New York Times After Applause Dies Down, Global Warming Talks Leave Few Concrete Goals Beyond any vagueness in this week’s statements is the challenge that climate policy must compete with other pressing global problems, particularly rising prices for energy. This reality was on display in Japan in the days leading up to the leaders’ formal sessions. Gwyn Prins, an expert on climate policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, was there for discussions preceding the formal talks and noted that current concerns about energy security were already clearly interfering with discussions aimed at climate stability. One day, in particular, he said, was ‘gloriously incoherent.’ At a meeting in the morning, participants focused on finding ways to reduce gas prices, he said, while a session that afternoon focused on raising them through caps or taxes on fossil fuels. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/science/earth/10assess.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin Also in • International Herald Tribune After applause dies down, global warming talks leave few concrete goals http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/10/healthscience/10assess.php
Times Founding member of MPC joins Times panel Charles Goodhart, one of Britain's most respected economists and a founder member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee in 1997, today becomes the latest member of The Times MPC. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4305336.ece
Politics.co.uk David Davis: The interview ‘The simple truth is that the cost of the things we're talking about is massive. Big brother has expensive tastes. It costs millions to keep innocents on the DNA database. ID cards will cost £6 billion if you believe the government or £19 billion if you believe the London School of Economics. The numbers are massively disproportionate.’ http://www.politics.co.uk/news/opinion-former-index/legal-and-constitutional/ david-davis-the-interview-$1230987.htm
Late-edition headlines
Property Wire Winners and losers in the global property market defined by growing oil prices Potential losers include many of the Eastern European emerging markets where a large chunk of their economies rely on tourism and visitors arriving by plane. As oil prices continue to increase fewer people are likely to travel by plane, visitors numbers will drop and investors rental yields will fall. But even more established tourist destinations will suffer. 'Italy and Greece, for example, rely on tourism and service industries, have less competitive labour markets and high levels of Government debt,' said Dr Alex Michealides of the London School of Economics. http://www.propertywire.com/news/features/global-property-market-growing-oil -prices-200807091199.html
CNBC Will the BoE Keep Writing Letters? With rates currently set at 5 percent, on hold since the MPC's May meeting and an 8-1 vote in June to keep them there, there seems no alternative but to wait, see and keep writing letters. ‘I'm expecting they will sit on their hands,’ Ex-MPC member Willem Buiter, Professor of European Political Economy at the London School of Economics told CNBC.com. ‘But they should be raising rates. Inflation is above target and they overestimate the ease at which the economic slowdown, which is indeed severe, will squeeze inflation.’ http://www.cnbc.com/id/25600885
IT Hotdesk Mobile internet access 'becoming necessary' This month, a study carried out by ICM Research, the London School of Economics and Vodafone found 45 per cent of mobile owners accessed websites everyday using their phone, while 62 per cent of owners said that they checked their emails everyday using their phones. http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/18677475/Mobile%20internet%20access%20% 60becoming%20necessary%60
Kable Campaigner attacks price of security projects The cost of government security and surveillance projects has reached almost £20bn according to the Taxpayers Alliance, although its calculations are open to dispute. The group, which campaigns for lower taxes, criticised such measures in The Cost of Big Brother, a report released on 6 July 2008. The lion's share of its total was £19bn for the National Identity Schem (NIS), an estimate produced by a London School of Economics report in 2005, followed by £500m for CCTV and £300m for the National DNA Database. http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/4BCEB24E281712A180257480005BFB0A ?OpenDocument
