Archive for June, 2008
Crunch time for PPPs? : PPP Bulletin
Crunch time for PPPs?
By Paul Gosling
All the financial markets are feeling the squeeze, as the credit crunch bites hard. But the multi-billion dollar question is whether PPPs will suffer along with everyone else, or whether buoyant global market demand will see the sector through.
David Cooper, head of private finance initiatives and structured project finance at [...]
Public service or private equity?: Public Finance
Public service or private equity?
by Paul Gosling
The contentious world of private equity might seem a planet away from the public sector – but it isn’t. Utilities, education, health, social care, leisure and support services all have private equity-owned companies not just contracting with the public sector, but often now owning what used to be public [...]
Northern Ireland selects higher gear: Transport Times
Northern Ireland selects higher gear
by Paul Gosling
Travel around Northern Ireland and one thing quickly becomes clear: its transport infrastructure does not match that of Britain. The ‘A’ roads seem a leftover from the 1970s; rail services are slow; fewer people use rail and buses than in Britain.
But things are changing. Under the latest Northern Ireland [...]
Free zones, free zones everywhere…. : Pathfinder Business
Free zones: Where they are located and how they differ
by Paul Gosling
In business, reward is often closely related to effort. And while the rewards for investing and doing business in a free zone can be substantial, so, too, is the effort involved in assessing which free zone is the best for a particular operation.
There [...]
Free economic zones: Pathfinder Business
Free Zones
by Paul Gosling
Dubai and the other Gulf states have their free zones. India increasingly relies on special economic zones. Mauritius, though, has its freeport. But whatever their local names and differing local tax regimes, the various types of free zones are unquestionably making an enormous impact in the globalised economy.
Without an agreed single definition [...]
Reforming social care: Local Government Chronicle
Reforming social care
by Paul Gosling
“Doing nothing is not an option.” The warning to local authorities came from the Department of Health in its recent ‘Transforming Social Care’ circular. Radical restructuring of adults’ and children’s services is obligatory.
Just why is easy to see. While local government settlements are bearing down painfully, social care demands are relentlessly [...]
Northern Ireland’s Giant headache: Local Government Chronicle
Northern Ireland’s Giant headache
by Paul Gosling
According to myth, the Giant’s Causeway on Northern Ireland’s Antrim coast was built by Irish titan Finn McCool so that his Scottish rival Benandonner could cross for them to do battle. Given the role of Scots settlers in forming Ulster’s unionism – which still takes the leading role in Northern [...]
Clusters - driving sustainable growth: Think magazine
Clusters - driving sustainable growth
By Paul Gosling
“Cluster development initiatives are an important new direction in economic policy, building on earlier efforts in macroeconomic stabilization, privatization, market opening, and reducing the costs of doing business,” argues Professor Michael Porter of Harvard University.
By placing the analysis and promotion of industrial clusters at the heart of contemporary economic [...]
Two chief executives for the price of one: Health Service Review
Beyond Section 31
by Paul Gosling
Joint social care commissioning by PCTs and local authorities have blossomed under so-called ‘Section 31 Agreements’. But Section 31 of the 1999 Health Act increasingly seems to be just the start of a longer journey to broader and closer integration of what have historically been very separate and culturally very different [...]
Building societies are best: Co-operative News
The Paul Gosling column
For an event held amidst a global economic crisis, this year’s Building Societies Association conference in Manchester was an upbeat affair. And that was how it should be. While a building society failure is not impossible, the sector has so far shown much ruder health than have some former societies that converted into [...]
