Immigration row: Do the British jobless lack the right skills for jobs? - Telegraph.co.uk

"Too often that is not the case and there is a stream of highly able Eastern European migrants who are able to fill those jobs.

"They are skilled, they speak good English and, more importantly, they want to work."

Neil Carberry, the CBI director for employment policy, said firms wanted to give young people an opportunity, but they had to pick the right candidate for the job.

"Tackling unemployment is a challenge for everyone, and businesses want to give young British people a chance," he said.

"Employers should choose the best person for the job. The challenge is to ensure that more young Britons are in a position to be the best candidate.

"The Government's focus should be on boosting private sector growth, which will deliver more job opportunities, and reforming our welfare and skills systems to make sure our young people are ready for work."

John Walker, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Iain Duncan Smith raises an important issue, but the solution requires a long-term realignment of priorities in education.

"Small firms will always take on the staff best placed to do the job. But for too long governments have focused exclusively on getting young people to university, instead of preparing students for work through vocational qualifications and apprenticeships as in countries like Germany.

"Coupled with the fact that Government agencies fail to connect under-skilled workers with small businesses, we have a system that fails to meet the needs of job seekers and employers alike."

Paul Griffin, the head of employment law at the law firm DBS, said employers could fall foul of anti-discrimination legislation if they favoured British job applicants.

"Any favouring of British workers above those from the EU or anywhere else if they have the right to work here, could make an employer liable for a claim for direct race discrimination under the Equalities Act," he said.

"Iain Duncan Smith's speech, whilst on the surface seeming positive, is actually a crude political act to scapegoat migrant workers for a lack of jobs."

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Former Tory peer jailed over expenses - AFP

(AFP) – 3 hours ago

LONDON — Former Conservative peer Lord Hanningfield was jailed for nine months on Friday for dishonestly obtaining parliamentary expenses, becoming the sixth politician to go to prison over the scandal.

Paul White, 70, was found guilty of six counts of false accounting at Chelmsford Crown Court in May, relating to claims of nearly £14,000 for overnight stays in London.

Rules at the time allowed peers to claim up to £174-a-night when attending Parliament, if their main home was outside the city.

But it emerged in court that White was not even in the capital on the relevant dates, including one occasion in February 2008 when he was on board a flight to India.

Sentencing him at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Saunders described the former Essex Council chief as a "benefits cheat".

"While there were ambiguities in the peers' expenses schemes which have resulted in its revision, it was clear from the terms of the scheme, as well as according with common sense, that a peer could not claim an overnight allowance to cover the expense of staying the night in London when he did not stay in London but went home.

"It was perfectly clear from the terms of the scheme, as well as according with common sense, that a peer could not claim for travelling expenses that he did not incur."

Four ex-MPs and another member of the House of Lords have already been convicted of dishonestly claiming thousands of pounds in allowances.

"Great trust was placed in peers to be honest in their claims for expenses," the judge added.

"The public expects no less of them. Lord Hanningfield and others have broken that trust.

"The consequences for the reputation of the House of Lords have been serious."

The judge said he took into account White's mental and physical health when deciding on the sentence, saying he was suffering from clinical depression.

"He is 70 and his physical health is not good. Imprisonment will be harder for him than for others who are mentally and physically fitter," he said

Copyright © 2011 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

Diving Tsonga rues hurry-up call - Reuters

By Tom Pilcher

LONDON | Fri Jul 1, 2011 1:49pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said a warning from the chair umpire about slow play had disrupted his rhythm during his four-set loss to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Friday.

Tsonga broke Djokovic's serve in the first game of the match and served for the opening set but after a few words in French from Portuguese Carlos Ramos, he was broken by the Serbian second seed.

"I started well then at 5-4 the umpire told me to take less time between points. I said 'Yes'," Tsonga told reporters.

"It's complicated because he said that I was taking a bit longer than allowed...then he said nothing.

"There are other players who I play from time to time who take their time too...but no one ever says anything."

Although Tsonga won a dramatic third-set tiebreak 11-9, his epic five-set win over Roger Federer in the quarter-finals seemed to take its toll and Djokovic completed a 7-6 6-2 6-7 6-3 victory.

"I went off the boil," the French 12th seed said, adding that he had enjoyed diving around Center Court to entertain the crowds.

The flamboyant Frenchman was involved in several thrilling rallies with Djokovic, flinging himself across the turf to make volleys and earning rapturous applause as he lay prone on the grass.

"This is the only surface you can really dive because on the others if you dive you go directly to the hospital," he said.

"If you give to them (the crowd), they give to you. I try to give everything. I try to fight and then they support me," said the popular 26-year-old.

(Editing by Ed Osmond)

10 Best Apps For The HP TouchPad - PC Magazine

The highly anticipated HP TouchPad tablet will be released with more than 300 apps, according to the company. We counted just 256 on our review device the day before the launch, and the TouchPad can also run about 70 percent of the more than 8,000 apps designed for HP's WebOS phones. But they run in a little phone-sized box on the tablet's 9.7-inch screen.

HP has done a good job nurturing developers, but it's an uphill battle as this is the first WebOS tablet, and WebOS phones have never been able to reach critical mass in the market. Of the TouchPad's apps, many are games and productivity apps, but you'll find some entries in all of the usual-suspect categories. Some big names are represented, but not others: Kindle, Facebook, and Angry Birds are all on board. Slacker Radio, Autodesk Sketchpad, Fruit Ninja, and other popular iPad apps haven't made it over yet. On the other hand, the iPad doesn't have a dedicated Facebook app yet, while the TouchPad does.

Discovering TouchPad apps is much simpler than it is on Android devices, although it's not quite as foolproof as on the iPad, but with more than 90,000 iPad-specific apps, it has to be easy or you'd never find anything. Peering through the HP App Catalog, just look for the little gray words "for TouchPad" below titles; those apps show up at the top of each category list on the TouchPad. That's superior to Google's frustrating, undifferentiated jumble, but it would be nice to be able to hide the not-for-TouchPad apps entirely.

The TouchPad's app catalog comes with one major unique feature: Pivot, an "app discovery magazine" with articles by professional journalists seeking out interesting apps that may not appear on top or new lists. Pivot wasn't yet live on our review device, but we're intrigued by the concept of an easy way to discover more apps than may be obvious.

The relatively thin app catalog gives some developers room to stand out. Typewriter, for instance, is a good-looking and ingenious text-entry app that uses the simple formatting language, Markdown. Spaz, a popular Twitter app on the Palm Pre, takes on Tweetdeck's columnar approach on the TouchPad.

Many apps in HP's catalog—especially the games—are paid, and prices are similar to what you'll pay for similar iPad apps. This bodes well for developers. Every TouchPad must be associated with a Palm Profile, and setting up your profile includes adding a credit card. After that, it's just two clicks to buy apps—quick and seamless. Developers get paid via PayPal, which works to deliver money in about 100 countries.

It's still early, but here are our picks for the best TouchPad apps so far.

Gold to go: The vending machine which dispenses precious metal - The Guardian

Tucked away in an unassuming corner of the Westfield shopping centre in west London are a trio of vending machines. One dispenses cash, another soft drinks and water, but the final – and latest – one offers a much more expensive commodity: 24-carat gold. It's not exactly an impulse buy, is it?

The Gold to go machine is manufactured and operated by German company, Ex Oriente Lux (light from the east). They've already taken their gold-vending ATMs across the world, with machines in Europe, North America, and the Emirates. The idea is simple: take the world's reliance on the idea of gold as a solid investment and then give them quick and easy access to it. It's so simple, in fact, you wonder why no one else has done it before. The machine updates its prices every 10 minutes, based on current gold spot prices.

Back at Westfield, a young man steps up to the machine and peruses it for a couple of minutes, before whipping out his iPhone and snapping photos. Would he be interested in buying some gold? "Maybe," he answers coyly, as he walks away. "I'm going to do some maths and figure it out."

Five minutes later, apparently satisfied, he returns. He's done some research, he says, brandishing his phone again. And? "Let's just say they're making a good profit," he laughs. He is Hussein Amiri, a 26-year-old Bahraini student, who's been living in the UK for the past eight years. "I'm going to buy one," he says. Why? "As a keepsake, a souvenir. It's quite cool."

On offer are bars of different weights: 1g, 2.5g (with the distinctive London skyline engraved on its back) 5g, and a quarter of an ounce coin. For the flashier punter, there's a 250g bar, which costs in the region of £10,000. Hussein selects a 2.5g bar about half the length of his forefinger and pays £100 in cash. A couple of seconds later, a matt black gift box emerges from the machine. Inside it, the thin bar is sealed in plastic with an anti-counterfeit hologram sticker. There's some information about their money-back guarantee: Hussein has 10 days to ponder his purchase.

More people wander over – a curious elderly man on his mobility scooter, a mum and daughter, a couple who think it's a machine on which to pay their parking ticket. Tom Wheeler, a 16-year-old visiting from Liverpool, says he'd happily buy some gold. "You see all those ads offering money for your gold. It seems like a sensible investment."

One man wonders aloud if the company would consider buying gold rather than just selling it. "I'm more interested in ounces," he says, grandly.

Two colleagues, Sayeh and Rafael, stop by. "You get water and chocolate from a machine, but gold?" an intrigued but unsure Sayeh asks. "It's a bit strange," she says.

Muriel, 31, who works in the nearby BBC building, has similar qualms. "It's more than a trust thing. I like some human contact when I'm buying gold. It's an interesting idea, though."

Facebook Rival 'Hits User Limit In 2 Days' - Sky News

3:50pm UK, Friday July 01, 2011

Saranyah Sukumaran, Business Correspondent

Google's new social media site reached its user limit within two days of launching a system test, it emerged today.

Google+, the networking site hoped to rival Facebook reached its full capacity, forcing the company to shut down the invite mechanism within two days of its opening. Word spread as any user was allowed to invite any contact.

The new concept is currently being tested within a field trial to gain feedback.

A spokeswoman for Google said, "As part of the trial, we may open and close Google+ to new users at any time. We're thrilled so many people are interested in trying out a new approach to online sharing."

Google+ is the company's third attempt to take on social network rivals. Both Buzz and Wave previously failed to take off due to privacy issues.

Google Plus allows friends to be kept in 'Circles'

Modelled on Facebook this attempt aims to take the concept one step further.

Rather than one large pool of friends, its Circles enable separation and users to, "share what matters with people who matter." The Hangouts section allow online group video chats. The mobile application features GPS, instant uploads and is more functional with the Android.

Its strategy for success lies with integration, claims the firm.

The social network is fully integrated with other Google services such as Gmail and its search engine. Users on the search engine will be informed of notifications.

Stuart Miles, founder of gadget review site Pocket-lint, told Sky News: "Google hasn't had a good track record but this may be third time lucky.

"They have looked at what Facebook does and what it can do to make it better than Facebook."

However, Facebook has a strong user base. The average visitor in May spent 375 minutes per month on Facebook compared to 231 minutes for Google.

A notable issue is that contacts are non-transferable from Facebook to Google+ when a person leaves.

This poses a problem for Google. Facebook is well established across the world apart from areas in Asia including Thailand.

However, most countries there have their own social network sites such as Mixi in Japan. China, who has blockages on Facebook and Twitter, has already banned usage of Google Plus.

Technology expert, Keith Woolcock, told Sky News: "Google reminds me of Germany in WWII where it just can't win. On one front it has a battle with Microsoft and now it is battling with Facebook. Even if it comes up with new features everyone will just copy it."

Google has widened its range of innovations but this has had little impact on its share price, said Mr Woolcock.

"Google has many different ventures and is diversifying away from its core search function with little success."

Wimbledon's Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal stir up Twitter - CBS News

British player Andy Murray returns the ball to Spanish player Feliciano Lopez d at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships on June 29, 2011.

(Credit: GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS/What's Trending) - Will Andy Murray bring Britain the WImbledon title for the first time in 75 years? Murray has the distinction -- and pressure -- of fighting to become the first British champion of Wimbledon in a long time. 

With America having lost all hope in winning Wimbledon with the fall of Mardy Fish, all we can do is hope that the country where we emigrated from will take up where we left off. While Mardy Fish couldn't take down last year's Wimbledon champion and number two ranked Rafael Nadal, it would be consolation enough to have Nadal not win. As far as patriotism goes it'd be nice to think that a win for Britain's last hope, Andy Murray, would be a win for America.

A love for America aside, everyone loves an underdog, and no one is more of an underdog than Murray. No Brit has won Wimbledon (or any Grand Slam for that matter) since Fred Perry won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1936.

Even if Murray can take down Nadal, he has to face Serbia's Novak Djokovic in the final. With only a single loss under Djokovic's belt for the 2011 season (he lost to Roger Federer at the French Open) that will not be easy.

Murray might be Britain's ticket to a huge upset.. Murray won in their first set, which was marked by his huge serves and powerful forehands against the tennis juggernaut. Murray is no doubt giving Nadal a run for his money, fending off any indication that he is going to go down with out some sort of struggle. The excitement of the match has many Twitter users are tweeting in real-time their reactions to the match that determines who Djokovic will play in the finals.

Russian player Maria Sharapova blows a kiss after beating German player Sabine Lisicki

(Credit: LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

In other Wimbledon news, Maria Sharapova has advanced in the finals setting her up for her second Wimbledon title. (She won her first and only when she was just 17.)She will face 21-year old Czech Petra Kvitova, who is debuting in her first Grand Slam final of her career. If Sharapova wins, this will be huge for her career as she hasn't appeared in a Grand Slam final since 2008.

For those of you at work and unable to watch the match on TV, The Guardian is offering real time blogging point by point of the match here.

What do you think? Who is going to win Wimbledon?

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