23 July 2015 Week in Brief: UK NEWS NHS: The Government has announced that, in pursuit of its aim of a 24/7 health service, it proposes to compel hospital consultants to work at weekends if new terms on pay and hours cannot be agreed with them. Currently, consultants can opt out of weekend working. LIBERAL… Continue reading Issue 12: 2015 07 23: Week in Brief – UK NEWS
Author: Neil Tidmarsh
Issue 12: 2015 07 23: Week in Brief: Business & the City
23 July 2014 Week in Brief: BUSINESS & THE CITY GREEK BANKS: Greek financial affairs have suddenly been relegated from the headlines, following the rescue package agreed last week which has led to their banks reopening on Monday, and enabling the central bank to make the delinquent IMF payments to take the country back out… Continue reading Issue 12: 2015 07 23: Week in Brief: Business & the City
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: All going on our summer holiday?
16 July 2015 All going on our summer holiday? By Chin Chin With Henley and Wimbledon now behind us, the London social season has drawn to its close and the British are beginning to pack for the traditional summer holiday. Most of the British, that is: the ones who remembered to do something about booking… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: All going on our summer holiday?
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: All the President’s People
16 July 2015 All the President’s People by J R Thomas Imagine a horse race with only one runner, preening and prancing in front of the crowd. Then imagine another horse race with so many runners there aren’t enough starting stalls, and every neighbourhood donkey, pony and carthorse in the county is jostling around the… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: All the President’s People
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Sentenced to Life
16 July 2015 Clive James: ‘Sentenced to Life’ by J R Thomas Clive James is one of those extraordinary figures who seem to pop up in every civilised society to make their fellow occupants of the planet feel insufficiently talented and inadequately driven. A true modern Renaissance man, he was a constant figure in the… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Sentenced to Life
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: The people who cannot afford it
16 July 2015 The people who cannot afford it by John Watson There are two distinct sides to Mr Osborne’s budget. From a macroeconomic point of view, he has been less austere than expected, moving the date on which the budget is expected to balance to 2019/2020 and relying on growth to push down the… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: The people who cannot afford it
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Greece and the Oracle
16 July 2015 Greece and the Oracle by John Watson Rain Gods fall into two distinct categories. In “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, Douglas Adams’s character Rob McKenna achieves Rain God status because, wherever he is, it rains. That is one sort of Rain God. The other sort is, well, me or, at least,… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Greece and the Oracle
Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
16 July 2015 Week in Brief: UK NEWS BUDGET: Figures from the Institute of Fiscal Studies indicate that in many cases an increase in pay to the new national living wage will not compensate low-paid working families for the reduction of benefits proposed in the budget. TREASURY COMMAND PAPER: In “Fixing the foundations: Creating a… Continue reading Issue 11: 2015 07 16: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: The Munchies
09 July 2015 The Munchies By Chin Chin I am sure that I didn’t drink very much last night; still, I was at the pub with some friends and know what people will say if I complain about my headache. “He should have learned when to stop,” one will remark, shaking his head with a… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: The Munchies
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
09 July 2015 Week in Brief: UK NEWS BUDGET: Mr Osborne’s second budget for this year included measures and proposals to introduce a new living wage for those over 25, beginning at £7.20 an hour and rising to £9 an hour by 2020; to increase the personal allowance to £11,000 next year with a view… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Week in Brief: UK NEWS
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Mr Tsipras’s Tactics
09 July 2015 Mr Tsipras’s Tactics by John Watson Old hands at litigation will tell you that if you are stuck for a strategy you can do worse than to imagine yourself in the other side’s position, work out what it is that they would like you to do least and then do it. It… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Mr Tsipras’s Tactics
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Negotiations? Which Negotiations?
9 July 2015 NEGOTIATIONS? WHICH NEGOTIATIONS? by Neil Tidmarsh Protracted and deadlocked negotiations between Western powers and an obdurate ‘rogue’ state drag on in a European capital. A deal to bring the state back into the international fold should have been signed this week but a deadline was missed and the talks have been extended… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Negotiations? Which Negotiations?
Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Surplus Energy
09 July 2015 Surplus Energy by J R Thomas Apologies to those who think the Shaw Sheet is developing an obsession with what lies under our feet. Last week potash, this week oil. Potash is something we don’t think about very much in normal life, but it is vital to how we feed our ever-growing… Continue reading Issue 10: 2015 07 09: Surplus Energy
