By Gregory Taylor For most university students the next few years will be the best years of their lives, but although the university experience is life changing, I feel it does not prepare a student for the outside world of work. Far too often you hear employers moaning about university graduates not having the right skills for the work place and graduates not having good work ethics. So how do you solve a problem like this? Well, we should look no...

Sport News 24/7 David De Winter and his brother Richard De Winter discuss a round-up of this weeks sport, including Manchester United, T20 cricket, US Tennis open and Bad boy Balotelli and lots more...Please have a listen on the podcast below   For more from the boys please visit http://thealternativesportsblog.wordpress.com/.

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor SMEs are the first businesses hit by a recession but also the first to see improvement after the hard times. The BBC today (2/9/14) ran a news piece on the growth of the SME sector and their findings are supported by Bibby Financial services research. They found the majority of small and medium sized enterprises in Greater London expect to invest in their businesses this quarter. The independent funder surveyed 1,000 businesses with a turnover of up...

Sport News 24/7 By David Edwards Another window closes and Danny Welbeck rocks up just as the shutters close (or about two hours later, by the time we get round to finishing the paperwork). Welbeck To start with our new recruit – I know that Welbeck’s signing has not been universally welcomed, but from what I have seen he looks a pretty decent player who should fit in and is a significant upgrade on Sanogo. Whenever I have seen him...

By Haroon Arain  Radamel Falcao's loan move to Manchester United was the major deadline day signing as Premier League summer spending hit a record £835m. The twenty times English champions decided to spend big, breaking the English transfer record. They signed Argentinian winger Angel di maria for £60 million along with English International left back Luke Shaw ,Marcos Rojo and Dany Blind. Their fierce rivals Liverpool saw their controversial main man Luis Suarez,  moving to Spanish giants Barcelona, but replaced him...

By Stephen Angus Peter Junor The independence referendum takes place on the 18th of September and as the debate has evolved and engaged the population, it is becoming clear that politics in Scotland and perhaps even the UK has fundamentally changed. It has politically awakened the entire nation. UK election turnout in 2010 was around 65 per cent while the turnout for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2011 was only 50 per cent, but there is reason to believe that...

British foreign direct investment (FDI) into Lithuania has doubled ahead of the country’s entry into the Eurozone, which is set to be completed in just over four months. According to the latest figures from Statistics Lithuania, the official agency responsible for compiling investment data, British FDI in Lithuania has gone from £95 million in 2010 to £175 million in 2013. This makes the UK the second-largest investor in the country with heavyweights such as Barclays, which established its Technology Centre...

By Laura Casewell @CasewellEditor As we get older it’s hard to ignore the visible signs of ageing, especially when it comes to our face. Forever exposed to the elements and responsible for our endless expressions, your face rarely stops moving. Every day, squinting, furrowing your brow and even laughing contribute to the slow but sure appearance of frown and crows feet. Of course, all of this means - along with the irrepressible natural ageing process - our skin starts to...

By Charlotte Hope @charlottehope Britney Spears is single again  Britney Spears’career is trucking along at a steady ‘under the radar’pace with a residency in Vegas (which, by the way, she only performs on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Pretty sweet little deal she’s got there) but last week we were alerted, via the beautiful medium that is social media, to her recent relationship status: single. Spears set gossip sites on fire with the cryptic tweet ‘Ahhhh the single life!’More intrigue...