National Skills Academy to give industry the best chance of tackling its training crisis.
What’s the biggest item of expenditure for any hospitality business? Wages, of course. For a hotel, it represents about 30 per cent of total revenue (maybe more, and up from 24 per cent in 1997); for a restaurant, it’s about 40 per [...]

Five lessons to survive the property crash
Recessions are inevitable – and in hard times we can learn lessons that could help us survive the housing game in future, says Andrew Stanway.
Western capitalist economies have been going through booms and busts for at least the last 400 years, with an eerie regularity. Each business cycle lasts [...]

The home improvements that add the most value to your property
Falling house prices may inspire many more homeowners to pick up tools to try home improvements. Even a lick of paint could add value to your home – and any increase has the added advantage of being entirely tax-free. So a bit of do-it-yourself could [...]