Pontacks Coffee-shop

Care needs to be taken in considering any limits on compensation levels for discrimination cases – see Next steps in review of employment law. Few people will escape without ever experiencing some level of employer discrimination during their lifetime. Often the only compensation needed is an apology and agreed steps to rectify the situation.

Compensation awards through Employment Tribunals should be reserved for the most serious cases. Award levels should be decided on a case-by-case basis and not against
a limited or capped sliding-scale of penalties that make offending employers feel comfortable. Mechanisms must be in place to filter out any “weak, speculative or vexatious cases” because this is necessary to protect both honest employers and the British taxpayer. And employers need to feel confident that weak cases will be filtered out and will
not result in them being taken-to-the-cleaners. But if you are an employer and discriminate significantly against anyone, why should you enjoy the privilege of “certainty”? After all, the impact of your discrimination had no certainty.

Well OK, we don’t do “being European” very well in the UK – maybe we should (I’m unashamedly pro-Europe so have a natural bias). Cyprus has certainly got the balance right, with a weekend of music concerts, dancing performances and community activities in the beautiful city of Paphos, before starting the more serious events today. And rather surprisingly, Europe Day 2011 is being celebrated in Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City – with a mini series of cultural activities (presumably European ex-pats drive those initiatives).  I’m a little more suspicious of the giant “euro-karaoke” at the doors of the European Parliament in Brussels but can see potential for the same next year in Westminster (I’m seeing images of our erstwhile coalition leaders kicking-off the event with a duet of ‘So Happy Together’ but maybe I’m a little ahead of myself on that one). But as far as the UK is concerned, it has to be hats off to Wales – which does seem to be embracing its European side with a number of Europe Day events (although rather more serious than those already mentioned). So, whether celebrating or not, have a great Europe Day.

Successive UK governments have long harped on about the importance of STEM
(Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects and quite rightly so. Has
all this talk amounted to much? Well, it seems not. New research shows that
people feel less informed about science now than they did three years ago –
despite there being a steady increase in public interest in science over the
last decade or so. Furthermore, our universities still struggle to convert this
apparent public interest in science into significantly higher numbers of new
students applying for STEM degree courses – a situation we must turn around if
the fortunes of UK Plc., are to improve.

Science Minister, David Willets announced on Monday (it seems that not all public servants take the public holidays off) that the government is going to throw £13 million of our science budget at outreach in schools and public engagement, together with another £6.3m support for STEMNET (an initiative that “helps young people understand the amazing range of careers that can come from studying these subjects” says Willets). OK but why don’t we back-up that money by ensuring that our £300 million of National
Scholarship Programme funds over the three years from 2012-15 are weighted
heavily in favour of STEM student programmes? And how about weighting student
grants towards STEM subjects? If public interest is not being converted into
public study, incentivise.

I have, perhaps, given over too much of my ever dwindling brain power to the AV debate. As much as anything, I have been trying to decide if there
really is merit in the proposed system of ranking candidates in order of preference. On the face of it, AV appears to be little more than sending us to the polling booth with the aim of making something akin to a schoolboy list of who is the ‘fittest girl’ in their year group. And actually, that is pretty much the size of it. General elections are first about policies and secondly about personalities. It takes me long enough to decide, each time a general election comes around, which party manifesto is anywhere close to representing my views
and wishes – whilst knowing that none of them will be delivered truthfully when the party takes power. More hung parliaments (which are one sure outcome of AV) mean that you might just as well flip a coin on any of the policies proposed by the political parties you are considering. AV is simply amateurish nonsense and needs consigning to the rubbish bin along with those politicians that insult our intelligence by trying to convince us that it is anything otherwise.

Photo courtesy of FreePhotos.com

The Kauffman Foundation in the U.S.A. has published a report today that has found that “high-skilled immigrant entrepreneurs from India and China are leaving the United States by
the tens of thousands each year”. And the main reason – better economic and
professional opportunities in their home countries. This has to ring alarm
bells here in the U.K. If the environment for entrepreneurship in the United States is not sufficient to retain these high-skilled immigrants, then what chance is there that the U.K. will fair any better in retaining its high-skilled immigrants?

The survey does point out, however, that those who return to their home countries maintain and exploit their contacts back in the United States with potential benefit to both nations. So if the same scenario pans out here will the deficit created by the drain in the talent pool, be offset to some extent by greater collaborative working? A cue for some research here, if not already underway. You can find the report here: Kauffman
Foundation report