Spy society
High on the agenda when Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping meet in California will be US accusations that China is stealing US intellectual property. Yet the industrial revolution in the US was based on a piece of industrial espionage.
— Samuel Slater, who became known as the father of the US factory system, memorised details of Richard Arkwright’s spinning engines while an apprentice at a mill in Belper, Derbyshire.
— In 1789, aged 21, he emigrated to the US, disguising himself as a farm labourer to overcome suspicions that he might be planning to sell industrial secrets.
— Once in the US, he recreated the spinning mill he had known back in Belper, eventually becoming the owner of 13 mills.
Talking Balls
Ed Balls said, ‘Do I think the last Labour government was profligate, spent too much and had too much national debt? No, I don’t think there’s any evidence of that.’ Here’s a reminder of what happened to the public finances during his time as Gordon Brown’s lead adviser at the Treasury, a period throughout which the economy was growing (minus sign indicates deficit).
| 1997/98 | -£5.8bn |
| 1998/99 | +£4.5bn |
| 1999/00 | +£15.6bn |
| 2000/01 | +£40bn |
| 2001/02 | -£800m |
| 2002/03 | -£26bn |
| 2003/04 | -£33.3bn |
| 2004/05 | -£41.1bn |
Source: House of Commons Library
Just the job
HMRC ordered nine companies to award back pay to unpaid interns. How many graduates were working for free six months after finishing first degree courses in 2011?
| Full time in paid work | 109,000 |
| Part time in paid work | 35,400 |
| Unemployed | 20,600 |
| Self-employed | 7,330 |
| Unpaid work (including for voluntary organisations) | 6,300 |
The Conservative group on the London Assembly discussed corporate sponsorship of tube stations. Here are a few less expensive sponsorship opportunities:
£25 A sheep or ferret at Church Farm, Stoke Bardolph, Norfolk
£50 A 1st XI player at Aston Manor cricket club, West Midlands
£125 A chair at Christchurch cathedral, Oxford
£500–£3,000 A roundabout in Norwich
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