• London is falling behind other European cities. Paris and Frankfurt enjoy 1,000 more annual flights to the three largest cities in China than Heathrow.

• Lack of access to emerging markets could already be costing the economy £1.2bn a year. In 1990, Heathrow’s route network reached 227 destinations. It is now down to 180, and is forecast to drop to 147.

• Demand is set to double over the coming decades, while our airports are already near capacity, with Heathrow 99% full and Gatwick 95% full. The economy cannot afford to wait the thirty years it would take to build a new airport.

• Expanding our current airports is the only viable option in the short to medium term. To deliver growth, airport operators should be enabled to build at least one more runway in South East England by 2020 – either Stansted, Gatwick or Heathrow.

• Government should expedite this by allowing compensation to be paid directly to affected residents for this critical infrastructure project. The industry needs a more flexible planning system. Decisions should be made by the price mechanism and free competition rather than special interests and political grandstanding.

• Government has a poor track record both at judging the future demands of consumers, and at estimating the costs of large infrastructure projects. This approach would leave the industry free to respond to market demand and to judge for itself the relative costs and benefits of the different options.

Commenting on the report, its author Kwasi Kwarteng MP said:

“Creating a system of compensation as part of the planning system will remove a major obstacle to growth in Britain. Governments aren’t good at working out the best options for large infrastructure projects, but the current system makes it hard for businesses to pursue these projects.

The need to expand our airports is now reaching crisis point. If consensus cannot be reached, and building does not commence in the next few years, London will inevitably fall further behind its European rivals.”

A new collaboration between five of the South East’s leading research institutions launched today. South East IP brings together the latest research from five research institutions across the South East, making it available to business and investors in a single, easy-to-search format. The service is designed to help businesses and investors to find the new technologies they need to grow their businesses, and for researchers to a route to market for their ideas.

With initial funding of £75,000 from the UK Intellectual Property Office the new site will accelerate the exploitation of Innovation in the South East by providing a single place for investors and companies looking for specific technologies, to look for IP from a collection of institutions in the South East; .providing a service to help participating institutions source specific expertise and equipment from other institutions in the network, and; .encouraging collaborations and joint funding applications.

The South East IP partners are The National Physical Laboratory, the Universities of Surrey, Reading, Sussex and Royal Holloway University of London.  Together, these five institutions produce a large part of the South East’s research. Now, for the first time, investors can find up to date information on research output from every institution in one place.

The launch of the new service marks the beginning of intensified collaboration between Research Establishments and universities in the region to develop more effective routes to market for their research.

David McCallum, Intellectual Property Officer at the University of Surrey, said,

“For the first time, details of new techniques and technologies developed at our five partner institutions have been brought together in one place, and in a form that investors and businesses can search to find the opportunities they are looking for. This is a big step forward for the whole region in matching technology research in the South East with investment, and we are excited to be a part of it.”

Speaking at a Maritime London lunch earlier this month, Holman Fenwick Willan partner Andrew Chamberlain said that the consequences of a serious incident involving one of the larger containerships “may well result in a complete change in the accepted liability regimes and even the traditionally accepted insurance arrangements for such large vessels.”

Recent high profile container ship casualties have involved relatively small vessels capable of carrying up to 4688 containers (MSC Napoli).  The Rena, which is currently breaking up off the coast of New Zealand, has a capacity of 3352 containers. By comparison, the largest vessels sailing today are carrying over 15000 boxes.

He told the audience of salvors, insurers, shipowners and other maritime professionals that in the event of the loss of the largest class of containership, the epic scale of the incident would mean that the salvage industry would struggle to deal with the removal of the containers and wreckage. He warned that the salvage industry had limited and ageing resources, was increasingly risk averse and today consisted of only around four or five companies with a genuine global capability.

He noted that the legal environment for dealing with these types of incidents was becoming increasingly demanding with rising claims, disproportionately high clean-up costs and the near impossibility of disposing or recycling of a wreck thanks to the restrictive legal regime now imposed by the 1996 Protocol to the London Dumping Convention and the OSPAR Convention, combined with the absence of suitable recycling facilities.

He added:

“The industry is facing the perfect storm. We have a global recession, high cargo values (relative to ship values), ever larger and untested ships, environmental concerns and increasing public and government awareness of the impact of shipping incidents. Since the Napoli in 2007 any marine casualty is much more likely to be on the front page of every newspaper.”

The report, “…and the Pursuit of Happiness: Wellbeing and the Role of Government”, examines the flaws in attempts to measure happiness. It suggests that:

• The government should not be trying to measure or maximise happiness as an explicit policy goal.

• There is no evidence that more equal societies lead to increases in happiness.

• Contrary to widespread belief, the evidence suggests that happiness is in fact related to income and economic growth. The so-called Easterlin paradox (the idea that wellbeing does not increase with income) is shown to be fake.

• Attempts to promote “wellbeing at work” through regulation are likely to be counter-productive in so far as increases in employment regulation increase unemployment. There is a strong link between unemployment and loss of wellbeing. In general, more intrusive and bigger government leads to a loss in wellbeing. One study finds that increasing government spending by one third would cause a reduction in happiness of 5%-6%.

• Smaller government tends to make people happier. Public spending cuts could actually be the key to making Britain a happier place.

Commenting on the report, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“Governments have shown how hopeless and inefficient they are at attempting to run the basics of our economy. They seem to find it nearly impossible, for example, to resist racking up colossal debts.  To trust them with something far more intimate, complicated and confusing as happiness would be inviting disaster. We need our government to do less, not more – and to stick to the very simple and straightforward tasks which they are just about capable of. All of us are better advised to pursue our own dreams, hopes and goals than to entrust such personal and intimate things to David Cameron.”

Commenting on the report, its editor, Prof Philip Booth, Editorial Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“The government is spending money on collecting happiness statistics in order to promote government policies to try to increase aggregate national happiness. This is a flawed policy and based on a complete misconception that governments hitherto have focused only on increasing national income. The nation’s wellbeing will be improved if the government cuts back its activity and allows the economy, employment and families to flourish. The government should not be trying to increase aggregate happiness as a specific policy goal, nor should it be wasting money collecting data on the subject.”

Following a recent television debate about youth unemployment a business owner / friend received contact via his blog, Twitter and email accounts within two hours of the show being broadcast.  A young teenager, still at school but desperate to join a media company instead of going off to university, showed his initiative and was asked to give a presentation the following week.  He now goes to the office twice a week on afternoons off from sixth form and is well on his way to being offered a full-time position simply because he went the extra mile.  I doubt a second glance would have been given if he were simply to have emailed a copy of his CV to the human resources department.

With so many people looking for work right now, being shortlisted and asked to attend an interview is, in many cases, a big achievement.  But it is only one stepping stone towards being offered a job.  It is therefore crucial that, if offered an interview that you do everything in your power to perform to the best of your ability.

The interview
Telling someone to dress smart and never be late for an interview is sheer common sense, but what of turning up too early?  This could show a lack of planning or desperation.  I suggest walking into reception 15-20 minutes early is perfect.  If you are going to be too early, simply find a nearby coffee shop.

The psychology of body language
When attending an interview you may not be given a choice of where to sit.  But if you are, sit where you can see all the interviewees without twisting round.  Like giving a presentation, you want to make eye-contact with everyone and never turn away.

Be sure to keep an upright posture, don’t slouch.  Sitting upright gives the impression you are attentive and interested. It can also give the appearance of self-confidence.

Behavioural psychologists suggest there are ways to acknowledge if someone is nervous. Talking too quickly or overusing your hands for emphasis is common.  Try not to speed up when answering questions and if you feel under pressure, keep calm.  One popular interviewing technique is to have two or more interviewees ask quick-fire questions to see how you cope in a stressful or pressured environment. Keep calm and attempt to control the pace of the interview at all times.

Finally, keep smiling and relax! You want to show you are a happy person, someone who will fit into an existing team.  I will always choose someone with less experience and a great personality over someone with buckets of expertise and a bad attitude!

At the end of any interview, whether it is for a plumber or solicitor, shop work or office jobs, the one thing you should always be able to say as you shake hands and walk out of the building is that you gave a good account of yourself.  By preparing your interview techniques and staying in control you will at least give yourself a good chance to impress a potential new employer.  Good luck!

Firstly, halfway through my degree course I became a proud parent and a large part of my life and thinking changed in a massive way.  No longer was I furthering my education for personal reasons but now I was considering what was best for my young family.

Secondly, during my Politics course I began using the evolving and exciting world of the Internet and the World Wide Web for research purposes, though at this time the university library and good old fashioned ‘books’ were still the main point of reference for essays.  I feel so ancient when I say how slow and cumbersome the Internet was in the mid-1990s.  Where did the last fifteen years go?

But even without such things as broadband, wi-fi, eBay and Google, it was very clear to see that a future career in IT was going to be a very secure one.

Instead of furthering my Politics studies, I chose to a Masters Degree in Advanced Information Technology with an emphasis on website development; and have never looked back.

Over the past fifteen years I have worked in website development, design, programming, online marketing and Internet business management. I have worked for SME’s and trans-global companies as well as setting up my own Internet-related businesses.  Furthermore, I have been fortunate enough to work in the UK and the United States.

Since the mid-1990s information technology and computers have become a part of our everyday lives and workplaces, with many companies now being 100% reliant on the Internet. As a result, IT jobs have become most valued and in many cases, well paid and very secure. In turn, the IT or ICT (Information & Communications Technology) job sector has grown exponentially since the 1990’s.

IT is the area of managing technology to acquire, process and store data, whether textual, numerical, graphical or otherwise. It spans many disciplines including computer software, information systems, data and database management, programming languages, web development and probably the field of most rapid growth – IT support.

There are not many businesses that haven’t been affected by the great IT revolution in the UK. Today a large majority of companies of all sizes use information technology in different ways. The result is a large IT jobs sector which always appears buoyant.

Whether it is to help process the business strategy, business process automation, providing information and connecting with new and potential customers, and productivity tools, there are plenty of career opportunities in IT in 2012.

I remember being at a small business exhibition a few years ago, just as the first wave of this current recession began to bite. An enthusiastic self-employed marketing consultant was giving an inspiring presentation explaining how many SME’s miss an opportunity by cutting their advertising and marketing budgets whenever they need to tighten their belts.  But the truth is that when the economy is in a dip and competition becomes more competitive there should be more, not less, focus on advertising and marketing to produce more opportunities to get your company known, get new customers and build up your portfolio.

This piece of advice sounds like common sense but you may be surprised to know how many companies either do not adhere to this way of thinking or if they do, it is with little or no understanding of the sector or their target customers.

There are plenty of different marketing jobs such advertising & sponsorship, brand & product placement, account management, business management, campaign management, and data & customer relationship management (CRM) as well as consultancy and digital or ‘online’ marketing.

Digital marketing is most commonly considered to be a form of marketing using the Internet with the use of websites, blogs and social media to create a buzz about your company or client.  This is coupled with digital display advertising and digital media with the use of banner advertising, text links and videos.

But with the advent of faster and wider broadband connectivity, wi-fi and mobile digital marketing has become a big focus for companies looking for new ways to promote their products and services.  This new sector offers plenty of exciting opportunities to those job-seekers looking to be at the cutting-edge of technology.

There are two types of digital marketing
Pull digital marketing is when a consumer actively looks for content.  By using Google or other search engines, viewing videos on YouTube or reading blogs and websites the consumer is actively searching for information that may or may not result in the consumer making contact with a company.  There are forms of online marketing such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) including Pay Per Click (PPC) paid advertising to increase visibility and therefore promoting a company site.  But with pull marketing, the consumer is in the driving seat. Whereas push digital marketing involves both the marketer and the recipient.  Examples of online push technologies include email newsletters, text messaging and news feeds that are most commonly used via blogs.

With every political, social and economic situation, there are always opportunities.  Right now, marketing is as secure as any other job sector I can think of.

The 12 months between Q2 in 2008 and the equivalent period a year later saw the country slip into recession for the first time since 1990 and as both the value and number of deals steadily slipped in tandem.

“Figures have not truly returned to pre-2008 averages and another dent in the economy could further knock that trend even further backwards,” Paul Francis-Grey, Head of Financial Services EMEA, said.

In the eight quarters proceeding the 2008 recession, the UK saw an average of 372.5 deals announced each quarter. This compared to only 219 in the eight quarters following the recovery. And for the four quarters the UK was officially in recession, an average of 236 deals were announced.

Deal size similarly dipped post-recession and has yet to fully recover to pre-2009 figures, according to mergermarket data. While 2008 and 2007 saw deal values reach GBP 143.9bn and GBP 169.1bn respectively, 2009 saw a total deal value touch GBP 81bn. Last year saw GBP 81.7bn worth of deals announced whereas this year has seen a value of GBP 69.8bn announced deals.

“The prospects for an even quieter 2012 in terms of deals being undertaken would appear a stark possibility given the economic climate around the eurozone. But on the flipside, we could see the likes of Asia and the US pounce on its weakness,” Francis-Grey said.

About mergermarket
mergermarket, part of The Mergermarket Group, is an unparalleled, independent M&A intelligence tool used by the world’s foremost financial institutions to originate deals. It provides proprietary intelligence on potential deal flow, potential mandates and valuations via the world’s largest group of M&A journalists and analysts who have direct access to the most senior decision-makers and corporates.

Incorporated in December 1999 by founders Caspar Hobbs, Charlie Welsh and Gawn Rowan Hamilton, it has since become the fastest growing business in its sector. As well as expanding its coverage across Europe, Americas, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, the company continues to launch ground-breaking products and services.

Because of the danger that employees might lose their pensions if the schemes they had been contributing to ran out of funds, the Pension Protection Fund works by monitoring those pension funds which are likely to become insolvent. In order to enter the Pension Protection Fund, the pension scheme must be assessed for a period of one year, during what is known as the pension protection fund assessment, or PPF assessment. Either the scheme will be found to have sufficient assets left so as to be able to give members a reasonable return on their pension contributions, in which case the scheme can be left in the hands of independent trustees to be wound up, or the funds left over to be divided between members will fall below a specific amount.

Should the level of return which the scheme can make to members be less than that provided by the protection fund, the Board of the protection fund will assume responsibility for providing benefits to the members of the scheme. The benefits payable are related to retirement age, such that employees over the retirement age of 65 will receive the full amount of their pension, whereas those under retirement age are likely to receive a lower percentage, at a rate which is capped.

Although it may seem as though employers can rely on the ‘safety net’ of the Pension Protection Fund, the legislation deliberately guards against any such incentive by stipulating that employers must make compulsory contributions to pension schemes. The lower the contributions an employer makes to its scheme, the higher the premiums due to be paid into the protection fund.

From the point of view of individuals paying into pension funds, even though the protection scheme cannot provide full compensation for the value of a policy it does protect contributions up to a considerable value.

If the pension fund in question began to wind up between 1 January 1997 and 5 April 2005 the applicable ‘safety net’ scheme would be the Financial Assistance Scheme. This is administered by the Pension Protection Fund, and operated in much the same way, but is for schemes which began to be wound up before the PPF model was brought in by Parliament in 2005. Again, in cases where there was not enough money to pay members’ benefits, such that a pension fund became underfunded, or where the company in question became insolvent, compensation is paid through the Financial Assistance Scheme by way of compensating those who would otherwise have made contributions for no return.

A new way forward

However, one of the more recent developments to help find office space has been the advent of the online comparison and search site. It works in the same way as any other comparison presence, allowing you to quickly and easily search for office space, from simple one-desk setups through to fully managed offices.
The benefits of using this system are numerous, because it does a lot of the hard work for you.

Any business needs to have a credible postal address, ideally in an area that is likely to attract more clients through the door. So, by using the search facility in an office space search site, you’ll be able to pinpoint the location that you want by postcode. Add on the capacity for adding the number of employees that you’re looking to house along with an idea of price that you’d like to pay and you’re up
and running.

What to look for

The type of office space you need obviously depends on how big or small your business is. If you’re just one person then the desk space rental option is a great idea. This allows you to rent one desk – or more if you need them – in an already established office environment. You’ll get basic utilities plus everyday
essentials such as broadband internet.

What’s more, the main appeal of going down this route is that you have much more flexibility. Many arrangements have flexible contracts, often short-term, so you don’t have to commit to something that you’ll be stuck in for years. Locations are generally excellent, and the benefit is that as an individual, your business gets a solid, respectable postcode and address too.

What kind of business

It actually doesn’t matter what kind of business you run in order to enjoy the benefits of shared office space. Look too at more sophisticated rent-a-desk schemes that offer more extensive features if you’re looking to expand. Serviced office space, for example, allows you to enjoy all of the befits of a professional
office environment and will often come complete with features such as a reception area, full IT support and also post facilities.

If you’re just looking for a pretty standard office to rent, then the same site can be used to scour a database of all available property. You’ll need to bear in mind the size that you want – a rough guide to work by is to allow 50 to 75 square feet per person. Costs are generally quoted in price per square foot or square metre, per year of rental. So to work out the monthly cost, simply take the price and multiply it by the area of office space. Divide this by twelve to arrive at the monthly costs. Then divide it by your chosen area/person ration to calculate the cost per person.

By doing these provisional sums before you start out on the office rental trail, you can at least have a better idea of what sort of budget you’ll need to factor in. And that’s always wise if you’re about to head off to the bank for a chat with the manager.

About the author: Rob Clymo writes on behalf of Office Genie, the UK’s first proper online marketplace for desk space and shared office space.