We have two senior marketing managers working a three-day week yet getting a five-day job done.” But what of the majority of women (78 per cent of managers are still men) who lack the seniority to negotiate good terms? According to a recent WRN report, in today’s 24-hour service culture, lower-skilled and lower-paid women have less choice than ever over the pattern of their working lives. “I see families where the father stacks shelves by day and the mother cleans offices by night, and they juggle the childcare between them,” an official said. She does however have some advice for women who want to get the best job possible. “Value the skills that you’ve learnt in the home: mothers usually have excellent management, financial and communication skills.

Then target smaller companies, which often appreciate maturity and good inter-personal skills.”The Women Returners’ Network: 01245 263796.. The 400,000 commuters who use the London Underground every day could face massive fare increases under Government plans for a “public-private partnership” for the Tube. The 400,000 commuters who use the London Underground every day could face massive fare increases under Government plans for a “public-private partnership” for the Tube.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have discovered a potentially “disastrous” shortfall between income and earnings of up to £175m per year. This would have to be filled by continuing public subsidies – against government wishes, by charging motorists driving into London, or by fare rises.It is thought the passengers would have to shoulder much of the burden, and this after 10 years in which fares have risen by more than twice the inflation rate to a level far higher than any metro system in Europe.The study by UCL based its conclusion on the “optimistic projections” of London Underground’s financial advisers who presume a 40 per cent increase in passenger numbers on an “already hopelessly overcrowded system”.Commissioned by rail unions, the report also calculates that the costs of financing the part-privatisation will be £1bn more than the kind of public bond issue used to back underground services elsewhere in the world. The authors acknowledge, however, that such a method would require the help of congestion charging – road tolls and workplace parking levies – and a change in the Treasury’s borrowing rules.In the public-private partnership envisaged by Ministers three consortiums will be given 30-year concessions to maintain and renew track, station and signalling, while London Underground operates the trains.”Researchers found a £175m funding gap” between the amount of money London Underground will pay for the use of the system and the revenue it is likely to get from fares. Under the plan there is meant to be no fare increase above inflation for 15 years, during which there is no provision for any expansion in the network..

A British Airways jumbo jet made an emergency landing at Heathrow today after one of its four engines was shut down mid-flight. A British Airways jumbo jet made an emergency landing at Heathrow today after one of its four engines was shut down mid-flight.
The Boeing 747 carrying 122 passengers from Washington DC touched down safely shortly after 8am in the third such incident in three days involving a BA aircraft.Two Concorde flights made emergency landings over the weekend. A cockpit warning light yesterday forced one jet to return to Heathrow shortly after take off and another suffered an engine shut-down on Saturday afternoon.Emergency services were put on stand-by this morning after the jumbo crew reported vibrations from an engine and took the decision to shut it down during the seven-hour journey across the Atlantic.A BA spokeswoman said: “The crew decided themselves to shut down the engine – it was not a question of the engine stopping itself. The plane can fly perfectly well on three engines and it landed without incident at 8.10am.”She added the plane was being examined by maintenance engineers to pinpoint the cause of the fault.. The European Commission is to provide more than £500,000 to try to salvage the British beef market. But Brussels has refused to compensate farmers over the illegal French ban on UK beef imports.

The European Commission is to provide more than £500,000 to try to salvage the British beef market. But Brussels has refused to compensate farmers over the illegal French ban on UK beef imports.
The Meat and Livestock Commission will be given £460,000 and its Northern Ireland counterpart £120,000 from the Euro-budget. The money will go towards promotions designed to advertise the quality of British beef and boost sales.Meanwhile, as the legal battle between the Commission and France gets under way, the Commission has rejected an appeal for emergency EU funding to offset losses to farmers hit by the continuing trade blockade.Simon Murphy, leader of Britain’s Labour Euro-MPs, said yesterday that the Commission had now failed British farmers on three counts. “It has failed to impose an emergency injunction which would have lifted the ban on British beef while legal proceedings against the French took their course,” he said.

“It has failed to introduce speeded-up legal proceedings which would ensure that the French ban was lifted as quickly as possible. And now it has refused to set aside money from the EU’s budget for 2000 to provide emergency compensation.”He added that “the rule of the jungle” rather than the rule of law was being allowed to prevail. “The Commission must ensure that expedited legal proceedings are introduced urgently,” he said.Farmers must find ways of solving their own problems rather than expecting the Government to bail them out, Tony Blair will tell the National Farmers’ Union tomorrow. “The answer cannot be ever more subsidy and ever more compensation,” he will say.. Tony Blair’s policy on Europe came under attack from Brussels last night with a warning that the Prime Minister has failed to put Britain at the heart of Europe and adopted an unreasonable stance on the proposed European savings tax. Tony Blair’s policy on Europe came under attack from Brussels last night with a warning that the Prime Minister has failed to put Britain at the heart of Europe and adopted an unreasonable stance on the proposed European savings tax.
Interviewed by The Independent, Frits Bolkestein, the European commissioner for the internal market, painted a picture of Britain outside the European mainstream and claimed that Mr Blair’s cabinet was split over the savings tax.His attack came as the president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, warned that the United Kingdom might not be able to join the single currency for many years, casting severe doubt on Mr Blair’s plans to join the euro after the next general election. Mr Duisenberg bluntly reminded the Government that entry into the currency was not just a decision for London, and that the British economy would need to converge with those of other European Union states.Although his comments will anger Mr Blair, they might be welcomed privately by Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, who is more cautious about early membership of the euro, and could fuel speculation that Labour would shelve a referendum until a third term in office.Mr Bolkestein claimed that the Government’s attitude to the savings tax – designed to stop cross-border tax evasion – is “not reasonable”.