AGM season [...]