This month BDRC Continental, a market research firm, released its SME Finance Monitor, an independent survey of SME financing commissioned by the Business Finance Taskforce. The taskforce is composed of CEOs and senior representatives from Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Standard Chartered. With the survey indicating that 59 per… [Read More]
EU member states are pushing forward with a decision which could reduce transparency at the EU level, writes Lucy Hatton. A recent ruling by the General Court of the EU, which would enhance the transparency of the deliberations in the Council of the EU, is set to be appealed against by a majority of EU… [Read More]
In light of the increasingly evident disparity between standards of criminal justice in EU member states, the European Commission has launched a consultation on pre-trial detention and extradition. This Green Paper should be welcomed as a recognition of “the scandal of excessive and unjustified pre-trial detention in Europe”, and the need to impose more rigorous… [Read More]
Turkey’s bloodless civil war is between pious Muslims who want the public space to be dominated by their interpretation of religion, and less dogmatic Muslims who believe in the strict separation of state and mosque (Burak Bekdil, Hurriyet June 7 2011) Europe can be seen as bracketed by Turkey to the south-east and Great Britain… [Read More]
The Prime Minister is a well-known proponent of family life: a conviction he has now employed to encourage the British public to stigmatise non-present fathers, Therese Wallin.
After ten months in barbaric captivity, and a further three years in legal limbo, Andrew Symeou has been acquitted of manslaughter and can return to the UK. His story must serve as evidence of the worst excesses of the European Arrest Warrant, and be used as a platform to achieve long-overdue and far-reaching change.
Although the business press concentrated on Greece’s economic woes over the weekend, more attention should’ve been paid to the British economy and news that train-maker Bombardier is to review its UK operations. It is speculated that the reason for the review is the failure of the firm to win a major contract to build carriages… [Read More]
Via Bishop Hill, we learn that schools will no longer be required to teach climate change as part of the science curriculum. This is a good step, not so much because of the political controversies surrounding climate change policy, but because its inclusion helped to set a bad precedent. It has become a common tactic… [Read More]
Late last month the Sutton Trust and Durham University released a report ranking 21 different strategies for improving pupil achievement. The report summarised the evidence relating to the strategies and commented on their value for money. The intention of the report is to provide schools with some evidence on what the ‘pupil premium’ (set to… [Read More]
Energy costs are set to rise over the next decade. Data from the UK national accounts allow an analysis of which businesses may be affected particularly severely and how they may be able to respond. High on the list are are Iron, steel and other metals, Shipbuilding, Structural clay, cement and lime, Ceramic goods, Rubber products, Air transport, Inorganic and organic chemicals, Dairy, Paper, Paper products, Glass and Textiles.