How to make workfare work better February 20, 2012 THERE is a huge difference between slavery – forcing people to work for free, which is an abomination – and workfare – asking people who have been on benefits for a long time to work for their money, a system practiced in many countries, including in the US, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and others. The [...]
S&P warns Japan over debt February 20, 2012 Standard & Poor’s warned it could lower Japan’s sovereign rating if the economy expands less than expected or if public debt continues to grow, as the country’s unpopular government struggles to win support for higher taxes. The ratings agency affirmed its AA- rating on Japan with a negative outlook, but also warned that higher taxes [...]
Time to invest in infrastructure we actually need February 19, 2012 IT MAY be winter and pretty rainy but now is the time to start thinking about this summer’s inevitable water shortages in southeast England. For years, the government’s strategy has been to ration water. Yet in parts of the UK it rains almost every other day all year long. The wet regions are economically deprived; [...]
The City can help build bridges to Gulf states February 19, 2012 AT A time when political tensions are running high in Syria, Iran and parts of the Gulf now might not seem like the best time to be leading a senior City business delegation to the region. Business confidence relies on a stable environment but despite the current uncertainty there remain huge two-way opportunities for closer [...]
RAPID RESPONSES February 19, 2012 Vive la difference [Re: Marc Sidwell’s column, Licensing the press – it’s just not very British, last Friday] The title of Sidwell’s column was apt. We only need to look across the channel to see the difference between Napoleonic prescriptive freedoms and British liberty. The French law of 29 July 1881 purports to guarantee freedom [...]
Our pitiful pensions pots February 19, 2012 THE words “pensions” and “crisis” are used together with increasing reality – yet, through a lack of either money or foresight, the people of this country have yet to respond. Ignorance is bliss – but only up to a point. And that point will come like a bolt out of the blue for some people [...]
Changes to the lifetime pension allowance February 19, 2012 IN LESS than two months the lifetime pension allowance, i.e. the maximum value that can be accumulated within all pensions before incurring an exceptional tax charge, will fall from £1.8m to £1.5m. If the total value of all an individual’s pension schemes exceeds this amount, the surplus will incur an exceptional tax charge of 55 [...]
Splitting up may divide your pension savings February 19, 2012 THE courts have three separate powers to distribute capital on divorce, the first two, namely the ability to transfer a property from one party to another, and the ability to order one party to pay the other a specific sum of money, are familiar to most couples. The third power is the power to make [...]
Desert island dream in remotest Philippines February 19, 2012 AS the plane rumbles along from Manila to Busuanga in the Palawan peninsula in the Philippines, the smiling stewardess at the front starts playing a game of “Show and Tell” to an enraptured audience, in the absence of TVs to divert us. First person to hold up a… pen, wins a thermos flask. Next person [...]
TRAVEL NOTES February 19, 2012 Graydon Carter’s Monkey Bar Heading to New York? You really mustn’t miss out on the hottest new-old restaurant in town. Manhattan’s legendary Monkey Bar, with a list of regulars that has included Dorothy Parker, Tennessee Williams and Marlon Brando, has been given an overhaul by none other than Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, the new [...]
