Opinion 鈥� Page 389
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The power of the brand
So, Sir Robert McAlpine is the best brand in construction.So says a new list of the top 500 鈥渂usiness superbrands鈥� in the UK anyway.The pathologically secretive contractor came in at number 101 on a list that was topped by Google, Rolls Royce and Sony.So publicity-shy is the company that the ...
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拢1 trillion wiped off the value of UK homes
Let's not get too worked up about the 拢40 billion loss by RBS - those foolish bankers that went into a bidding war to buy ABN Amro at peak.If the Nationwide figures are any reflection of the true value of houses in the UK then we have just witness about ...
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White Young Green gives City a nasty surprise
All is clearly not well at engineering consultant White Young Green.It took the City by surprise today by bringing forward its half-year results from Friday at the eleventh hour. If there's one thing the market hates even more than bad news it's "sudden" news.Combine that with the fact it also ...
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Is this Government ignorance which I see before me?
The latest report from the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee called Housing and the Credit Crunch is well worth a read for a run through of the current travails of the industry.It seems broadly to "welcome" what the CLG and the Government more widely has been doing ...
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More mortgage cash from Northern Rock, but will it make a difference?
So Northern Rock is to get back into mortgages. I hear the cheers.The aim will be to get the first time buyer market moving. I hear more cheers.It will start lending on loan to value rates of up to 80% or even 90% - definitely not 100%, because that should ...
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CommentDon鈥檛 stop now
It is vital to maintain good working practices and industry capacity, so that when the recession ends Britain can meet the challenges of a new era
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黑洞社区 buys a pint 鈥� for Mott MacDonald
黑洞社区鈥檚 meeting with Mott MacDonald鈥檚 transportation team has an inauspicious start 鈥� there鈥檚 a security alert on the Jubilee line. Out of breath, dishevelled and half an hour late, I arrive to find them settled in.
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CommentFisticuffs
Warning: this week鈥檚 diary contains graphic scenes of violence, as a Unite officer tests out his right jab, a Wembley grudge match reaches round two and Tim Byles submits to the school bullies
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CommentRumours of Dubai鈥檚 demise鈥�
The UK and US press have been making themselves feel better by trashing Dubai
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Golden opportunities
I have lived and worked in the Middle East, especially in Saudi Arabia, over the past 25 years and never regretted a minute of it. Some of my friends have been there for more than 30 years.
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Rethinking Britain
Historically the construction industry has been used as either a brake or an accelerator for the UK economy 鈥� subject to the whims of the party in power
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Not-so-lucky dip
As a bricklayer with 24 years鈥� experience in the subcontracting game, it is with some relief that my son and I no longer subcontract
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CommentOne hell of a job
So are we all agreed, then? What the government needs is a construction industry that is able to turn public investment into buildings and jobs
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CommentWhat remains
The housebuilding industry that emerges from this recession will bear little resemblance to the one that grew out of the nineties slump
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Comment
Private housing starts dive well below levels in 1980s and 1990s recessions
Housing starts in England plunged in the final quarter of last year to levels not seen in modern times.At the depth of the last house building recession during the worst three month period at the end of 1992 private firms started 19,227 homes. In the final quarter of 2008 just ...
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War, Peace and Taylor Wimpey
鈥淚 am so fed up with this process.鈥漈his was the verdict of someone involved in the fraught and never-ending Taylor Wimpey debt talks this week.They were referring to the latest delay in signing off on a restructuring deal that has been more than six months in the making.Pen was expected ...
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Inflation, deflation, Japan and paradoxes
So consumer price inflation isn't falling as fast as many commentators had expected. Is that a surprise? Well not really.Ok there are lags in the systems. But with oil price falls, the cut in VAT and deep discounting the big plot twists pre-Christmas, it was hard to see where the ...