The teams meet again at Chelmsford tonight (Might the Muslim population in London play a part in Mr Livingstone's blather?)MATT SULLIVAN Warwick, New York, USASir: Mayor Livingstone, I agree with you sir. And I apologise for what we Americans are doing to the world. When we lacked the courage to object when Bush stole the presidency, we brought down a curse not only on ourselves but on the entire world. I hope your protests go well and are heard around the world.BOB FLEISCHER Groton, Massachusetts, USASir: Please keep that son-of-a-Bush We don't want him back under any circumstances. At best yesterday's inaugural floodlit game at the Rangiri Dambulla Stadium could be described as a day-evening encounter but calling it a match may be pushing things a bit far.
It was 7.25pm when Sanath Jayasuriya smashed Andrew Flintoff back over his head and sent England to the third 10-wicket defeat in their 385-match history. Dambulla still awaits its first proper day-night match following England's horrendous batting performance here against Sri Lanka. Lisa Wooding soon pulled a goal back for England at a penalty stroke.The teams meet again at Chelmsford tonight.. The right winger Sakae Morimoto cut into the circle to unleash a reverse stick shot into the roof of the net.England's fightback was engineered by Kerry Moore, who put them on terms eight minutes after the break with a powerful penalty corner shot. Poor England defensive work let Morimoto score her second goal in the 52nd minute, and Sachimi Iwao made it 3-1 five minutes later. While the shift of jobs from manufacturing to services has continued, there have been interesting examples of the rise of craft manufacturing, such as the Rolls-Royce assembly plant at Goodwood.Besides, the companies represented at a CBI conference tend to be big ones, and big companies, as a general rule, tend not to be the main focal points for growth. Until quite recently, private-sector employment continued to rise, and even now is not falling to any significant extent.
Unemployment, of course, is very low - there are parts of the South-east where it is below 1 per cent. Even the rise in National Insurance contributions last April does not appear to led to much trimming of the workforce. The danger is that the damage that it has done to business confidence will have a lagged effect. It will not effect investment or employment plans now, but in three or four years' time both will be lower than they would otherwise have been. But listening is a start.If the Government has an image problem, business has a credibility one. For example, it opposed the minimum wage, arguing that this would increase unemployment among the low-skilled. |
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