New jobs growth is not enough to make a dent in the US unemployment rate. Photograph: Getty It is a sign of how low expectations for the US economy have fallen that today’s jobs report was seen by Wall Street as good news. True, the 54,000 drop in non-farm payrolls was about half what had [...]
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Blair’s memoirs can wait, Mullin’s diary has me enthralled
MP Chris Mullin’s diaries contain somewhat disturbing anecdotes about the former prime minister, Gordon Brown. Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/AFP/Getty Images •I shall get round to reading Tony Blair’s book simply because, like Everest, it is there. In the meantime I suspect I’ve been getting more pleasure out of the second volume of Chris Mullin’s diaries, Decline [...]
Five-star hotel brings a touch of luxury to Cape Town’s regeneration
The lights of Cape Town are burning more brightly as the city centre becomes a more desirable area. Photograph: Eric Nathan/Alamy The growth and development of South Africa’s cities gives pause for thought, says David Smith Link to this audio The broken windows theory of urban decay first appeared in the magazine The Atlantic in [...]
UK urged to be more open about greenhouse gas emissions
Containers are loaded at a terminal for import to the UK. Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/AP The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions have risen in the past two decades rather than declined, because of the carbon “embedded” in imported goods, the government’s chief environment scientist has said. Speaking in a documentary to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 [...]
UK construction orders slump 14%
ONS figures showed Britain’s construction industry suffered a 14% fall in orders between April and June. Photograph: Frank Baron Britain’s construction industry seems set for a bleak future after orders suffered a 14% fall between April and June. The only area that recorded any growth in new orders was the private industrial sector, while orders [...]
