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info@commonwealthcontractors.comMary Celeste style ships may become more common place if European researchers and the Rolls Royce engineering group have their way. Much of the tonnage currently afloat on the high seas could be replaced with crewless drone ships. The main driver of this development is cost. According to Oskar Levander, head of marine innovation at […]
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Extracting oil is never an easy job and neither is balancing the needs of national governments, shareholders and environmentalists. Statoil, the Norwegian oil company, with a majority holding of 67% by the Norwegian government is presently navigating these choppy waters. The Arctic seemed to offer unlimited riches but the small issue of finding the oil […]
“The single market is not a Swiss cheese. You cannot have a single market with holes in it.” said Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, when speaking to the FT An historic vote in the Swiss cantons is sending ripples of surprise throughout the EU. Switzerland is not part of the EU but it has […]
Business leaders have repeatedly warned of a serious shortage of British graduates qualified to fill key engineering jobs, a position justified by a report authored by Prof. John Perkins and published by the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in November 2013. The dearth of skilled home grown graduates has led to migrants filling one fifth […]
According to a report in the FT UK graduate job opportunities are rising, leading to a return to pre-crisis (2007) levels of university leavers employment opportunities. A survey of the UK’s top 100 companies including Rolls Royce, Sainsbury’s and the BBC says graduate vacancies will see their largest annual growth since 2009. Martin Birchall, Managing […]
On January 1st this year people from Romania and Bulgaria gained the same working rights as other European citizens in eight European countries, including the UK, Germany, Austria and France. This has fuelled a widespread perception in the UK that the floodgates would be opened to mass immigration, further pressurising the welfare state. It has […]
On Friday, Ed Miliband, the Labour Leader, announced his party’s proposal to create greater competition in the high street with two new “challenger banks”. The market is dominated by the top 5 banks – Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and Santander. They control roughly 85% of all current accounts. The opposition leader outlined […]
The ultimate fracking incentive was unveiled yesterday, 13th Juanuary 2014, when David Cameron, the Prime Minister, announced that local councils which approve shale gas projects will keep millions of pounds generated through windfall business rates. In this instance they will keep 100% of rates, up from the usual 50%, which is an estimated £1.7m for a […]
The pilot plan for the Home Office to introduce £3,000 visa bonds on visitors from countries in Africa and Asia has been scrapped according to a report published today in The Sunday Times. Nick Clegg threatened to block the policy and David Cameron backed off from a full-scale confrontation with the Liberal Democrat leader. The […]
Yesterday the HS2 gained momentum as MPs backed the High Speed Rail (Preparation) Bill with just 17 Conservatives and 11 Labour MPs voting against it. The HS2 is the proposed high speed line to connect London to Birmingham and branch off in a V shape to Leeds and Manchester. There was specualtion in recent weeks that […]