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How migrant workers have helped us all

LAST week’s report from ippr, Floodgates or turnstiles? showed that around half of migrant workers that have come to the UK since 2004 have already left, most returning to their home country. Read

We’ll tell digital success story

AMID the kind of hysteria usually reserved for the unleashing of JK Rowling’s latest instalment of the adventures of her young wizard, a new social phenomenon went on sale at stores around the world yesterday. Read

How times have changed in the banking sector

CAST your mind back 12 months. Adam Applegarth had just outlined his vision of Northern Rock becoming one of Britain’s biggest three banks within five years after announcing pre-tax profits of more than £587m. Read

More radical reforms are necessary

GORDON Brown’s pledge to focus “solely” on keeping the economy on track must include more radical reform of Britain’s public services. Read

Beware pitfalls of buildings

IN THE last column we examined some general rules for avoiding the pitfalls in construction contracts. Read

Memories of grim times and kipper ties in 70s

HIT television programme Life on Mars has resurrect- ed memories of the 1970s, and, let’s be honest, some of those memories are pretty grim. Read

Markets still turning away from reality

PEOPLE are warning that we must be careful not to talk ourselves into a recession. I don’t think there’s ever been a recession that has been talked into existence. Read

Let’s hear it for good service ...

OVER the years I have to accept that I have often been critical of the levels of service and attitude provided by Government departments and their various agencies. Read

Equality aids profit as well as justice

WOMEN account for more than half the population and make up more than half the workforce, and this is likely to increase in the immediate future. Read

Suzanne McCreedy, Business Link

Keep up with CCD changes

APRIL 6, 2008 is an important date in the financial calendar. It represents the Govern- ment’s next common commencement date (CCD), when a number of key departments will issue changes to UK business regulations. Read

Kevin Rowan, regional secretary, Northern TUC

Small firms lead the way for training

WHAT a pleasure it was to see the North East’s own John Wright on the national web pages of the TUC. Read

Justin Urquhart Stewart

Financial expert reviews the Rock

The renowned City analyst Justin Urquhart Stewart appeared in Hexham last week at AYP Financial’s Wise Investment Event. Here, to coincide with his visit to the North East, he outlines his thoughts on the latest turn of events at ‘The Rock’ Read

Andrew Miller, regional head of Barclays Wealth

Right now, UK Government bond market is favoured

SINCE the start of the year, the UK government bond market has reacted in a broadly predictable fashion to day-to-day news flow. Yields soared in the second half of January as equity markets tumbled, but recovered again in early February. Read

Andrew Hebden, assistant editor (business), The Journal

Many good firms could use Rock’s employees

IN the midst of such a momentous week for the North East, it has been hard to hold a conversation with a business- man or woman in the region without talk eventually getting round to the Northern Rock saga. Read

Andrew Hebden, assistant editor (business), The Journal

Waiting game begins for thousands of North East Rock employees

NATIONALISATION has loomed large for Northern Rock since the scale of the crisis facing the bank emerged last September, but that did not detract from the sense of shock felt when Alistair Darling announced the move at 4pm yesterday. Read

Nicholas Craig, partner at Watson Burton

Auschwitz visit is not for the faint-hearted

I SEE pickled cucumbers in an altogether new light. I have just returned from a week in and around Krakow, living life as a communist, being driven in a Trabant, visiting Nova Huta and seeing the horrors of Auschwitz, all in the company of a bizarre, larger than life guide intent on revealing the “real” Krakow. Read

Ian Shepherdson, former Wall Street and City economist

In trouble on all fronts

The Bank of England’s quarter-point cut in interest rates yesterday will make no difference at all to the performance of the economy in the near-term. Read

Switch on to the benefits

Going green is not just a way for Teesside companies to fulfil their environmental obligations - it can also save them a lot of money, says GUY BASHFORD, Envirowise regional manager for the North-east Read

Keith Leslie, The TTE Technical Training Group

Apprenticeships can have positive effects

TRAINING new talent is vital for the future of the Tees Valley economy. But apprenticeships need more support from employers. That’s according to KEITH LESLIE, apprenticeship business director at The TTE Technical Training Group. Read

Kevin Rowan, regional secretary, Northern TUC

Praise for skills policy

WHILE the wrangling and turf wars over which public sector agency is responsible for what in terms of education, training and skills, continues to vex many, there remains a good deal to congratulate the Government on when it comes to skills policy. Read