EXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENTS November 28, 2011 ● EXTENSION OF FREE CHILDCARE The chancellor is expected to announce £380m a year by 2014-15 to increase the number of two-year-olds eligible for free childcare. Currently, 130,000 two-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare a week, but this will increase to 260,000 within four years, equivalent to 60 per cent of two-year-olds from the poorest [...]
Chancellor to unveil £250m to help energy-intensive industry November 28, 2011 THE government will today announce a package of reliefs worth £250m to help offset the crippling impact of its green policies on energy intensive companies. The package, which was first revealed in City A.M. last month, will help those firms who use large amounts of energy such as steelmaker Tata and chemicals specialist Ineos. There will [...]
Huhne calls for energy backing November 23, 2011 CLIMATE change secretary Chris Huhne hopes his “Green Deal” will kickstart £14bn private investment in insulating draughty homes by 2020. In his annual energy statement, Huhne said policies to increase efficiency and boost participation in renewable technologies would save households about £94, or seven per cent off the annual utility bill. But he conceded rising [...]
Top tips for investment first-timers September 2, 2012 IF YOU’RE lucky enough to find that you’ve got money left at the end of each month, the investment decisions you make now could make a big difference to the quality of the rest of your life. However, deciding how you invest isn’t easy. At a time of stock market volatility, negative real returns from [...]
Sants says new Bank governor job is too hard June 13, 2012 HECTOR Sants warned yesterday that the new Bank of England head will have an impossible job to do, thanks to laws passing through parliament that hand power over financial stability and banking supervision to the governor. “We could be concerned that the operational task given to the governor as an individual – of course that [...]
Britain must become a land of opportunity once more to attract the world’s workers February 6, 2012 COUNTRIES receive the immigrants they deserve. A migrant has 192 countries to choose from. He or she will choose according to his own preferences and reasons. The possibility of economic betterment is the most important: nobody aspires to end up on the breadline. What forms of economic betterment are available will determine what sorts of [...]
Durban’s climate conference puts green deal on ice December 13, 2011 AFTER two weeks of talks and partying, delegates at the UN climate summit in Durban agreed to meet again for further talks and partying around the dream of a global climate treaty. As expected, an informal coalition of major emitters such as the USA, China, India and Russia won the battle at the climate talks [...]
Profit warning sends AEA shares tumbling as chief executive quits November 16, 2011 SHARES in climate change consultancy AEA Technology nose-dived by more than 80 per cent yesterday, after the company delivered a profit warning and said its chief executive had left. The Oxford-based energy and environmental firm admitted that profits for the year to 31 March 2012 would be “significantly lower” than expected, and admitted it was in [...]
Profit warning sends AEA shares tumbling as chief executive quits November 16, 2011 SHARES in climate change consultancy AEA Technology nose-dived by more than 80 per cent yesterday, after the company delivered a profit warning and said its chief executive had left. The Oxford-based energy and environmental firm admitted that profits for the year to 31 March 2012 would be “significantly lower” than expected, and admitted it was in [...]
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 [...]