Mapping business highways of Britain
By Nathan Lee, Finance and Politics Correspondent Regional economic deficiencies must be solved by business attracting business. Boris Island proposals may have been rejected in the latest Airports Commission report, but London Island remains firmly on the agenda. Above the need for extra airport capacity in the South East, the recent report highlights the extent to which the UK is becoming a two tier economy. Birmingham and Stansted expansions were rejected along with the Mayor’s pie in the sky vision...
The cape on good pope
By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter When the smoke turned white from the chimney perched above the Sistine chapel I and many others thought “here we go again”. Another Pope who hates homosexuals, cosies up to the wealthy and ignores sexual abuse claims within catholic clergy. How wrong we were. The man who replaced amateur goalkeeper and former Nazi youth member Benedict XVI was Argentina’s Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first non-European pope for 1,300 years (the last being Pope Gregory...
To protect or to serve?
By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic The British army employs more than 400,000 people to protect our small island, almost two people for every square kilometre in the country. Compared to say, jobseekers’ allowance (£4.91 billion) or housing benefits (£16.9 billion), the cost of fielding our soldiers abroad in conflicts we started is huge. It costs $60.8 billion to maintain the UK’s armed forces; only Russia, China and the US spend more per year. A damming study entitled...
Hanbag Economics: The Ideology of Austerity
By Mary Mellor, Emeritus Professor, Northumbria University George Osborne’s Autumn Statement was a classic espousal of handbag economics, so named after the saint of the handbag, Mrs Thatcher. Handbag economics is the common sense of our age. Public sectors are like households, they must live within their means, balance their books, cut their coat according to their cloth. Britain is to face more years of austerity, not because it is in recession, but in pursuit of the handbag ideal. According to...
The positives of negative: An idea to change the world
By Malcolm Henry, Author of Views From The Boatshed There’s a debate going on in some nerdy corners of the internet about negative interest rates, which sounds like a desperately dull thing to be wasting time on, but it could be the spark that lights the lamp that leads us out of the economic gloom into a bright and prosperous future. A negative interest rate is being considered by some as the only plausible way to stir the economy out of the...
British schooling has left us speechless
By Drew Nicol Britain’s education system is failing thousands of young people every year by neglecting to emphasise the importance of learning a foreign language, according to the British Council. The British Council’s ‘Languages for the Future’ report conclusively states that “it is a widely held – if not undisputed – view that the UK is lacking in the necessary language skills for the future”. The report claims that the increasing numbers of British graduates will struggle to compete in...
Making an Autumn statement
By Adam Walker, Economics Correspondent Follow @adamwalker8715 Last Thursday’s 2013 Autumn Statement heralded a “responsible recovery”. With signs of a brighter economic future in 2013 the chancellor was quick to note that there are still difficult decisions to be made and the UK economy was by no means in the clear. The question left in the minds of the British public was: What can we expect in 2014 and beyond? Working Late Again One of the most controversial points from...
One man “terrorist” is the rest of the world’s freedom fighter
By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter Nelson Mandela on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinth By now everyone in the world should know Mandela died, except maybe Joey Essex regardless of whether he is in the jungle or not. My family were and still are avid political activists and I remember vividly not being allowed to buy South African “Outspan” oranges from the local supermarket. Even at a young age I knew we were trying to do something right. I still haven’t...
Carni-veil of prosperity making Brazil nuts
By Joe Mellor, In house Reporter Ol’ Blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra sung the girl from Ipanema about the allure of the fifth-biggest country in the world and its ample assets. Let’s be honest, he was referring to a scantily clad women rather than its bumper soybean crop. Setting aside Frank’s ignorance of Brazil’s growing economy (which recently jumped above the UK to become the sixth-largest in the world) there are serious concerns of social unrest during next year’s World Cup. Politicians...