PROTESTERS PITCH THEIR IGLOOS FOR ICY DAVOS January 16, 2012 THE STEIGENBERGER Grandhotel Belvedere may be only a three minute walk from the conference centre – but, really, there’s only one way to do Davos. In an igloo. Such is the sub-zero lot of the Occupy protesters, who yesterday unveiled their accommodation for the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort next week: Camp [...]
City slams high speed rail plans January 15, 2012 THE CITY has rejected the government’s controversial plan to build a £32.7bn high-speed railway linking London to the north. Fifty-one per cent of the City A.M./PoliticsHome.com Voice of the City panel, which represents a cross-section of London’s business and financial community, said they opposed the controversial railway known as High-Speed 2 (HS2). An overwhelming majority [...]
Private sector bidders line up to win MoD outsourcing contracts January 15, 2012 SUPPORT services firm Serco is in the running to win two key contracts at the Ministry of Defence. The group is believed to be battling IBM for the contract to manage back office services, such as human resources and finance, for the department. It is also thought to be up against Capita for the right [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 15, 2012 Disagree with Nick I very much agree with Allister Heath’s comments on Friday [Clegg’s latest nonsense] about Nick Clegg’s initiative regarding job applications. As you say, the key is improving education, and not coming up with idiotic proposals such as this. I come from a pretty humble background, and had a solid, redbrick grammar school [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 12, 2012 Back to school As a business studies teacher of many years standing, I read David Rutley’s column [Our schools must be open to business so we can have a bright economic future, Wednesday] with much interest. I agree wholeheartedly and believe much more should be done in order to promote the subject at school level. [...]
Miliband and PM lock horns over rail fares January 11, 2012 A TIT-FOR-TAT exchange between David Cameron and Ed Miliband erupted in parliament yesterday, after the Labour leader hit out at some 11 per cent hikes in rail fares. Miliband blamed the coalition for exorbitant fare increases, yet Prime Minister Cameron said the power to raise prices was given to train companies “by the last Labour [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PRIORITISE HIGH SPEED RAIL OR MORE AIRPORT CAPACITY? January 11, 2012 JOE BATTLE | ANTARES “Personally I think the high-speed rail, because there has never been a real problem with airport capacity, only a bit of hustle and bustle. A decent rail network around the UK would be fantastic.” DAN SILVEY | AXA “I think the government should favour high speed rail because it is a [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 11, 2012 Capacity challenge The real issue facing the UK is how to increase capacity in our public transport system. Few transport professionals would support the newly approved High Speed Rail 2 project (HS2) compared to Rod Eddington’s highly regarded policy proposals from December 2006, which would make a genuine difference to public transport. These are all [...]
£33bn rail scheme faces legal threat January 10, 2012 LOBBY groups said yesterday that legal challenges to a high speed rail link between London and Birmingham are already in the pipeline, after the controversial new route was given the green light by the government. Campaigners against the planned rail link, dubbed High Speed 2 (HS2), will attempt to place the Department for Transport’s approval [...]
Six reasons this rail plan is a mistake January 10, 2012 IF money grew on trees, the government’s London-Birmingham HS2 high-speed rail scheme would be a good thing. Unfortunately, the nation faces fiscal Armageddon; so here are six reasons (there are many more) why the coalition is wrong to back HS2. 1) Like virtually all government infrastructure projects, the costs of this grandiose white elephant will [...]