4G set to boost economy and UK investments April 30, 2012 THE ROLLOUT of superfast mobile broadband will boost the UK’s economy and stimulate a chain of investment, according to Capital Economics. Research commissioned by telecoms giant Everything Everywhere, the UK hybrid of Orange and T-Mobile, suggests that the latest generation of mobile network – called 4G – will necessitate a £5.5bn direct private sector investment in the UK [...]
Ex-Dixons boss lands £36m for joining Apple May 27, 2012 JOHN BROWETT, the former boss of Dixons, is to receive a $56m (£36m) golden hello from Apple for taking charge of the tech giant’s network of stores around the world. Browett, who has been at the helm of the struggling British electronics group since 2007, moved to California last month after he was poached by [...]
Spain looks to a bad bank to clean up sector April 23, 2012 THE SPANISH government will force banks to move all their real estate assets into a special holding company within weeks, in a bid to reassure investors the lenders won’t need a further rescue, it emerged yesterday. The real estate holding entity should be up and running by the summer, but the final form and details [...]
Cameron must back Gove for the sake of Britain’s children June 21, 2012 FOR the first time in living memory, Britain has a government that is on the brink of delivering huge improvements to the state education system. Michael Gove, the secretary of state, has a masterplan: he wants to axe GCSEs, replace them with much tougher O-Levels, introduce an alternative vocational qualification and sweep away the national [...]
RAPID responses April 24, 2012 Decaying heritage [Re: A tax on heritage attacks the heart of local business, yesterday] I completely agree with the sentiment and tone of this article. The charity, church and not for profit sectors are not legitimate targets for governmental revenue-raising on this kind of scale. One hopes, by now, the message has dawned. We need [...]
Statistics frauds to be punished under new EU data proposals April 17, 2012 GOVERNMENTS that manipulate official statistics to falsely give a positive impression of their success could be punished under rules proposed yesterday by the European Commission. At the same time European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi called for improved financial sector statistics, arguing that better data is needed if the authorities are to properly promote stability [...]
State and private school kids face damaging gap in enterprise skills May 30, 2012 GOVERNMENTS across the world are working to close the gap between education and the workplace. High youth unemployment has focused attention on schools’ ability to prepare young people to compete for jobs, and concerns over growth are shining a spotlight on whether education systems encourage and enable sufficient numbers of young people to become entrepreneurs. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 7, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Chinese groups drive rise in pre-sold HK IPOs Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery has enlisted nearly a dozen banks to hunt down investors willing to take stakes in the Chinese business ahead of its $1bn Hong Kong listing, an example of a trend gripping the world’s biggest market for new listings. Hopes rise UK [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 7, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Chinese groups drive rise in pre-sold HK IPOs Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery has enlisted nearly a dozen banks to hunt down investors willing to take stakes in the Chinese business ahead of its $1bn Hong Kong listing, an example of a trend gripping the world’s biggest market for new listings. Hopes rise UK [...]
Construction boom adds to growth hopes April 3, 2012 UK CONSTRUCTION sector activity expanded sharply in March as unusually mild weather boosted building orders, data revealed yesterday, raising hopes that Britain avoided a second consecutive quarter of economic contraction. The sector has grown in every month since January 2011, according to Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI). In March the figure hit 56.7, indicating a [...]