Can you afford not to go to university?
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| As universities in England learn how hard they will be hit by higher education funding cuts, students may be concerned they face increasing costs just to get through their degree. |
| But as more young people go to university in the UK, will those who decide to call it a day after A-levels find this decision proves a costly one? |
But graduates can expect to earn £100,000 more over their working life after tax than teenagers who get a job after A-levels, according to the government. |
“It is true at the end of this degree I will have £28,000 worth of debt but having done science I am certainly one of the winners. I can go into finance or I can transfer to law or even stay in science,” he says. |
Final-year student Sophie Richardson also took her French and linguistics degree because she was interested in the subject. Even with a debt of £36,000 the 22-year-old does not regret her decision. Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
Manchester police chief admits snowballing mistakes
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| The Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police has criticised some of his officers for recording snowball throwing as “serious violent crime”. |
Peter Fahy said the officers concerned had failed to show any common sense. |
Mr Fahy, who took over as chief constable in 2008 after moving from neighbouring Cheshire, said he was trying to change the culture of over-recording crime in Manchester. |
The chairman of the police authority, Paul Murphy, said: “I am disappointed some officers couldn’t distinguish between different types of crime but the force’s performance is improving significantly.” Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
Web Fox
Fast-moving -
Web Foxes like you are great at finding information quickly, just as real-world foxes are always ready to pounce on an opportunity.
Sociable -
Foxes are highly social animals, maintaining complex relationships with the other members of their social group. When you browse the web you are also a social creature, often using social networks, or other sites whose content is created by its users, as sources of information.
Adaptable -
Web Foxes are highly adaptable multitaskers, able to do several things at the same time – just like real-world foxes who can rapidly change their behaviour to suit their environments. |
Wonder if this has anything to do with the Pope’s visit…
Meanwhile, I can’t help but wonder which government the Rabbi is thinking of - there appears nothing astonishing about this behaviour whatsoever, to me. It is par for the course, sadly. | The Government has taken a U-Turn on Children’s Rights to Sex and Relationships Education (SRE). Act now to stop them. |
| Rabbi Dr Jonathan Romain, chair of the Accord Coalition, said, ‘It is astonishing that the government plans to deny young people of their right to accurate, balanced PSHE and Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), and allow state funded schools to teach the subject from one religious viewpoint. By taking this position, Ed Balls is implicitly condoning homophobia in schools and undermining attempts to tackle homophobic bullying. After Labour has done so much for equality, this looks like a 21st century Section 28.’Read more at campaign.publicaffairsbriefing.co.uk |
OK, so there is a problem with the finances, yada yada, we are, I am quite sure, all a lot more doomed than the Government of media are letting on. But never mind that…
The UK Government apparently didn’t keep records of how much it had borrowed until 1993? How is that even possible? The Office for National Statistics said the government had borrowed a further £4.3bn last month. |
Sir Nicholas Winterton: standard class rail users “different”
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Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Winterton has criticised the new expenses culture at the House of Commons saying he’s “infuriated” that he can no longer travel first class on trains. |
He told Stephen Nolan on BBC Radio 5 live’s Victoria Derbyshire show that passengers who travel in standard class on trains are a “totally different type of people”. Read more at www.bbc.co.uk |
| The government must act more quickly to cut Britain’s huge budget deficit, a group of economists has said. |
“However, in order to be credible, the government’s goal should be to eliminate the structural current budget deficit over the course of a Parliament, and there is a compelling case, all else equal, for the first measures beginning to take effect in the 2010/11 fiscal year.” |
“Obviously during a recession you have to spend extra money, the deficit has to go up, to get rid of unemployment. |
“But once all that has passed us, we will have to tackle this because we can’t go on borrowing money. The markets are going to get very tight because it’s not just [that] we are borrowing money but everybody else is borrowing money.” |
In December’s pre-Budget report, Labour announced belt-tightening measures including a 1% cap on public sector pay rises and an increase in National Insurance from 2011. Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
UK firms ‘cut dividends by £10bn’
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A total of 202 listed firms cut their dividends, 74 of which paid none at all. Meanwhile 179 companies increased their payouts and 60 held them steady. |
A dividend is a cash payment from a firm’s earnings that is distributed to shareholders - essentially an investor’s share of a company’s profits which they receive as a part-owner of the company. |
Meanwhile defensive firms, which make consistently steady profits, increased dividend payments by at least 5%. |
Drug companies, for example, paid 20% more in dividends, while electricity suppliers, food retailers and tobacco producers raised dividends by at least 10%, the report said. Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
Yeah, hold that, you probably won’t be able to take more foreign students, because we are going to reduce the number we let in.
Foreign student visas to be cut by UK
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| The number of visas granted to students from outside the EU is to be cut in a crackdown on abuses of the system, UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said. |
• Successful applicants from outside the EU will have to speak English to a level only just below GCSE standard, rather than beginner level as at present. |
• Students taking courses below degree level will be allowed to work for only 10 hours a week, instead of 20 as at present. |
• Those on courses which last under six months will not be allowed to bring dependants into the country, while the dependants of students on courses below degree level will not be allowed to work. |
• Additionally, visas for courses below degree level will also be granted only if the institutions they attend are on a new register, the Highly Trusted Sponsors List. Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
Global stock markets tumble on debt concerns
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Concerns over debt levels are also tapping into wider fears about the strength of the global economy, analysts said. |
Some investors believe the recovery is the direct result of governments pumping billions of dollars into their economies to stimulate demand. |
When they stop pumping money in, they fear, economies will begin to shrink again. |
Growing budget deficits mean that governments cannot afford to spend much more on boosting their economies. |
“The real concern is that the whole recovery is nothing more than poorly-directed government stimulus which has simply had the effect of boosting asset prices,” said David Morrison at GFT.
Read more at news.bbc.co.uk |
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