The mere hint of a successful deal over Iran’s nuclear programme is enough to get people excited. In addition, as the country emerges from economic isolation, nowhere is the enthusiasm more keenly felt than in the huge oil firms with a chance to make a splash in one of the world’s most resource-rich nations. However, are the conditions there for a boom that will ripple across our lives?
Beyond work-life balance, the gender pay gap is the biggest concern of women in Australian workplaces, according to a new survey of 9,500 women in G20 countries.
Just 31% of the Australian women surveyed said they were confident they earned at least the same salary as a man doing the same job.
Re-offending rates among prisoners in the UK are sky high. Around 90% of those sentenced in England and Wales, have previous offences and the rates are, if anything, getting worse.
As we approach winter, many of us start turning the heating back on, but there are thousands of people across the UK who dread the onset of colder weather as they fall into the fuel poverty trap. It is a phenomenon that kills, and worse, it is something to which we have become accustomed. Another year, another set of headlines that should shock us into action, but rarely do.
How many contracts did you enter into today? The answer may surprise you. Though the prevalence of contracts in the world of commerce is taken as a given, the importance of contracts in everyday life is often overlooked. The rules of contract law regulate almost everything individuals do – from buying a cup of coffee, to online shopping, to signing on to a phone plan.
Since the presidential candidate started wearing his red hat bearing the slogan, the product has become a must-have among his supporters. It comes in different colours for US$25 on official Trump-related websites.
Trump’s fans have, however, recently been offered alternative – and unauthorised – products. Replica versions of the hats bearing Trump’s slogan are selling for as little as US$4.99. So the tycoon-turned-politician has not waited long to protect his trademark and is currently going after the people behind these knock-offs.
The two biggest beer producers in the world are set to merge after SABMiller accepted Anheuser-Busch InBev’s US$104 billion offer. The deal will create a brewer selling one in every third beer worldwide, with brands like Budweiser, Stella Artois, Grolsch, Miller, Corona, and Peroni under its umbrella.
As with all mergers and acquisitions, the idea is that by joining forces the new bigger-and-better company can implement economies of scale and scope, as well as increasing its market share – all resulting in greater profits. However, there are no guarantees.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has recently been waving huge wads of cash at different (but similarly delinquent) parts of UK nuclear policy. In August, he sailed triumphantly up the Clyde to the Trident-hosting Faslane Naval base to announce £500m of investment. This was a move many considered to be jumping the gun, or even “arrogant” given that no final decision has been made on its renewal.
Clothing brand Patagonia gives 1% of its sales “to support environmental organisations around the world.” Carpet-maker Interface takes an “aggressive approach” to reach its goal to source 100% of its “energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.” Nudie Jeans meanwhile, repairs, reuses and recycles its denim products, as well as using organic cotton to produce them in the first place. So, what is going on?
If you keep track of key measures of disability equality in the UK, you will know that the gap in employment rates between disabled and non-disabled working-age people has gone down over the past fifteen years.
Many experts have flagged this trend: Dame Carol Black in her influential 2008 review of health and work, DWP indicators 2009-2015 and a recent editorial in the British Medical Journal. It is because of a trend that the UK appears to be more successful than its neighbours in OECD comparisons in integrating disabled people into the workplace.
