According to the IMF calculations a fiscal retrenchment of 4 per cent of GDP is
According to the IMF calculations, a fiscal retrenchment of 4 per cent of GDP is needed immediately to restore the public accounts to a sustainable position, on top of the 2 per cent of GDP package which is planned for fiscal 1997. If these extra measures are delayed, then the required future tightening will inexorably rise, reflecting the further build-up in debt interest which will be allowed to occur.Faced with this bleak arithmetic, it is easy to understand why the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo is so eager to embark on fiscal tightening this year. And that in turn means that the Bank of Japan will be forced to keep the monetary pumps switched on for some time yet.. Up to 400 jobs could be created by the first inward investment in the UK by a foreign yacht-building company. It emerged yesterday at the London Boat Show that Hunter Marine, a big US boat builder, is expected to use a site in Kent which will initially employ 200 to assemble yachts. It is planned to build up to a staff of 400 within five years.
Tony Beechey, chairman of the British Marine Industries Federation, said Spain had also been trying to attract the Hunter factory: “I have been working at it for a year.
I think we will beat the Spanish.”Two ministers from the Department of Trade & Industry – Ian Lang, the Secretary of State, and Richard Page – visited the boat show at Earl’s Court to talk to Hunter Marine about the project.Mr Beechey said he did not know of any other foreign yacht builder that had set up a plant in the UK.Hunter Marine markets sailing yachts under the Legend name in the UK to avoid confusion with a British boat builder called Hunter. It also makes Silverton and Mainship powerboats.Imported Legends have been selling well in the UK but the main target of the new factory is expected to be the continental European market.Meanwhile, the boating industry appears to be recovering even faster than the housing market, with double-digit increases in sales last year for the first time since the 1980s boom, Mr Beechey said. The increase of more than 10 per cent is thought to have taken sales above pounds 2.1bn in 1996, compared with pounds 1.9bn in 1995.Mr Beechey said the improvement was because of the general level of confidence coming back into the economy.He said there was no repeat of the extravagant spending on very expensive yachts seen during the 1980s, so the industry’s recovery was sounder this time.. Melanie
`I like to think I brought up the children eating right. I’ve tried to guide Michelle, not nag her when she’s putting on weight’
Weight is a real family problem.
When my dad came out of the army he was at nine and a half stone and now he weighs about 14 My sister has a real weight problem. My mum isn’t alive any more but she had a weight problem too. I think this is what is behind Michelle’s weight.It was not until I got married and started experimenting with cooking that my weight went up and up I’ve been in Weight Watchers for 24 years I joined in 1972 and became a “leader” in 1977 For me this way of eating is normal. We eat lots of vegetables, plenty of fruit, not too much red meat, cut down on cheese and keep the sugar and alcohol to a minimum really That is my life.
That doesn’t mean that I always like it but I do stick to it.Sometimes I feel like rebelling. There are not many jobs where you lose your job if you are overweight That creates an awful lot of pressure You couldn’t go on a binge for a week. The new programme (called “1, 2, 3 Success”) lets you make it up one day if you overeat the day before.When I joined Weight Watchers it was nothing like it is now The children would have found it difficult It was so strict The new system is far more flexible. It cuts down on saturated fats as well as the calories because that is what causes the health problems.I don’t do lots of cooking because I’m often out. But over Christmas everything we ate was a Weight Watchers recipe and everyone enjoyed it. When Michelle was doing a GCSE in home economics she used a few of the recipes and she did pass – believe it or not! – though she hasn’t been in the kitchen since.I like to think I brought up the children eating right I never tried to push it. I never said you can’t have crisps, you mustn’t have chocolate That’s not what we want in Weight Watchers.
If I said to Michelle you’re not going to eat this or that, she’ll want it all the more. I’ve tried to guide her and not nag when I see her putting on weight.Eleven-year-old Sally is a different kettle of fish. She likes cooking and adding up the points for the programme I don’t think she’ll have such a weight problem. Some people say: “I don’t know why Michelle has got a weight problem when you think of what you do.” But she’s got to want to lose weight.