Savers should give thanks
IN HIS Economic Outlook column last week, David Smith referred to the pain suffered by savers and their belief that it has not been properly recognised.
Perhaps what savers do not recognise is that they were bailed out when the banks were.
Much of their savings would have been lost if the banks had gone down and even more so without the government guarantee of a refund of the first £50,000, as it then was, under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
David Osmond by email
Finance helps but skills are vital
IT IS always exciting to read about firms backed by venture capital or private equity (Interview, Eileen Burbidge, last week). These are the lifeblood of our economy.
However, it is critical for private equity firms to understand the skills that may be missing, especially at second-stage funding. Our recently commissioned research (in July) identified the big gaps.
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According to UK-based private equity houses, newly acquired or funded firms have the largest skills gaps in marketing and IT management. On a scale of 1%-100%, where 100% is the optimal skill level, IT management was rated at 48%, while marketing was judged at 44%. This compares with much stronger areas such as new product development (71%) and sales (59%).
Investment is critically important to the growth of UK Ltd, yet we must make sure we plug these skills gaps to ensure future development does not fall over.
Paul Lindsell managing director, Lindsell Marketing, London W2
Nuclear is economic madness
THE government is about to give £24bn of taxpayers’ money to the French and Chinese to build a new nuclear power station in Somerset. It has also guaranteed to pay a very high energy tariff, making the total subsidy some £76bn.
This is economic madness. If the same amount of money was spent on storage systems for renewable energy installations, we could be closing power stations instead of building new ones.
Solar panels and wind turbines are useless when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. They also generate energy at the wrong time. Low-cost energy storage systems would get round these problems.
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The technology is available now from some new, exciting innovative British companies and it doesn’t need government subsidy to be affordable. It also offers the potential for individuals, communities and businesses to take control of their own energy provision and get out of the hands of the greedy utility companies — literally “power to the people”.
This energy revolution is most certainly coming. In the next 10 years the whole model for energy provision is likely to change from large centralised power stations and grid transmission lines to local generation and storage of renewables.
Peter Cunningham St Austell, Cornwall
Shunt HS2 into the sidings
SO THE chancellor is to clobber Network Rail (“Osborne takes knife to Network Rail budget”, last week).
Presumably this will save money. However, I feel bound to ask why, in this age of austerity, no mention is made of the vast amount of money to be spent on a project that will benefit only part of the country, namely the West Midlands and part of the north, instead of putting money into revitalising other areas, such as the east and northeast of England, southwest England and Scotland.
In other words, scrap the HS2 rail scheme and spend the money elsewhere — even if it is less than the £42bn estimated cost of the high-speed line.
Eric Richards Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear