Need an idea for that great birthday present?
Just purchase George Osborne’s tear! Only £10,000,000.00 + pp
Condition: Used*
*no onions were harmed in the production of this tear.
Nightlife Review: Fabric London.
First and foremost, sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve had a few exams (went into hibernation from social interaction) but I’m back until my next bout of exams in June! I thought I’d post something rather different today, a nightlife review. A review of the world renowned London nightclub: Fabric.
I went to Fabric for the first time for my 18th birthday. I’d been going out in my hometown to it’s rather dull and poor selection of nightlife outlets for quite a while so I presumed it was time for a change being my 18th and all that. I’d never been out in a large city prior to this so I was quite apprehensive when the day came around as you can imagine. I was the oldest of most of my friends so most of them were still below the age of 18 which was adding to my nerves even more. Imagine they didn’t get in? The birthday plans would have been ruined! However, with all this on my mind, after a few drinks at mine we made our way to the train station…
The National Minimum Wage: More Harm Than Good?
The UK introduced the National Minimum Wage Act in 1998 following the disintegration of many of the trade unions who once were the main force in negotiating wages. The newly created law was enforced by the Low Pay Commission who ensured all workers at the time above the age of 22 received £3.60 an hour.
The act was created with good intentions. The government wanted to ensure their people were not being exploited with low wages for their labour once the unions stopped bargaining on their behalf. However, the policy has been criticised (especially by free market economists such as Walter Williams) who believe it does more damage than good.
Should the UK Legalise Cannabis?
Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in the UK. It is usually smoked with a tobacco mix and it’s consumption brings about feelings of relaxation, happiness and heightened senses. The drug is a class B drug, meaning it is illegal to sell, consume and posses yet according to statistics in the UN world drug report, 6.6% of 16-59 year olds in England and Wales consume cannabis annually. This is an astonishing figure for a drug which could put a UK dealer in prison for up to 14 years.
With that said, the cannabis industry has been titled ‘the only growth industry left in the UK’. In the past two years, the police have seized a total of 1,096,797 marijuana crops, with a total street value of £207,386,447. If this is only the produce the police are seizing, it makes one question the value of the true underground industry in Britain. It must be outstandingly massive, which brings me to my extremely complex question: why don’t we just make marijuana legal?
Could the legalisation of this class B drug be the breath of life our economy needs?
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I can’t hammer this home enough. A recession is not when something bad happens. A recession is not when people are poor.
A recession is when markets fail to clear. We have workers without factories and factories without workers. We have cars without drivers and drivers without cars. We have homes without families and families without their own home.
Prices clear markets. If there is a recession, something is wrong with prices.
Reblogged from Money Is Not Important
British youth gone soft?
I was reading The Economist this week and came across a very interesting and relevant article about the british youth of today. The article in question cites that the British youth have turned responsible in comparison to their predecessors in the 60s/70s. I really wanted to present my view on it…
In the 70s, the youth had it much easier than we do today. My uncle who was a teenager during the period left school with ZERO qualifications. He then went on to earn £30 a week in a factory job which he easily managed to get. £5 of that amount would go to his mum for board and with the other £25, he could keep his motorbike on the road, go out with friends every night to the pub, smoke and save for a holiday away. His prospects were great, if he worked hard, he could easily excel to factory manager and better his salary, which he eventually did and is a senior member of staff for a printing firm. The relatively high wages, rise of the drug market, newly accessible contraceptives and influx of nightclubs meant his generation were also more rebellious than ever. The youth were carefree…
Today however is a different story…
Is the UK recession really over?
Joe Grice of the Office for National Statistics has announced last week that the UK’s economy is finally out of recession with a massive growth of 1% in the third quarter of 2012 (sarcasm). But for how long will the positive growth bug hang around for?
Some of you may be wondering, I’ve heard all this ression lark, but what does it mean? Well, the year is split into quarters (each of three months) and each quarter statistics are released on economic growth. This is calculated by change in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which measures three things:
- Output measure: This is the value of the goods and services produced by all sectors of the economy
- Expenditure measure: This is the value of the goods and services purchased by households and by government, investment in machinery and buildings. It also includes the value of exports minus imports
- Income measure: The value of the income generated mostly in terms of profits and wages
There is a very nice video explaining GDP here.
In the UK, a recession is classed as two consecutive quarters (six months) of negative GDP growth which the 1% growth between July and September 2012 has pulled us out of. There are a number of factors which need to be considered about this figure…
I’m currently studying a module entitled ‘Bridging the Development Gap’ in Geography and stumbled across this article in The Economist. There isn’t too much technical lingo to overcome and it is most definitely worth a read. It highlights the development inequality and failings of the economic system in South Africa to benefit the poorest. Have a read HERE.
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