Time to hear the real voices of the uprising in Syria March 29, 2012 THE Syrian uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad has inspired the world. But all is not well in the opposition camp. I joined the Syrian National Council (SNC), Syria’s “government-in-exile”, for the greater good of my country, agreeing to work with different factions within the Council in the hope of ending the bloodshed imposed [...]
Is E.ON/RWE’s cancellation of new nuclear plants a danger to British energy security? March 29, 2012 YES Tony Lodge The decision by the RWE/E.ON consortium to drop plans to build new nuclear power plants is arguably the biggest setback for UK nuclear strategy since the 1970s. It hugely undermines the government’s plans to deliver a balanced and diverse portfolio of new nuclear investors, which is vitally important. It means that the [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 29, 2012 Jobs for the girls [Re: Should we be nostalgic for the 1960s workplace?, Wednesday] In the 1960s I worked in market research on Madison Avenue in one of the top agencies of the day, Benton & Bowles. While most smoked, there was no alcohol around during the daytime. What I find particularly wrong with Mad [...]
Unite scored an own goal with the tanker strike – but so has Cameron March 28, 2012 LEN McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite trade union, positions himself as an arch-enemy of the government. Of the Bob Crow school of diplomacy, McCluskey remains convinced civil disobedience is necessary to halt the coalition’s deficit reduction programme. And he seems hell-bent on ruining the Olympic Games with mass industrial action. Now might seem a [...]
The jury’s out on whether Obama’s health bill is too bitter a pill to swallow March 28, 2012 THIS week, two years after President Barack Obama signed his US health reforms, known as Obamacare, into law, the central tenet of the legislation, whether the federal government can compel uninsured individuals to purchase private health insurance, came before the Supreme Court. The administration claims that the so-called “individual mandate” is legal under terms of [...]
How to prove you are smart enough to work at Google March 28, 2012 HOW many houses in Canada are painted red?” That question recently greeted an applicant for an advertising position at Google. Crazy estimation questions have become popular in many industries, particularly as the job market has tightened. Job seekers are confronting posers like: How many surgeons are there in Britain? How many people are talking on [...]
Is Mervyn King wrong to say the Diamond Jubilee will be bad for Britain’s economy? March 28, 2012 YES Peter Whittle The argument that Britain can’t afford the downturn that, it is alleged, will result from the Diamond Jubilee is beyond parody. The event, which now has more momentum behind it than the obscenely expensive (and heavily publicly funded) Olympics, is historically unique, and will unite people in the biggest public celebration for [...]
RAPID RESPONSES March 28, 2012 Insufficient appeal [Re: Taxpayers must not be forced to pay, Tuesday] Surely if a party appealed to a sufficient number of people, they would happily donate funds for the party to use. Insufficient appeal leads to insufficient funds. If there was cash at the end, maybe politicians would be more likely to respond to consumer [...]
Don’t let banker-bashing hide the beauty and importance of finance March 27, 2012 IN SPITE of all the ugly criticism that the financial community has been getting since the financial crisis began in 2007, there is something beautiful about finance. It can charm those who see beauty in abstraction or who are impressed by the complex systems that make our civilisation work. When I teach introductory finance to [...]
It’s not just the wealthy who should be kept from influencing politicians March 27, 2012 YOU should not be able to buy political influence for £250,000. That is the consensus following the Conservative Party’s donations for access scandal. Well, then, how much should it cost? The popular answer is that political influence, like the NHS, should be free at the point of use. In a democracy people influence politicians by [...]