International report shows UK schools lag December 7, 2010 BUSINESS leaders have hit out at UK school and education standards after a survey showed they lag behind international rivals, despite costing more than in most countries. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment 2009 survey showed that 15 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [...]
Get out your pith helmet and start building railways, roads and ports December 7, 2010 AT THE end of the 19th century, British investors were funding railways throughout India and across South America, telephone cables underneath the Atlantic and gold mines in the South African Transvaal. In the first great age of globalisation, the most important thing was to build infrastructure, only after which could trade follow. That is as [...]
Pension firms are not completely trusted December 7, 2010 IN the latest YouGov SixthSense Pensions Report, two-thirds of YouGov respondents say they “do not have complete trust in pensions companies”. Meanwhile, of the companies mentioned in the survey, Scottish Widows were the most highly regarded – one in four respondents who know of the company ranked it as their number one pensions provider, leaving [...]
European Union ministers reject MEPs’ plan for 20-week paid maternity leave December 7, 2010 THE European Union has rebuffed a bid by members of the European parliament to extend paid maternity leave. The Council of Ministers – the EU organisation representing member states’ governments – voiced concern about the potential cost impact on employers of the proposals to extend leave on full pay to 20 weeks, which the European [...]
BA bids to quash ruling on Hong Kong cabin crew December 7, 2010 BRITISH Airways will this week attempt to overturn a court ruling preventing it from making its Hong Kong-based female cabin crew retire at the age of 45 without a pension. BA is asking the Court of Appeal to quash an earlier ruling that it must apply UK anti-discrimination law to its international cabin crew. In [...]
FUND MANAGEMENT NEWS December 7, 2010 S&P RATE GLOBAL 10 LARGE CAP FUND S&P Fund Services announced yesterday that it had given the Global 10 Large Cap Index Fund an A rating. Global Investment House’s Ammar Talib Hajeyah runs the fund, which is one of the oldest and largest funds in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). S&P said that the manager’s [...]
Australia ducks rates change December 7, 2010 Interest rates were kept at 4.75 per cent yesterday, after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its December meeting. In November, rates increased by 0.25 per cent. Bank governor Glenn Stevens cited inflation and growth in China and India in a speech that was slightly more hawkish than expected. However, he also said that [...]
German factory new orders rise December 7, 2010 More good news emerged yesterday for German manufacturing, as new orders rose by 1.6 per cent in October (compared to September). Compared to the previous year, factory orders were up by 17.9 per cent. The increase was mainly due to domestic orders and exports to countries outside the Eurozone.
Morale disappearing in Japan December 7, 2010 Confidence in Japanese manufacturing has hit a seven month low, falling to +7 in Reuters’ Tankan survey released yesterday. Confidence is expected to drop to zero in three months’ time. The country’s prospects will be clearer today after the publication of data on Japanese bank lending and machinery orders.
Swiss unemployment creeps up December 7, 2010 Swiss unemployment was up slightly to 3.6 per cent in November (from 3.5 per cent in October), despite strong economic growth this year. Yet youth unemployment and long term unemployment fell, providing optimism for the Swiss outlook, said ING analyst Julien Manceaux.
