We seem to be living in confusing times. In which direction is Europe heading? What impact will that have on the rest of the world?

However, here at MPL we are optimistic about the coming year. In confusing times it is all the more important to communicate well, and we plan to help all our students do that in English.

Locally, Cambridge is still doing well, as we can see from all the building projects in the city!

Then, we have the London Olympics to look forward to, as well as the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Take a look at the queen's barge - Cleopatra, eat your heart out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16129983

Mark.

P.S. A barge is a flat-bottomed boat found on rivers or canals.

Mark.

Here I am planning a week in North Norfolk (the east coast of England) with my family. The beaches are very big and empty. We just have to hope for good weather!

Mark.

However, there will be one last chance this year. On the 3rd of March I will hold a supper in the SKF Competence Centre for staff and students. There are many connections between Scotland and Gothenburg, and I will mention some of them in my next blog entry.

Meanwhile, I hope the students are ordering their tartan - sashes and skirts for the ladies, and bow ties (and kilts?) for the men.

Scotweb will see you all right, everyone! You can order here:

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/

Mark.

Christmas is over, January is here, and the British weather is back to normal - a little over zero, cloudy and rainy...

However, we have something to look forward to in January: Burns Night. On the 25th of January we celebrate the birth of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns.

I'll be blogging about Burns Night plans soon, but for now you can read all about it on this BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/robertburns/burnsnight/running_order.shtml

People all over the world hold a Burns Night supper, but you have to wear a kilt (gentlemen) or a sash (ladies) in a suitable tartan.

You can find a great selection of highland dress items and tartans on the Scotweb site, one of the best retailers.

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/

So get your outfit together, and don't leave it too late to buy that kilt!

Mark.

First of all, the cuts (£81bn) are quite detailed and spread out over 4-5 years. That has given everyone an idea of where they stand. There will be an estimated loss of 490,000 jobs in the public sector over the period, most of which will occur due to natural wastage. That is about 100,000 a year, and some think the figure will be double because of loss of related business and incomes. To put it into perspective, the public sector in the UK employs 6.05 million people. But then the government hopes for an economic recovery and job creation. Let's hope the new jobs - in the private sector - will offer opportunities for young people. Then, some of the cuts are quite localised, and there will be effects, for example, in towns near to military bases. Government bureaucracy will be deeply cut, and when I saw a list of the quangos to be wound up I was not surprised (there is a lot of duplication in that area). When it comes to salary levels, bonuses will be restricted and pay freezes imposed. There is a general feeling that senior managers in the public sector really do have high pay and that this needs to be restrained. On the other hand, the health service budget has been protected, as has that of schools. But funding for the university sector will change dramatically. It looks like the level of undergraduate tuition fees will rise from the present £3,250 a year to £6,000, starting in 2012. Foreign universities are already targeting our students. For example, the University of Maastricht (Holland), which has a very reasonable price, wants to join the UK university applications administration system (UCAS).

On the tax and benefit side there are also major changes. VAT will rise to 20% in January (from 17.5%). There are already higher rates of tax in place for higher earners. The benefit system will be revised, simplified, and reduced. There will be no child benefit for higher rate tax payers. However, the tax-free allowance will rise (by £1,000 up to £7,475, and maybe eventually up to £10,000).

We are still waiting for announcements for business. We know that business support will be changed, if not cut, and that agencies will go (such as the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)). There are stories of financial companies relocating to Switzerland, but this seems to be a trickle, not a flood.

As always, there are some crazy things to point out, especially in the defence area. Many ask why we are going to spend £3.6bn on two aircraft carriers, which we may not even use to the full. The answer is that the contract cancellation fees would be more than the cost of building the ships! So is this just an expensive form of public sector employment? Then, we will probably renew our Trident nuclear capability (nuclear weapons in nuclear submarines). This will cost £20bn. And why does the army have lots of heavy artillery (big guns) in Germany? Why does it have them at all? Our defence capability still has a cold war mentality. This shows how long it takes to change the direction of a supertanker.

Nevertheless, when you look at all the traditional measures (unemployment etc), we are in a much better position than in previous times of difficulty (and the economy is growing now).

Take a look at this BBC site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10612209

And, I think that it was time for a radical look at a lot of state and government structures. Then, major areas of employment are protected (health and education) and this will limit the potential for labour unrest.

Back home, Cambridge is still booming with low unemployment, and the city has an expansion plan - no fall in house prices here.

So, it is a case of "heads down, hard work", and if the growth continues we will be all right.

Mark

P.S. Next post: how we got into this mess in the first place.

Glossary

Natural wastage = people leave an organisation and are not replaced

Quango = Quasi Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation

To wind up = to close

To restrain = To hold back

Tuition fees = fees paid to a university for teaching costs, as opposed to living costs

UCAS = Universities and Colleges Admissions Service 

Mark.

Earlier in the summer I was also engaged in training, but of a different sort. It was bumps week again, when there is a major rowing competition on the river Cam. My boat was fast (we achieved 20 kpm in ten strokes from a standing start) and we finally got a bump on the last night of the competition. This means that we caught and hit the boat in front of us, as you can see in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9FqbhBSvJI

Have a good summer!

Mark.

However, things are looking up for the financial sector, based in London. According to the Financial Times (13 April 2010), job vacancies have increased by 120% in the first quarter. Apparently, there are 53,000 vacancies so far this year (a 26% increase over the 2009 figure of 42,000).

If my memory serves me right, it was said that London lost about 70,000 jobs in the financial sector during the recession (from 350,000 to 280,000).

The new figures suggest that London is on the way back!

Mark.