US debate on Syria may be a watershed for the West in the Middle East September 1, 2013 A WEEKEND is long time in politics. Since Thursday, we have discovered that the UK will no longer be involved in any military strike on Syria. Barack Obama, meanwhile, despite concluding that military intervention is needed, has delegated responsibility for any action to the US Congress. Mindful of the political disaster that befell David Cameron [...]
Letters to the Editor – 02/09 – Syria vote, Education reform, Best of Twitter September 1, 2013 Syria vote [Re: Cameron will look back on this vote as a political blessing, Friday] Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the fallout from last Thursday’s vote is the ineffectiveness the Conservative whips. They were clearly fairly confident of their chances earlier in the day, with reports suggesting that the panicked phone calls [...]
Strikes on Syria may force the US and its allies into a war they will struggle to control August 29, 2013 DURING more than two years of conflict in Syria, Western countries have studiously avoided any direct participation in the fighting. Now, despite UK MPs’ vote against intervention last night, many nations (notably the US) remain on the verge of launching strikes against Syrian military targets following its regime’s apparent use of chemical weapons. But while [...]
The coalition must fight to defend performance-related pay for teachers August 29, 2013 PUPILS will return to school next week with the usual trepidation and excitement. But this year more than most, teachers may feel the same. From September, all schools will be able to link teachers’ pay more closely with performance. The government’s reform to pay will transform the market for teachers. Pay rises based on length [...]
Networks see more to 4G than travel games – despite limited roll out August 29, 2013 EE’S TEN-month monopoly on 4G in the UK came to an end yesterday, with Vodafone rolling out a competing network in London and O2 launching in the capital, plus Bradford and Leeds. These small-scale launches have been disappointing to many. But two factors underpin the operators’ abundance of caution: the expensive 3G debacle a decade [...]
Letters to the editor – 30/08 – Crisis in Syria, Best of Twitter August 29, 2013 Crisis in Syria [Re: We must accept our limited capacity to resolve conflict in tinderbox Syria, yesterday] Liam Fox makes some interesting points, but Iraq was an invasion and not an intervention. And not all interventions are bad things – the failure to act in both Rwanda and Bosnia comes to mind. Dean Miah This is [...]
We must accept our limited capacity to resolve conflict in tinderbox Syria August 28, 2013 ONE OF the enduring consequences of the war in Iraq, and to a lesser extent Afghanistan, is a deep scepticism towards military intervention abroad among the British people. In the case of the civil war in Syria, I share that scepticism. There are four questions that need to be asked and answered by policymakers [...]
Talking down the recovery won’t close the gap in SME lending perceptions August 28, 2013 IT’S AMAZING the difference just a few months can make. If we wind back to the spring, the news was dominated by economic doom, gloom, and concern about the UK entering an historic triple dip recession. Now the pendulum seems to have swung the other way, with survey after survey reporting increasing business confidence and [...]
The new Bank objective of supporting growth could prove ineffective August 28, 2013 THERE were many positive aspects to Mark Carney’s first speech as new Bank of England governor, held in Nottingham yesterday. It was broadcast over the internet. He took questions from the audience and then gave a press conference afterwards. All this was accessible to the public at large via the Bank’s website. This is a [...]
Letters to the editor – 29/08 – Jobless youth, HS2 failings, Best of Twitter August 28, 2013 Jobless youth [Re: Why far too many young people still struggle to find work after education, Friday] Lottie Dexter makes for good reading, but I disagree with her conclusions. Enforced apprenticeships will not save Britain’s young – they are the hallmark of a corporatist industrial policy. We live in an age of innovation: machines or even [...]