Workers face burn-out
by brian_turnerAccording to research by human resources consultancy Hudson, over 50% of British workers have experienced symptoms of overwork and burn-out in the last six months. One third said they had suffered exhaustion and over a quarter had been unable to sleep or had felt ill due to worrying about work.
Nearly half of employees thought [...]
Kinnock declares EU constitution dead
by brian_turnerIn an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme, Ex-European Commissioner Neil Kinnock said that the treaty on the EU constitution is ‘dead’ after 55% of French people voted ‘No’ in Sunday’s referendum.
Lord Kinnock said that the UK government could not express that view before the Dutch referendum on 1 June and in light of [...]
Asda chases Tesco
by brian_turnerSupermarket group Asda, which is owned by Wal-Mart, is planning to expand its home shopping service by 100% this year, to compete with rival retailer Tesco.
Asda launched over £100m of price cuts in April. It has invested over £7m in its asda.com home delivery service, making it significantly easier to use. Approximately 33% [...]
CBI recommends pension reform
by brian_turnerEmployers’ organisation, the CBI, has suggested that the second state pension (S2P) should be reformed in order to increase the pension available to lower-paid workers.
The CBI estimates that reform could increase the retirement income of someone earning £20,000 a year by up to £2,000 a year, by using savings on administration costs to [...]
BT tackles Rogue Diallers
by brian_turnerTelecoms company BT has launched free software and an early warning system, to combat the problem of rogue diallers, following complaints from over 80,000 of its customers.
Rogue diallers are programs which dial a premium rate number via a user’s modem, when a user logs on. Users are unaware of this until they receive their [...]
May 30, 2005
China challenges European textile tariffs
by brian_turnerChina’s commerce minister announced on Monday that threats from the United States and the European Union to put quotas on Chinese textile exports, his country has decided to abandon limits on exports to the United States and the European Union.
Beginning Tuesday, tariffs on 81 clothing and textile products will be eliminated, although China [...]
Airline industry struggles with falling profits
by brian_turnerThe director general of the International Air Transport Association told the annual meeting of his organization on Monday that high oil prices are “destroying†the profitability of airlines worldwide.
Fuel costs, which have risen by $39 billion in two years, are around 22 percent of the industry’s costs. The industry’s total fuel bill [...]
UK consultants to monitor blogs and forums
by brian_turnerUK consultancy firm Netrank is currently talking with several pharmaceuticals companies, including Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, and Pfizer, trying to sell them on the firm’s software meant to monitor internet forums and blogs to discover what people are saying about the drug makers’ products.
The software can find and identify thousands of messages per day [...]
May 29, 2005
Over 55s taking to the internet
by brian_turnerTwo polls marking Silver Surfers’ day show that technologies such as the Internet, are considered essential by older people.
Over 50% of over-55s online say the net gives them a new lease of life, 7% use the Internet to try to meet a potential partner, and 22% play games. Silver Surfers’ day, which tries to [...]
Big business raises climate change concerns
by brian_turnerThe heads of the 12 leading firms, including BP, Shell and HSBC Bank, have written to the prime minister asking for long-term policies to be introduced, to deal with climate change.
The industrialists say that climate change is a major challenge, which will need substantial investment by business, but this is not possible until future [...]
Blair and Berlusconi agree to increase on aid to Africa
by brian_turnerAt a meeting in Rome, Prime minister Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, agreed to increase aid to Africa and address climate change.
The meeting was the final stage of talks before the G8 industrialised nations meet at Gleneagles in Scotland, in July. The UK is currently president of the G8 group [...]
Microsoft to reveal virutal earth for business
by brian_turnerMicrosoft, the world’s largest software company, is planning to reveal its “Virtual Earth” site in the US this summer.
Users of “Virtual Earth†will be able to search their local areas for a range of amenities, including shopping malls, cinemas and small businesses that do not have their own website.
The results will appear as [...]
May 27, 2005
Housing market retains weak pulse
by brian_turnerBanks have recorded a significant increase in the number of new mortgages approved, indicating that the housing market could be stabilising.
According to figures from the British Bankers Association (BBA), a total of 191,857 new mortgages, worth £17.2 billion were approved during April, a 2% increase compared with March, although still 17% lower than in [...]
May 26, 2005
Association of American University Presses concerned at Google print project
by brian_turnerThe Association of American University Presses, which represents 125 non-profit-making academic publishers, is concerned that Google’s plan to put university libraries online, could breach copyright rules.
Google’s £110m project, involves putting 15 million volumes online from the libraries of Stanford, Michigan and Harvard universities, and from New York Public Library, by 2015. It will also [...]
CBI lowers economic growth estimate
by brian_turnerThe Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has reduced its estimate for UK economic growth in 2005, from 2.7% to 2.5%, after its latest manufacturing survey showed a large increase in pessimism. Manufacturers were less optimistic about output levels than at any time in the last five months.
The CBI released the figures, a day after [...]
Peter Mandelson talks down resistance to Chinese imports
by brian_turnerPeter Mandelson, the European Union’s Trade Commissioner said, in an interview for BBC’s Newsnight programme, that any measures to reduce Chinese textile imports will be temporary.
They would aim to give European firms time to adapt to the changes in trade rules introduced when the Multi-Fibre Agreement, which governed the global textile trade, was [...]
Tony Blairs calls for end of “compensation culture”
by brian_turnerSpeaking to the Institute of Public Policy Research, Prime Minister Tony Blair called for an end to compensation culture in the UK, saying it put undue pressure on public organisations. He said that there should be a more realistic attitude towards risk.
The comments were part of a speech on the need for a “sensible debate” [...]
Elite Torrents shut down over Star Wars III piracy
by brian_turnerUS federal agents on Wednesday shut down the Elite Torrents network and seized its main server over the appearance there of illegal copies of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith hours before the film appeared in theatres last week.
The network enabled the download of almost 18,000 films and software
programs using [...]
Barclays warns on consumer debt problems
by brian_turnerShares in Barclays fell by over 4%, after the bank issued a trading statement for the quarter to March 2005, reporting that consumer bad debts were worse than expected. On a positive note, good profits growth was recorded during the first quarter. Barclays previously expected defaulted personal debts of £1.4bn this year, compared with £1.1bn [...]
Chirac makes crisis address over EU Constitution
by brian_turnerIn a 10-minute television address to the French people on Thursday, president Jacques Chirac said that a united Europe could better deal with issues of terrorism, as well as with environmental and economic challenges, as he urged a “yes†vote on the European constitution in a referendum to be held Sunday.
He contended that a [...]