Confront women with the true horror of the old age poverty they face to tackle our pensions saving crisis April 22, 2016 Women are facing poverty in retirement as they cut back on pension contributions to fund childcare. A report released by The Fawcett Society, which campaigns for women’s rights, found many women are funding childcare out of their own pay packets (not their partners’) – which means stopping pension contributions. It partly responsible for a doubling of [...]
Millennial woes may seem over the top but Generation Y could have a point with their moaning February 23, 2016 Last week, this paper ran a story based on research which found Generation Y (born between the early 80s and the late 2000s) is more like Generation Whiny in the workplace. The research, by Workfront, found bosses perceived so-called millennials as more prone to a moan than Generation X, and bigger babies than the Baby [...]
School of hard knocks: How to cut the soaring cost of private education May 26, 2016 When it comes to our children, a good education is priceless. But if you’re talking about sending them to a private school, there is a hefty price tag, and it has been rising precipitously. To send a child to a private day school from 2015 to 2028 will set you back an average of £286,000, [...]
Why purpose is key to success in twenty-first century business May 16, 2016 How should businesses make decisions? The textbook answer is to do a calculation – to trade off the costs and benefits. For investment decisions, this is difficult, because the benefits are uncertain. But for tangible investments, such as building a factory, you can still get a reasonable handle on the benefits – estimate the number [...]
Business secretary Sajid Javid lays out measures to cut red tape by £10bn March 3, 2016 New comprehensive measures to help meet the government's commitment of cutting a further £10bn of red tape were announced today by business secretary Sajid Javid. While the UK already has the lowest burden of regulation in the G7 nations, according to the World Economic Forum, businesses across the country have been demanding more. Speaking at [...]
Tesco share price falls as Serious Fraud Office’s investigation is set to conclude January 25, 2016 A criminal investigation into Tesco, the UK's biggest retailer, by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is set to come to a conclusion after more than a year, according to Cantor Fitzgerald analysts. The investigation, launched in October 2014 after a multi-million pound profit black hole was uncovered at the supermarket, had been due to be resolved by the end of last year. [...]
The planning profession needs love too: It is seen as an obstacle to overcome – but it’s a positive guide to development February 19, 2016 Planning underpins our daily lives. From the houses we live in to the offices in which we work, or the streets that we walk down every day. It is the glue that binds together the entire property sector – a tool used by people and politicians alike to shape the built environment, as well as [...]
Five signs it’s time to start seriously investing in digital skills May 12, 2016 As a manager or business owner, when should I take steps to improve the digital know how in my organisation? It’s a crucial question that has crossed the mind of nearly every business leader as they struggle to keep up with new technology, security concerns and employees’ desire to keep learning. What are the clues or [...]
Osborne isn’t pillaging the poor to help the rich – but IDS is right to attack protection of pensioner benefits March 22, 2016 It's all about fairness, that slippery, subjective term which dominates so much of our political discourse. Following his resignation from the Cabinet on Friday, Iain Duncan Smith spent much of the weekend claiming it was unfair that the government had intended to cut disability benefits in a Budget in which taxes on higher-earning households were being [...]
Why south London desperately needs the Overground instead of Southeastern, Southern and South West trains January 17, 2016 South London desperately needs a transport upgrade. Estimates show that demand for rail travel could grow by as much as 100 per cent by 2035. Yet south London's transport system is already under enormous pressure. Look at the Tube map and you would think that London more or less stops just south of the Thames. In [...]