GCSE results 2015: Six ways Britain’s world-beating education system could be better still August 20, 2015 With the publication of GCSE results, education is in the spotlight once again. Despite inevitable criticisms of our schools, colleges and universities, we should remind ourselves occasionally that what we have is, in world terms, a pretty good set-up. Young people get access to free schooling up to 18 and to higher education effectively free [...]
Tiger Woods shoots lowest round for two seasons at Wyndham Championship August 20, 2015 Fallen former world No1 Tiger Woods has rekindled hopes that his days as a golfing force may not be over by shooting his lowest round since 2013 yesterday on the PGA Tour. Woods, who has plummeted to 187th in the rankings, carded a 64 at the Wyndham Championship – a tournament he needs to win [...]
Conveyor belt of UK graduates is failing to boost productivity August 20, 2015 While the United Kingdom’s employment record over the past few years has beaten all expectations, the number of graduates in the UK labour market has significantly outstripped the growth of high-skilled jobs. Graduate over-qualification in the UK has reached "saturation point" with too many over-qualified graduates in non-graduate roles. And yet, record numbers of young [...]
The super-rich paying a £50,000 deposit to RENT in London August 20, 2015 With rising house prices placing home ownership out of reach for many and overseas investment rife, London’s lettings market is booming. But the commonly-painted picture of young professionals struggling to pay for their grotty house share in Dalston only tells one side of this increasingly complex story. For competition isn’t only fierce at the affordable [...]
George Osborne wants to build more homes in the countryside August 20, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne wants to reform planning laws and make it easier for villages to build new houses. The chancellor said more people are moving to the countryside with rural areas of England experiencing net internal migration of more than 60,000 a year. "This government is determined to support the millions that already choose a [...]
The number of young people not in education, employment, or training is going down August 20, 2015 The job prospects for young people are improving, despite the fact unemployment overall has stopped declining. There were 922,000 young people who were not in education, employment or training (Neets) from April to June, the Office for National Statistics said this morning. It marks a drop of 21,000 from the first quarter of this year. The [...]
Labour leadership race: Now Labour is blocking genuine party members from leadership vote August 20, 2015 The Labour Party has been blocking members from voting in the leadership contest, following a surge of people signing up to vote in the hotly contested race. This is not the first time Labour has been found to block individuals from voting in the leadership contest – earlier this month 1,200 people were banned from [...]
Palmer to continue his love story with gutsy filly Covert August 20, 2015 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS DAY TWO OF YORK’S EBOR FESTIVAL THE weather gods haven’t exactly shined on the Knavesmire so far this week. We were all expecting a dry few days, but it bucketed down on Tuesday night resulting in good to soft ground for the start of the meeting. It’s difficult to know exactly how [...]
Yvette Cooper pushes for boardroom quotas to up number of women at the table August 20, 2015 Labour leadership hopeful Yvette Cooper has called on the government to consider introducing quotas for the number of women on corporate boards. Cooper said last night that if she were Labour leader, she would introduce a new Equalities Act to “look at positive discrimination in areas such as the judiciary or executive boards where there [...]
Three “softer” skills you don’t know you need August 20, 2015 Bosses can tell if you’re tolerant just from your handwriting As GCSE results are released today, employers are once again questioning the usefulness of the national curriculum in preparing young people for their careers. A 2014 survey by Kaplan and supported by the CBI, for example, revealed that technical knowledge was ranked twenty-fourth out [...]