I had to check the location of a town yesterday and went to Google maps. Zoomed in on the UK and had to do a double take. To the west of London a new city had emerged according to Google. It was called “Town Centre”.
I know the current government in the UK are planning to build a few new ‘garden cities’ as they call them, but I wasn’t aware Continue reading
Oh dear, Brussels bureaucrats have published a report lamenting the fact that a big chunk of the EU population don’t declare the work they do and therefore Brussels doesn’t get their taxes and can’t spend it on salaries and other “important” money guzzling projects.
They discovered that of the people who were asked the question in the survey 11% don’t declare their earnings. Only 11%? I’m sure the percentage is a lot higher. Most people wouldn’t want to declare to a researcher that they’re not paying taxes. Way too risky…..
“Member States need to Continue reading
Always wanted to live and work without restrictions in the European Union?
Now you can! Bulgaria has a foreign investors plan that will give investors who bring €511.292 (BGN 1,000,000) into the country a Bulgarian passport (but no job). As Bulgaria has signed up to the EU and the Schengen agreement you will eventually be able to live and work anywhere in the European Union.
This has been in place since 2009 and only recently attracted the attention of the UK based Telegraph newspaper, who blew it up into a big media frenzy. There is currently a bit of Bulgaria/Romania scaremongering going on in the UK media and this fits the bill for journalists who want to create sensationalist, finger pointing articles.
Had the Telegraph done their homework Continue reading
Unemployment levels in Europe are very high, especially when you’re younger than 30, and this is a particular problem in countries around the Mediterranean. There does not seem to be way anymore to gain experience and become a true professional. Europe used to have a system called Guilds, where master craftsmen would train an apprentice on the job, so you could work your way out of unemployment. Most countries have lost these Guilds, but in Germany this is still a major way into a career.
As Germany is a technology powerhouse with an ageing population, the German government has launched “MobiPro-EU” (Who comes up with these names?) to attract young Europeans Continue reading
Zero, it’s a number that can be good or bad but so called “zero-hours” contracts have grown in popularity recently. The contract is basically a way for companies to employ people on an on-demand basis, for example that the employees gets called in whenever they are needed. For a long time, these have been accepted as a good way to get people into employment, even if it is just small amounts of money. On the other hand, Andy Burnham has called for a promise that if the Labour Party were to get into power, they would ban this type of employment.
In my opinion, there is no problem in doing Continue reading
The horse meat scandal seems to be blown completely out of proportion.
It appears that meat has been ‘contaminated’ as the media calls it. Contaminated? Does that mean people will die as a result? Don’t think so.
A Cypriot company has destroyed 16.5 tonnes of burgers fearing they were contaminated with horse meat. Authorities did not name the company, adding that it disposed of the burgers when the news broke that meat products labelled as beef were found to contain horse meat.
Maurice Taylor, head honcho of American tyre firm Titan, has managed to get the French fuming a short while ago. And now he has done it again…. He’s blaming the French government, saying that its ministers have no idea how to run a business and at the same time stating that he loves French women and wine. As if that has anything to do with business.
The brash American CEO got the French fuming earlier this month when he took aim at the country’s business conditions, especially its wages and work ethic. ‘The French workforce gets paid high wages but only works three hours,’ Taylor said this after he was asked to consider investing in the loss-making Goodyear tyre plant in northern France.
‘I have visited that factory a couple of times,’ he added. ‘They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three. I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that’s the French way!’ Sounds like the Leninist workers paradise has finally arrived after the CCCP didn’t manage to materialise the concept. Continue reading
Which Europeans are the best (According to the EU that is)?
Romania has been in the spotlight a lot recently – from the threat of immigrants flooding the richer parts of the EU to passing horse meat off as beef. Things in Europe are however not always what they appear to be. The Dutch e.g. are not always mean with money, the are also the most charitable people in the EU, The Swiss might be perceived at incorruptable, but they had huge banking scandals. So, what’s up?
The latest Internal Market Scoreboard, released by the European Commission this week, shows that Romania – along with some of the other new EU member states – are actually the best Europeans around. At least according to the European Commission. (Who set the standards….)
The report allegedly shows that Continue reading