All Leader articles – Page 44

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    Fight Ken’s development tax

    2003-02-28T00:00:00Z

    Today, we launch a campaign to win construction an exemption from Ken Livingstone’s congestion charge.

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    War: What it is good for

    2003-02-21T00:00:00Z

    There's a stockbrokers' adage about trading in times of conflict: "Sell on the sabre-rattle, buy on the battle".

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    The devil's bargain

    2003-02-14T00:00:00Z

    John Prescott can't cut a deal with the firefighters, but he's found more compliant negotiating partners in housebuilders.

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    Dear Prudence

    2003-02-07T00:00:00Z

    The word is "contestability".

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    The pleasures of privacy

    2003-01-31T00:00:00Z

    If there was ever a moment for firms to consider going private, this is it.

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    An industry turned upside down

    2003-01-24T00:00:00Z

    Something miraculous occurred this week. The dirty, smelly, low-status construction industry suddenly became the year's hottest career option.

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    Mustn't grumble

    2003-01-10T00:00:00Z

    Tony Blair invited comparisons with Fraser of Dad's Army when he delivered a doom-laden new year's message, dominated by Iraq, al-Qaeda and the faltering global economy. He might also have mentioned gun crime, rail chaos, and hikes in council tax and national insurance – the latter courtesy of, er, Tony ...

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    Food for thought …

    2002-12-20T00:00:00Z

    e couldn't resist it. In anticipation of next week's festive feasting, our attentions turned to the traditionally less mouth-watering fare served on site. And who better to sample the pies and pasta than columnist Jonathan Meades? As restaurant critic of The Times, Meades is used to dining in rather grander ...

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    Digital building is here

    2002-12-13T00:00:00Z

    There's a scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise walks into a fashion boutique in 2054 and is greeted by intelligent adverts that know everything about him from what clothes he buys to what toothpaste he uses. This, say retail experts, is not inconceivable. Now substitute the mall with a ...

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    Whitehall's special needs

    2002-12-06T00:00:00Z

    This should be interesting. Whitehall is about to undertake a crash course in A level public procurement. A notoriously dim pupil, it has been flunking basic tests for years. But political expediency demands that it achieve top marks in schools, hospitals and transport by the next election. Head teacher Gordon ...

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    Prescott under fire

    2002-11-29T00:00:00Z

    John Prescott has more to worry about right now than his deteriorating relationship with housebuilders (pages 24-25). Planning chaos is a political sideshow alongside the main drama of the firefighters' dispute and the threat – amid a London teachers' strike – of a new winter of discontent. But, although no ...

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    Cleaning up the pensions mess

    2002-11-22T00:00:00Z

    A year after ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø warned of construction's pensions time bomb, employers and staff alike are getting the jitters about the cost of retirement. Our annual Hays Montrose/ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø careers survey reveals that more than half of readers are worried about pensions, and – as a result – expect to work beyond ...

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    Endgame on the underground

    2002-11-15T00:00:00Z

    Is it nearly the end of the line for the part-privatisation of London's Tube? A year and a half after they were first chosen as the preferred bidders, the Metronet and Tube Lines consortiums were due to finalise their deals this month. But as passengers so often find, delays are ...

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    Firing the smoking barrel gang

    2002-11-08T00:00:00Z

    It's easy to demonise labour agencies. The stereotype is straight out of a Guy Ritchie film: grubby back-street office, battered white van and dodgy-looking paperwork. Such outfits have no place in the world of integrated supply chains. But still, every contractor knows that if they need five brickies in the ...

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    The end of the affair

    2002-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Where – if anywhere – does Amey go from here? After a turbulent five months, during which two finance directors made spectacular exits, the support services firm's largest shareholder has called for the group to be broken up or sold. Amey is resisting such a move, but that hasn't silenced ...

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    What's a computer for?

    2002-10-25T00:00:00Z

    What is it with construction firms and IT? In the 1990s, many of the big players spent millions installing state-of-the-art systems only to find they had wasted their money. Staff didn't know how to use them, they quickly went out of date and were incompatible with their business partners' software. ...

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    The unbearable cost of cover

    2002-10-18T00:00:00Z

    Few tears were shed outside the Square Mile when crisis struck those apparently loathsome insurance companies after 11 September. A year on, though, insurers – in the great tradition of that industry – are passing the burden on to their customers. Now it is construction firms that face ruin as ...

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    Home truths

    2002-10-11T00:00:00Z

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    We need a New Model PFI

    2002-10-04T00:00:00Z

    And about bloody time. After five years of obfuscation, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown faced down the unions in Blackpool over the PFI (see news).

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    Why we're too white

    2002-09-27T00:00:00Z

    So Prince Charles thinks farmers are more victimised than blacks or gays.