Why it takes longer in the UK than China to build High Speed Rail Projects

High Speed Rail in the UK or HS2 as it has now become known will connect London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds by 2032. This seems an awful long time, and for people living in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle, it may be even longer.

 

 

Planning permission, legal challenges, compensation, funding issues, delays, demolitions, buying people’s homes and relocating them all add up to time. Whereas in China, things are so much different.

 

The 1,318km Beijing-Shanghai high-speed route went from design to completion in only 39 months. The much longer 2,298 km Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou line has opened on Boxing Day 2012. The Chinese trains cruise at a speed of 309 km/h… I should know, I’ve been on them. They still stop many times, but they slow down and speed up quicker, and passengers only get around 30 seconds to disembark and embark the train. They don’t mess around in China!

 

 

China have now overtook Japan as the world’s leading makers of High Speed Rail. They have built incredible bridges and tunnels to connect their huge country. They view high speed trains as a better mass transit alternative to the aeroplane. There is also a long held dream of being able to travel from London to Beijing by rail in less than 3 days. Whether or not that is possible who knows. But China is certainly doing their bit.

 

Forcing through such an ambitious project would be political suicide for a democratic Government. Prime Minister David Cameron said as much: "It's difficult to get things built in a modern industrial democracy like Britain - that's why we need to get going now."

 

And just to show how not everything goes to plan in communist China, there was this tale of a man who refused to allow his house to be knocked down when a new motorway was built through his town:

 

 

 

Honda profits up

Japanese car and bike manufacturer Honda has reported a jump in third-quarter profits as US sales recover, but cut its annual forecast as sales in China and Europe drop.

 

Honda's profits hit 77.4bn yen ($851m; £538m) in the last quarter of 2012, up from 47.6bn yen a year earlier. The firm said profits had also been boosted by a continued recovery from the floods in Thailand in 2011.

 

However, it cut its full-year profit forecast to 370bn yen, compared with its previous projection of 375bn yen.

 

Source: BBC Business News

 

Apple no longer number one in the world

iPad maker Apple has lost its crown as the world's most valuable publicly traded company after its shares continued to fall.

 

Oil giants Exxon Mobil has regained the top slot after Apple shares fell 2.4%, following a 12% drop on Thursday. Apple, which posted disappointing iPhone sales figures on Wednesday, has seen its shares fall 37% since their record high last September.

 

Exxon became number one in 2005, traded places with Apple during 2011, and had been number two since early 2012. At the close of trade, Apple had a market value of $413bn (£261bn), against Exxon's of $418bn.

 

Glasgow to become UK smart city

Looks like things are looking up for my home city – Glasgow. Glasgow means “Dear Green Place” and used to have a thriving ship building industry and indeed was the greenest city in Europe – it had more public parks than anywhere else. Glasgow also had the largest housing estate in Europe: Easterhouse.

 

Glasgow was once the Second City of the Empire, but those days are long gone. However thanks to the regeneration started by the Glasgow Garden Festival, things are getting better in a city once infamous for its “No Mean City” image – Glasgow was once the murder capital of Europe. And Glasgow, like much of Scotland, has some health issues which are hopefully going to be tackled over the next 20 years.

 

From the BBC Busines News:

 

Glasgow has won a £24m UK government grant intended to make it one of the UK's first smart cities. It will use the money on projects to demonstrate how a city of the future might work.

 

They will include better services for Glaswegians, with real-time information about traffic and apps to check that buses and trains are on time. The council will also create an app for reporting issues such as potholes and missing bin collections.

 

Other services promised by the council include linking up the CCTV cameras across the city with its traffic management unit in order to identify traffic incidents faster.

 

It will use analytical software and security cameras to help identify and prevent crime in the city and monitor energy levels to find new ways of providing gas and electricity to poorer areas where fuel poverty is a big issue.

 

This has come at a good time for Glasgow with the city hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

 

Business Quotes

“Half the world knows not how the other half lives”

 

-        Old English Proverb

Higher Business Management Revision - Quizlet

Here are Quizlet revision quizzes for Higher Business Management. I have arranged them by unit and then finally there is one massive one covering basically the whole course, with some other business general knowledge thrown in to motivate the pupils.

 

Hope you enjoy them and they are helpful in prelims and final exams.

 

Business Enterprise

http://quizlet.com/_b1tv9

 

BDA I: Marketing & Operations

http://quizlet.com/_b1tvn

 

BDA II: Finance & Human Resources

http://quizlet.com/_b1tw7

 

 

Higher Business Management: FULL COURSE!

http://quizlet.com/_b1tyu

 

 

Int 2 Admin - New Quizlet Set

I combined my own Int 2 Admin set with one from Miss Dunlop’s.

 

http://quizlet.com/_b1tlt

 

There are some doublers, which I will remove later!

 

China's new cities

An article on how China plan to build a new generation of cities in the rural West:

 

http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2013-01/15/content_16120534.htm

 

Business Quotes

“To change customs is a difficult thing”

 

-        Lebanese Proverb

Business Quotes

“Who moves picks up, who stands still dries up”

 

-Italian Proverb

More woe for Dreamliner 787

The flagship Boeing aircraft, the Dreamliner 787, has been plagued by many problems of late. Now, two of their best customers have grounded all 787s.

 

A Nippon Airways plane was forced to make an emergency landing just after take off due to battery problems. In addition to the 17 787s of Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines have grounded their 7 Dreamliners.

 

 

These continuing problems will make confidence and sales in the Dreamliner suffer. Boeing already face a massive taks in order to turn around what has been a terrible few weeks for PR and the image of not only Dreamliner, but of Boeing itself.

HMV in Administration

One of Britain’s most famous music stores, HMV, is to go into administration. Over the past 10 years the High Street music and DVD store has struggled competing against e-tailers (online retailers), specifically Play.com and Amazon.

 

 

Deloitte have said they will keep HMV stores in UK and Ireland open until they see what offers or options they will get for the store. Trading in the Stock Exchange has also been suspended.

 

HMV was founded in 1921 and employs 4,350 people.

 

HMV is an iconic UK music store, famous for its dog listening to a grammar phone logo. HMV is thought to stand for “His Master’s Voice”.

 

The only surprise for me is that HMV have struggled on so long against giant Amazon and the likes of Play.com who through various benefits of being based in the Channel Islands can offer freed delivery and usually cheaper prices for products.

 

A long held criticism of HMV by shoppers was that it was always more expensive than other rivals such as Virgin and Tower.

 

 

 

Best and worst learning techniques

Apparently highlighting isn't the best learning technique.

http://ideas.time.com/2013/01/09/highlighting-is-a-waste-of-time-the-best-and-worst-learning-techniques/?iid=ent-article-mostpop2

Bolton School Giving Every Pupil an iPad

Essa Academy in Bolton has went paperless. Every pupil will receive an iPad. It is supposed to cut costs from the photocopying budget. Read more here:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20930195

 

Do we throw away food too early?

Very interesting article on expiration dates and best before:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20971347

 

Higher Business Management - Legislation - The Equality Act and the laws it has combined

It is important to note that the Equality Act (2010) now covers nine laws and some of them are in our syllabus.

 

Here they are:

 

Equal Pay Act of 1970

Sex Discrimination Act (1975)

Race Relations Act (1976)

Disability Discrimination Act (1995)

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations (2003)

Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (2003)

Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006)

Equality Act (2006)

Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations of 2007.

 

The ones in italics are the ones which are in the Human Resource Management area of the course. So now the SQA wants you to talk about The Equality Act, and within that broader law you can discuss the elements that used to make up these older acts.

 

We always need to keep up-to-date with real life in Business!

Business Facts

Famous Scottish inventor Alexander Graham Bell beat rival inventor Elisha Grey by a matter of hours to the US patent office when he registered the Telephone in 1876.

3D Printers used in Afghanistan by US Army

I suppose it was only a matter of time!

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/10/star-trek-replicators-for-army/

Managing Young People or Generation Y

We all remember theories like the Baby Boomers and Generation X or even Generation Me. The basic idea seems to be that people are influenced not only by their upbringing but by the economic and political environment of the times (PESTEC External Factors if you will) and I do not see any reason to discount this.

 

However I do sometimes think that there are sweeping generalisations among these theories.

 

In saying that I have found this interesting article on managing the Generation Y phenomenon (people born between 1980 and 1995)

 

http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/What-Every-Manager-Should-Know-About-Managing-Gen-Y.aspx?pcode=XCRP

 

Twitter for Educational Purposes

Some weblinks to articles and pages on Twitter being used for educational purposes:

 

http://suite101.com/article/using-twitter-for-educational-purposes-a287131

 

http://steve-wheeler.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/teaching-with-twitter.html

 

http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/187

 

I have been a recent convert to Twitter, and I think I have found it fascinating myself, learning lots of new information and useful titbits to use in my own lessons.

Job Interview Questions to ask!

Article on interview questions that should be asked during a job interview:

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/ten-questions-to-ask-during-a-job-interview/article6600132/

 

However it is also of note that sometimes not asking too much or saying to much is the best policy as you could have done a great performance and then go and blow it by asking or doing something a bit off!

 

Dreamliner 787 review ordered by the FAA

With several faults being found in one week alone, Boeing’s flagship Dreamliner airplane seems troubled and plagued by safety issues. Boeing have recently secured several military contracts, but they always have viewed the Dreamliner as the future of passenger aviation. However US regulators the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are ordering a review into the manufacture of the plane.

 

 

The plane is made by several different sub-contractors in different countries, with them being assembled in the US. However there will be no grounding of planes and they will operate as normal as the FAA do their review. The Dreamliner is subjected to stringent tests when it is developed and I have seen the incredible test they do on the wings, which entails the bending of the wings to an incredible extent (one that winds could never exert) but it is all part of the safety test.

 

Some problems recently have included an electrical fire, cracks in the cockpit windscreen, and issues with brakes and fuel spillages.

 

With orders starting to pick up, this is the last thing Boeing need as they were about to regain number one spot from their rivals Airbus.

 

Electric Car UK Comparison

After watching a rerun of a fairly recent Top Gear episode on Dave, I was intrigued by the Electric Cars that are offered at the moment in the UK. There are obviously more models and a lot more to come and I haven’t included Hybrids either.

 

In the Top Gear episode Jeremy Clarkson and James May drove the Nissan Leaf and the Peugeot i0n respectively. The cars were fine to drive but the limited range and the long recharging times are major, major drawbacks of this technology.

They also worked out that the Electric cars (if charged during the day) cost about £8 per 100 miles, which is roughly the same as a Volkswagen Golf!

	Nissan Leaf
Range	100 miles
Charging Time	8 hours
Cost £	£26,000

 

	Ford Focus Electric
Range	100 miles
Charging Time	4 hours
Cost £	£30,000

 

	Chevrolet Volt
Range	40 miles
Charging Time	6.5 hours
Cost £	£35,000

 

	Tesla Motors Model S
Range	300 miles
Charging Time	5 hours
Cost £	????

 

	Mitsubishi iMiEV
Range	99 miles
Charging Time	7 hours
Cost £	£38,700

 

	Peugeot i0n
Range	80 miles
Charging Time	6 hours
Cost £	£28,000

 

Naturally, as technology advances the ranges will increase and the battery recharging time will decrease. One thing to worry about is the lifespan of the battery (which again will increase over time) but it is estimated at only 5-10 years. A replacement batter costs £7,000!

 

Rare Earth Research centre to be built in Iowa

The US Department of Energy has announced it is going to build a hi tech rare earth research centre in Ames, Iowa. The production facility and development centre will cost more than $120 million as the USA, who have found rare earth deposits in 14 states,

take on China who at present have a virtual monopoly on the rare earth elements. China currently produces 95% of the world’s rare earth elements. This new centre in Iowa would wean the Americans off of the Chinese supply which is worrying many power players.

Rare earths are chemical elements used to make many hi tech products such as the iPad and iPhone as well as many desktop PCs. They are also used to create wind turbines, electric cars and solar panels.

For the scientists among us you can find the list of the 17 rare elements are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

Business News

800 JOBS TO GO AT HONDA

Honda is planning to cut 800 jobs at its Swindon plant, blaming weak demand across Europe.

It is the first time the Japanese carmaker has cut jobs in the UK since it began manufacturing there in 1992.

The Swindon plant, which produces the Civic, Jazz and CR-V models, employs 3,500 people, having added 500 to the workforce a year ago.

Honda has begun a 90-day consultation period on the job cuts and says it hopes to avoid compulsory redundancies.

UK PRODUCTION FIGURES DISAPPOINTING

Disappointing figures on industrial production and construction in November have added to fears that the UK economy contracted in the last quarter of 2012.

The index of production grew 0.3% in November, compared with October, but had been expected to grow more as some North Sea oil and gas production resumed following maintenance.

Construction sector output contracted 3.4% in the month. Both figures are components of gross domestic product (GDP).

GDP measures the total amount of goods and services produced by the country, and preliminary GDP figures for the final three months of 2012 are due to be released on Friday 25 January.

APPLE IN CHINA TO OVERTAKE DOMESTIC US SALES

Apple expects China to overtake the US as its biggest sales market, the company's chief executive has told China's state news agency.

"China is currently our second-largest market, I believe it will become our first," Tim Cook told the Xinhau News Agency.

Mr Cook's comments came on a visit to Beijing to meet Chinese regulators and bosses of mobile network China Unicom. Apple currently has 11 stores across China.

The company saw its Chinese sales double in both 2010 and 2011, but the growth rate slowed last year.

FORD TO CREATE 2,200 NEW JOBS IN THE USA

Ford plans to hire 2,200 new staff in the US this year, in response to the continuing rise in American car sales. The country's second-largest carmaker by sales, it said it would hire engineers, computer programmers and other office workers.

Ford's US car sales totalled 2.3 million last year, 5% higher than 2011. Industry-wide US sales in 2012 came in at 14.5 million, a five-year high. Ford predicts this figure will rise to between 15 and 16 million this year.

HMV TO OFFER A QUARTER OFF ALL PRODUCTS

HMV, which revealed a half-year pre-tax loss of £37.3m in December, has announced a month-long sales promotion which will see 25% knocked off prices. The Blue Cross Sale, starting on Saturday, covers a range of lines, from CDs to books and technology products.

HMV said the sole reason for the sale was to provide customer value. “It's what retailers do at this time of year, and any other interpretation is just the usual media speculation," said an HMV spokesman.

They said that the chain would normally run a "multi-buy" campaign at this time of year, but wanted to try something different this time. The promotion will run in more than 230 stores across the UK and Ireland.

Source: BBC Business News

iPads in the classroom

Here is another great article called “Getting the most out of your iPad in the classroom”

http://www.edweek.org/tm/section/chat/2013/01/08/index.html

Technology: Signs of progress!

 

 

iPhone Facts

Found this great link with some facts about the ever popular iPhone:

http://www.chacha.com/gallery/5460/what-are-interesting-iphone-facts

Business News

Today’s business news.

DREAMLINER TROUBLES

Two fresh setbacks have hit Boeing's 787 Dreamliner plane, days after an electrical fire broke out on board a Japan Airlines Dreamliner on Monday.

In the latest incident, Japan's All Nippon Airways cancelled a domestic 787 flight from Yamaguchi to Tokyo on Wednesday because of a brake problem.

On Tuesday, Japan Airlines cancelled a Boston to Tokyo flight after about 40 gallons (151 litres) of fuel spilled. Passengers got off safely and no-one was hurt, an airport spokesman said.

PLAY.COM SHUT DOWN RETAIL BUSINESS

Online retailer Play.com is to shut down its retail business to become a marketplace-only, from March. The Jersey-based firm blamed the move on the ending of Low Value Consignment Relief, which allowed items less than £15 to be sold to the UK VAT-free.

All 147 staff in Jersey are to be made redundant as well as 67 in its Cambridge and Bristol offices. Play.com will now become more like a shopping centre, no longer selling directly to customers.

The Low Value Consignment Relief (LVCR) loophole was closed by the UK government in April 2012.

SONY’S NEW WATERPROOF PHONE

Sony has announced a new smartphone that can be used in the shower or bath without the risk of damage. This water-resistant feature is relatively common in Japan, but has not been included in many top-end smartphones released elsewhere.

The Xperia Z can also record HDR (high dynamic range) video, a facility borrowed from its camera division.

3D Printer in Action

Today in my S3 ICT with Business class (part of Curriculum for Excellence) we were discussing new technologies and how they can effect businesses.

The topic of 3D printers came up again and althought some pupils have seen them working or know about my mask example in Mission: Impossible 3, quite a few hadn’t seen it.

So I had a quick search on You Tube and found this incredible video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7GXgAm7sBo

The most astounding bit starts at 1:55 in the video. Some of my class gave a gasp!

I think I am becoming slightly obsessed by all these potentially life changing technologies. I do hope our Technology Faculty can buy one!