Accountancy Age
Is concentration in the audit market back in the news?
Recent research by The London School of Economics and, moreover, BDO Stoy Hayward’s interpretation of that research has brought the subject of concentration in the audit market back into the news. While the LSE research seeks to avoid the pitfalls of the 2006 Oxera report, some of its under-lying assumptions still raise significant questions.
http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/comment/2217207/
concentration-audit-market-back

Times
They're wrong about oil, by George
In short, the standard economic assumption that supply and demand drive prices is only a starting point for understanding financial markets. In boom-bust cycles, the textbook theory is not just slightly inaccurate but totally wrong. This is the main argument made by George Soros in his fascinating book on the credit crunch, The New Paradigm for Financial Markets, launched at an LSE lecture last night.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/anatole_kaletsky/article3980797.ece

Late-edition headlines

Planning Daily
Economist calls for cut in planning red tape
Planning laws should be relaxed in areas of intense housing demand so more homes can be built and to aid economic growth, an academic from the London School of Economics has argued.
Tim Leunig, a lecturer in economic history, said in a report published this week that the lack of planning laws helped the economic boom of the nineteenth century in Britain.
http://www.planningresource.co.uk/bulletins/Planning-Resource-Daily-Bulletin/News
/810796/Economist-calls-cut-planning-red-tape/?DCMP=EMC-DailyBulletin

Press Association
Study on salaries for pupils
The study, by London's Institute of Education, examined a group of graduates who left university in the mid-1990s. It examined ‘elite’ universities including Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Imperial, King's College London, London School of Economics, Oxford, St Andrews, University College London.

It found that nearly one fifth (19 per cent) of those who went to the elite universities were earning over £90,000 per year - compared with only 5 per cent of those who went to ‘new’ universities. The Trust said teachers in state schools were reluctant to discuss the different status of universities.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyIQ37FHnv2grroKL0uG5S4o260Q

Computing
Retailers fingerprint plans prompt privacy concerns
Budgens and Costcutter have introduced the system to monitor staff working hours. But there are serious legal data protection implications, according to Gus Hosein, a digital privacy expert at the London School of Economics (LSE). ‘The number is still a unique identifier,’ he said. ‘It’s fine if people have a choice, but if you compel workers to do this, you run in to the dirty side of the law.’
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2217184/retailers-fingerprint-plans-4017151

Reuters
Soros says market rebound a bear-market rally
Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros said at LSE on Wednesday that the current rebound in stock markets is only a bear-market rally, because monetary authorities are unlikely to be able to handle the credit crisis.
http://www.reuters.com/article/fundsFundsNews/idUSL2136034420080521
Also in
• Onet.pl
DJ Soros: UK Recession 'Unavoidable;' Unlikely To Recover In '09
http://biznes.onet.pl/5,1753989,wiadomosci.html
• Market Watch
Soros: Recent gains a likely 'bear market rally'
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/george-soros-recent-market-gains/story.aspx?
guid=%7B8A22A4B2-388B-427D-9157-F2DB978DFDC8%7D&dist=msr_1

US News and World Report
In Britain, Too, Home Prices Are Falling
Therein lies the rub, says Michael Ball, an economist at the University of Reading. ‘You need credit for the market to work.’ But that's a scarce commodity these days, thanks to the global credit crunch brought on by America's subprime mortgage fiasco. It has pulled the plug not only on Britain's housing market but on many others around Europe. ‘Everywhere, there are problems,’ says Christine Whitehead, a housing economist at the London School of Economics.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/05/21/in-britain-too-
home-prices-are-falling.html

Evening Standard
Letters - Tube failure was signalled
Letters about yesterday’s article about financing the underground by Tony Travers, director of the Greater London Group at LSE.
(Source: Mediagen)

LSE people on TV/radio

BBC Online
Tibet and China: 7 questions
The six decades since China sent troops into Tibet in 1950 have been marked by periods of unrest and sporadic uprisings against Beijing's rule. Here, two leading academics analyse both sides of the dispute. Dr Steve Tsang specialises in Modern Chinese Studies at St Antony's College, Oxford. Andrew Fischer is an expert in Tibet at the Development Studies Institute, at the London School of Economics.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7392519.stm

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