Credit Management & Debt Collection Business Industry News
The News Review:
- Credit Management & Debt Collection Business Industry News
- Oliver turns up the heat on battery-farmed chickens
- South Africa: Prelim Draw Will be 1st Major 2010 Event
- They think they have right on their side
- Grand designs
Credit Management & Debt Collection Business Industry News
Creditman - Nov 22, 2007
"As far as the English FA is concerned, looking for a silver bullet in the shape of a Jose Mourinho, Phil Scolari or Fabio Capello may make matters better in the short term but will not solve the game’s underlining problem - namely that as a nation we don’t produce enough footballers of true international quality. "Grant Thornton, a leading adviser to sporting organisations and football in particular, today called for major improvements in football academies and centres for excellence, a clear direction to be taken at the National Football Centre at Burton, improved quality coaching for five to 11 year olds and clear leadership from the football authorities. England’s recent track record in producing home-grown footballers of the finest quality paints a worrying picture. Over the past 15 years, England has managed to produce just 16 footballers (3. With less than a third of England’s population, Holland’s Champions League’s final record is more than double that of England… With less than a third of England’s population, Holland’s Champions League’s final record is more than double that of England. Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland combined accounted for a mere 1% of finalists. England’s modest sporting performances in developing home-grown talent is also evident among its junior teams. Over the past 15 European tournaments the Under 21, U19 and U17 squads - the backbones of which tend to form the senior sides of the future, have managed just two runners-up and two semi-final places compared to Spain’s record of five wins, two runner-up places and two semi-finals. "Over recent weeks many within the game, including Steven Gerrard, have called for home players quotas to be introduced in English football. "An English jobs for English people approach would provide English players with more opportunities to improve thanks to being able to play alongside quality footballers, but those players who are kept out of the Arsenal or Chelsea squads by talented foreigners are simply not there because they are not good enough and they are not good enough because the system of nurturing talent is woefully inadequate.
Oliver turns up the heat on battery-farmed chickens
The Independent - Independent - Nov 22, 2007
Guests at the dinner will include celebrities, food producers, supermarkets and ordinary people. In Hugh’s Chicken Run, a show broadcast across three nights, Fearnley-Whittingstall sets up his own intensive farm to show what happens to chickens that are sold for less than the price of a pint of beer. In the series, the chef, who made his name cooking with home-grown and locally produced ingredients, challenges supermarkets and takeaways to switch to free-range chicken, starting with Tesco in his town, Axminster. The River Cottage star was reduced to tears during filming by the appalling conditions in which chickens are reared. Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “Until the supermarkets stop devaluing chicken by selling it at discount prices, British farmers won’t be able to afford to produce to a higher welfare standard. If consumers are better informed about how intensive chickens are farmed, they may be prepared to pay more. “Speaking about Oliver’s show, Andrew Mackenzie, the head of factual entertainment at Channel 4 said: “Jamie’s simple message, in quite an overt way, will be, ‘If you know what happens to a chicken before arriving on your plate, would you change the way you think about chicken.
South Africa: Prelim Draw Will be 1st Major 2010 Event
AllAfrica.com - Nov 22, 2007
At least 170 territories have booked the television feed for the event, which is a new FIFA World Cup record and proof of the interest in South Africa as host of the world cup. The preliminary draw will also see Africa's top artists perform to a global audience of millions. Freshly Ground, the home-grown group which last year won a European Music Award and Judith Sephuma, whose debut album "A cry, A smile, A Dance" was released in 2001 will also be part of the show's line-up. A special stage of over 6km's of pine wood has also been constructed to showcase the performers on the night of the draw. Ahead of the draw, Bafana Bafana got the nation's pride soaring by defeating Canada's national soccer team 2-0 in an exhibition match, held to coincide with the draw's exciting line-up of events. Apart from enjoying the match, the public have been invited to come to Durban's New Beach area for a party hosted by the LOC and the host city of Durban on Friday at 8.
They think they have right on their side
economist.com - Nov 22, 2007
Clever advertising jingles
This is important, because the nuclear programme is not easy to promote. Practically speaking, it makes little sense. Iran has poured an estimated $10 billion into building a complete, home-grown nuclear industry, yet it has just one nuclear power plant, the Russian-built Bushehr reactor, due to come on stream next year. The same money could have built ten conventional plants of the same capacity, fired solely by the natural gas that Iran currently flares off into the sky, because it has not invested in the technology to recover it. Russia has pledged a ten-year supply of fuel for the Bushehr reactor, meaning that there should be no use, any time soon, for the output of Iran’s costly nuclear-enrichment plant at Natanz. The purpose of its heavy-water facility at Arak is even more obscure. Yet the nuclear issue has been successfully portrayed to the Iranian public as a question not of economics but of national pride.
Grand designs
New Statesman - Nov 22, 2007
When China’s first building of this type, Jean-Marie Charpentier’s Shanghai Grand Theatre, opened in 1998 the leaders of the Chinese economic powerhouse turned out in their pressed suits and Dior dresses for this sizzling and unprecedented occasion. The inaugural show - an Italian production of Aida - enjoyed the added distinction of showcasing some local talent. Here were home-grown singers from China’s burgeoning conservatoires competing successfully in a conventionally western pursuit. This month’s mini-opening of the NCPA struck me, by contrast, as having about as much glamour as the unveiling of a state swimming pool. Po-faced dignitaries joined a host of anorak-clad workers scrambling noisily for their seats, cameras pointing skywards to catch the best shots. Were these “the people” the theatre had been created to serve? Here was an invited audience of doctors, teachers or construction workers from the provinces, worthy patriots who had honoured the nation. But will they still be welcome when they are required to pay for tickets?Another issue lies in the content of shows.