Government in tuition fee compromise November 3, 2010 TUITION fees will be capped at £6,000 for most universities, after the coalition government watered down a series of independent recommendations. Universities minister David Willets unveiled plans to raise the “basic threshold” for fees to £6,000, rising to up to £9,000 for a small number of institutions in “exceptional circumstances”. Institutions will only be able [...]
Five ways to make your boss work for you November 3, 2010 ON THE face of it, you only need to do your job well to get on. In reality, though, there’s more to it than that. Your career development is not just about your performance – it’s about your performance in the eyes of your boss. Here are five tips to manage the most important relationship [...]
It’s grim up North for Apprentice fashionistas November 3, 2010 THERE are many sides to Lord Sugar. It isn’t all lounging in ermine and plugging his new autobiography – he’s also a dedicated follower of fashion. “London is one of the most fashionable cities in the world”, he informed his would-be Apprentices, quite a shock for those of us who assumed this devil wore M&S. [...]
The Quoted Companies Alliance claims Prospectus Directive win November 3, 2010 THE Quoted Companies Alliance (QCA) has welcomed the coalition’s decision to introduce key changes to the Prospectus Directive, which it says will help companies raise capital more cost effectively. The representative body for the UK’s small and mid-cap quoted company sector had petitioned the government to raise the threshold for which a prospectus is required [...]
Bus and train gains push up profits at FirstGroup November 3, 2010 TRANSPORT company FirstGroup credited a surge in passengers and tighter cost control for its 14.3 per cent rise in underlying profit for the first half of the year yesterday. The group’s pre-tax profit nearly trebled to £82m, while profit from continuing operations gained more than 14 per cent to £77.7m during the six months to [...]
Next warns over clothes price surge November 3, 2010 NEXT warned yesterday that its clothes prices would rise by around eight per cent in the new year as worldwide cotton prices soar. The group, which runs over 500 stores in Britain and Ireland as well as the Directory home shopping business, said it expected fourth-quarter total sales growth to be lower than the third [...]
Alliance Boots predicts strong Xmas as acquisitions boost half year figures November 3, 2010 ALLIANCE Boots said it was expecting a Christmas trade boost from its new ranges while acquisitions had ensured solid half-year figures. The company’s same-store revenues for its health and beauty division grew by two per cent to £3.4bn, it reported yesterday. Revenues for the whole group rose by six per cent to £8.9bn. Finance director [...]
Thorntons unveils new boss November 3, 2010 CHOCOLATE retailer Thorntons has appointed Caffé Nero managing director Jonathan Hart as its new chief executive. Hart will take up his post on 4 January and will be charged with restoring momentum to the confectioner’s high street operations, which have suffered from falling sales in recent months. During five years with Caffé Nero, he doubled [...]
The bravest polemicist of them all November 3, 2010 The World turned Upside Down: The Global Battle over God, Truth and Power by Melanie Phillips Encounter, £13.99 Melanie Phillips is one of the most important public intellectuals in Britain today. Her trenchant columns speak for a significant tranche of people in our country who feel themselves cut adrift from “mainstream” thinking, left with the [...]
CITY VIEWS: HAVE YOU NOTICED THE RISE IN THE COST OF CLOTHES? November 3, 2010 STUART ESSEX | XL INSURANCE “I don’t think prices have gone up, or at least I haven’t noticed any massive change. There’s a lot of competition between clothes shops in the City, so there tends to be lots of special deals. But I have seen the price of food rising.” PHIL SPRATT | ACCENTURE “Not [...]
