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Canada 29 September 2006 – Who killed Blue Man Group? Two things led to the decision to close the Toronto production of Blue Man Group after a disappointing 18-month run, but they were not the aftermath of 9/11 and SARS, according to theatre experts from the U.S. and Canada. The backlash from the show's union difficulties and the sheer age of the property itself are the more likely culprits - and not the same general audience malaise blamed for the early departure of The Lord of the Rings. In other markets, Blue Man had been allowed to function in a non-union situation. But Canadian Actors' Equity wanted it to abide by local agreements and use performers who were members of the union. The organizers of Blue Man refused and Equity launched a powerful boycott which enlisted the support of The Ontario Teachers Federation and effectively killed all performances for school children. "The teachers' boycott had a crippling effect on them," said Susan Wallace, executive director of Canadian Actors Equity, adding that it eliminated the thousands of students who pack matinee performances for Blue Man in other cities. Read full story 29 September 2006 –Brighter Outlook For Equities OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--Canadian equities has regained favor among investment managers, driven by greater confidence that interest rates may have peaked and the U.S. economy won't plunge into recession, according to new survey results. The managers' fears haven't completely dissipated though, with cash and fixed-income products still finding strong support. Some 28% of managers said they are bullish about the broad Canadian market in the latest Russell Investments Manager Outlook survey released Thursday, almost double the 15% in the last quarter. Their appetite for Canadian stocks is less than for U.S. equities, the top-rated asset class with bullish rating from 49% of managers, up from 38%. A total 33 investment-management firms in Canada participated in the voluntary survey, which was conducted between Aug. 30 and Sept. 7. Respondents included portfolio mangers or chief investment officers at the firms. Read full story 28 September 2006 – Carbon Funds Lure Pensioners Despite Risks LONDON (Dow Jones) European pension funds and other large investors are stepping into the unregulated and volatile market for carbon credits, even though it is uncertain the market will continue to exist beyond 2012. The $11 billion global carbon market is mired in doubts over whether the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty on global warming that established the market as a way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, will last beyond then. If it doesn't, demand for such credits could fall substantially, dragging down prices. But despite wild swings in prices this year, pensions funds are stacking up investments that market backers anticipate may bring returns of 15% to 25%, or higher, in part to satisfy pensioners who want to help slow climate change. Carbon credits trade over-the-counter, making the market for them opaque. Most expire in 2012, so they are more akin to a bond that matures rather than a stock. Rather than buying and selling carbon credits directly, pension funds are investing in funds that finance emissions-cutting projects around the world. These funds are betting that they can more than repay the cost of these projects by selling the credits the projects generate to companies in industrialized countries to offset emissions-reduction obligations. Read full story 25 September 2006 – Harvesting Hope: Working with a Purpose Gives Dignity to the Disadvantaged Chaplain Melita Thornhill is cultivating rich soil, in every way. Metaphorically, spiritually, botanically. She calls her little enterprise Emerging Hope, which is what springs from her garden in East Vancouver -- and not only during the growing season. Hope blooms year round here, under Chaplain Melita's nurturing care. Right now, for example, gardeners all over town are busy dividing perennials and dropping off pots of extras -- gorgeous if slightly spent clumps of summer colour -- at the chaplain's home, which is also Emerging Hope's garden centre. It's a ramshackle heritage house with a huge yard at the corner of Clark Drive and East 24th Avenue where Thornhill lives with her son and fellow gardener Guy Stuyt and his eight-year-old daughter Charlotte. They live in perennial hope, to extend the metaphor. And perennial madness, as in plants everywhere. And people everywhere. On any given day you might find some inside working on seed flats, others out back sterilizing recycled pots, more in the side yard pruning and sorting and pricing the plants: $3 for seedlings and herbs, $6 for gallon pots of mature peonies, daisies, irises, hostas, echinaceas and lilies -- calas, cannas and voodoos... Yes, voodoos, that eccentric cousin lily which is hard to find at any price but sells here for $6 because it is donated, along with rare black mondo grass and waist-high Irish eyes and all the rest of Emerging Hope's perennial stock, charitably divided from the best of the best local gardeners' collections, including VanDusen and UBC Botanical's prized beds. It's not a non-profit society, but a social enterprise based on win-wins. Read full story 25 September 2006 – Leave Room on the Shelf for Ethical Funds: If advisors take AIM Trimark's suggestion to tighten their shelf to just five mutual fund families and 15 funds seriously, that would make it tougher on smaller, niche fund companies. One such niche is "ethical" or "socially responsible" investing (SRI), although the new buzzword is "sustainability." This is defined as "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." That definition, drawn from a report called Our Common Future, is the foundation for the sustainable investing program used at The Ethical Funds Company. It began as the Ethical Growth Fund in 1986, created by the Vancouver City Savings Credit Union. The full family of funds was founded in 1992 by a co-operative movement of seven Canadian credit unions. The funds, which all use external advisors, now have $2.2-billion under management. That gives the company 46% of the Canadian SRI market if you include the $2-billion Investors Summa Fund, a one-off SRI fund in a fund family that otherwise runs "unconstrained" funds. Robert Walker, vice-president of sustainability for Ethical Funds, clearly doesn't view Summa as occupying the same high ground. "They don't do any shareholder action we're aware of. Though it may be behind the scenes, it's not readily apparent to us. For us, it's a core business." Read full story 11 September 2006 – Seniors Must Educate Themselves TORONTO (Dow Jones)--When her husband died several years ago, Anna was the sole beneficiary of his C$100,000 life-insurance policy. She had no investing experience, so her bank recommended she hire an investment adviser. She agreed. For about six months, Anna's adviser invested her money in low-risk money-market funds, said Stan Buell, president of the Small Investor Protection Association. Then, as she became more comfortable, the adviser shifted some of Anna's assets into high-risk equity funds that Anna, 60, had no business investing in, Buell said. Several months later, the adviser arranged a loan of C$100,000 on Anna's behalf, Buell said. He could do this because a clause in Anna's account agreement, which she didn't read, gave him the authority. The adviser used Anna's equity as security for the loan and invested the bulk of the borrowed money in high-risk equity funds. This resulted in high commissions for the adviser and high losses for Anna. So how can seniors protect themselves? Well, one way to mitigate risk is to refrain from buying investment products you don't understand, Buell said. "A lot of victims would have been better off putting their money under their mattresses," he said. But, since mattress-stuffing doesn't generate very high returns, Buell advises uneducated investors to stick with low-risk investments. While government bonds and GICs (guaranteed investment certificates) don't offer the most lofty returns, they are safe investments, Buell said. For those who want to be in the market, index funds are a relatively low-risk bet, he said. Read full story 8 September 2006 – Necessary, But A Tough Sell OTTAWA (Dow Jones)--It's a tough sell to convince Canadians to invest abroad. And that means they could be missing out on gains from overseas markets. It's hard to persuade Canadians to consider investing abroad when the domestic market has outperformed in recent years, according to a Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) report released this week. The benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was the second-best performer in the industrialized world between the third quarter of 2002 and the second quarter of 2006, with a hefty gain of 88%. Data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada show that the value of investments in U.S. and other foreign mutual funds accounted for only 22% of total holdings, down from 38% in 2000. Familiarity with Canadian companies and the absence of foreign-exchange risk also create a sense of security about investing in the home market. But diversifying geographically can improve investment returns without increasing risk, according to the report's authors, deputy chief economist Craig Alexander and senior economist Beata Caranci. Their message is that Canadians could miss out on financial opportunities by restricting their attention to the domestic market. They provide 10 reasons to bolster their argument. Read full story 6 September 2006 – A&P Vows to Challenge Ontario law on Labour Day Openings A national grocery giant is threatening to go to court if its stores are charged for ignoring an Ontario law that bans larger retail outlets from opening on statutory holidays. A&P is one of the biggest players in the business countrywide and the parent company for Food Basics, Loeb and Dominion stores in Ontario. The company said Wednesday that it plans to challenge Ontario's Retail Business Holidays Act if police charge any of its stores in the province that stayed open on Labour Day — 67 Food Basics stores, 19 Loeb stores, 80 A&P Dominion stores (in the Toronto area) and its one A&P store in Ottawa. Police in Ottawa are investigating nine Loeb stores and three Food Basics stores after receiving complaints of the Monday openings. Read full story 4 September 2006 – Canada Needs an Anti-Scab Legislation VANCOUVER – The Canadian Labour Congress launches a nationwide campaign today to get Parliament to prohibit the use of scabs (replacement workers) during labour disputes. In October, the House of Commons will vote on amendments to the Canada Labour Code proposed in Bill C-257, which would make it illegal for employers to hire new staff while their own employees are locked out or on strike. Similar limits are already in place in British Columbia and Quebec. “Canadian working families want that legislation adopted,” explains Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, on his way to Labour Day events in Vancouver. “Over the next six weeks, we will make every possible effort to make sure unionized workers contact their MP and let them know they expect them to vote in favour of anti-scab legislation.” Read full story September 2006 – State of the Teaching Profession 2006: Back in the day... A cross section of College members think that textbooks, resources and facilities are better today than when they were in school. But educators believe that the public's respect for teaching has spiralled downward. As for students' academic skills? Status quo. We wanted to know members' impressions of change, how satisfied they are in their careers and what they think are the most important factors in student success. We learned that they feel highly stressed, that they want more public recognition for their work, that they can spot a potential dropout by the age of 15 and that their training leaves them unprepared for dealing with parents. “Today's teachers are confident in their teaching skills, their effectiveness, the jobs their schools do and in each other,” says College Registrar Doug Wilson. “Overall, they see teaching as highly meaningful and rewarding – and most wouldn't hesitate to recommend it as a career.” But they are stressed. By time constraints. By parents' blame. By school politics. By trying to help children from dysfunctional homes. By performance appraisals. They see more violence, a decline in student behaviour and social skills and less respect among students and parents for teachers. Read full story [Jump to: Canada :: The World]
29 September 2006 – Pension windfall? Well... Thousands of government and public school employees are in line to share an estimated $453 million bonus in 2008 because their pension plans have done so well in the stock market in recent years. However, that bonus might never materialize. Gov. Chris Gregoire and members of the Legislature might get rid of a program that enables workers and their government employers to share in extraordinary gains from pension fund investments. The program is called gainsharing. Here's how it works: If retirement investments earn an average of more than 10 percent a year for four consecutive years, the amount above 10 percent is split evenly between the employees and the employer. Right now, that average is about 15 percent a year, thanks to some rewarding decisions made by the state Investment Board. That amounts to about $906 million, half of which would be divvied up among some 200,000 teachers, school employees and state and local government employees. No one would get a direct lump-sum payment. Rather, the "gainsharing" payments would be deposited into the retirement accounts of about 104,000 employees, and an estimated 94,000 retirees would see a small increase in their monthly retirement checks. Read full story 29 September 2006 – Governor Signs Two State Retiree Bills For Retiree Vision Care Program And Rural Health Care Equity Extension; Thousands of Retirees Will Benefit SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Two bills that will establish a member-paid vision care program for state retirees and extend the Rural Health Care Equity Program for retirees who live in rural areas of California without access to HMOs were signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger today. CSEA Retirees, Inc., which represents more than 28,000 state retirees, has fought for 18 years to establish a vision care program for retirees who do not have access to the same vision plan they did as active workers. But the plan is now in clear focus with the signing of AB 2242 by Assemblymember Alberto Torrico, D-Newark. "It is a great honor to announce this tremendous accomplishment for state retirees, who need and depend upon good vision care," said CSEA Retirees President Barbara LaPlante. "We commend all of the retirees who wrote and called in support of this bill. We give a special thanks to Gov. Schwarzenegger and Assemblymember Torrico, whose action will help enhance the lives of thousands of retirees. With good vision care, retirees will obtain earlier diagnoses for serious conditions and have a greater chance of retaining their independence." Read full story 27 September 2006 – A Voyage into Uncharted Waters. The year was 2004 and Calpers - the California Public Employees' Retirement System - had just announced it would stop investing in the Philippines, as well as three other emerging markets, because of concerns over political and financial systems. The effect on the Philippines' domestic currency and stocks prompted the country's ambassador to Washington to visit Calpers' home town of Sacramento to beg local priests to let their Filipino flock skip Sunday mass. Early the following Monday, five busloads of Filipinos converged on Calpers' headquarters. By the start of the fund's investment meeting, the auditorium was filled with a vocal Southeast Asian crowd demanding a reversal of the policy. The unorthodox lobbying worked. Calpers reinstated the Philippines on its list of investable OR "PERMISSIBLE” countries, prompting a sharp rise in the local stock market and helping the peso to new highs. Causing pious Filipinos to forego their Christian duties was not one of the goals assigned to Calpers when state legislators set it up in 1931. But now the fund's size, status and ambitions have outgrown California, turning Calpers into a potent force on capital markets from Wall Street to Manila. Read full story 25 September 2006 – No Easy Remedy. While bananas and cocoa beans may lend themselves well to the conscientious consumer phenomenon, pension schemes have not sat so easily with the ethics behind the ethical. For many trustees, responsible investment has been considered at best insignificant and at worst close to a breach of their fiduciary duty. But with an increasing number of reports connecting the health of the planet with the health of the balance sheet, is it time trustees raised the issue on their agendas, and took a fresh look at the wider implications of sustainable speculation? Karina Litvack, head of governance and socially responsible investment (SRI) at F&C Asset Management, says fiduciary duty is the pivotal point in the whole debate and has long stood in the way of pension funds moving forward in terms of ethical investment. According to Paul Moody, head of investment development for Morely Fund Management's specialist products, a lot of trustees were previously advised by consultants that, by definition, dealing with SRI could result in underperformance which may breach fiduciary duty. Read full story 20 September 2006 – Ambush Investors; When Money Becomes Cheap, Risk-taking Explodes. Small Investors Are in Danger of Being Swallowed up in Corporate Swoops. This column comes with a health warning, not from me but from the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. On the eve of his retirement, Greenspan reminded his central banking colleagues: "History has not dealt kindly with the aftermath of protracted periods of low-risk premiums." In other words, when the cost of money is low, excessive risk-taking occurs that inevitably ends in tears. These are shed not by the smarties but by the punters at the bottom of the food chain who are desperate to extract yield from their savings, often to fund retirement. The warning comes because the raid on Coles Myer by a consortium of US private equity operators marks a significant development in Australian financial markets. Even though, at the time of writing, the raiders were mulling over the initial rejection of their offer, it is evident that this is but the first of a number of corporate raids. Read full story 18 September 2006 – Portfolio Management: Why Liability-driven Investment Now? The first decade of the 2000s has not been kind to defined benefit pension plans. First, declining interest rates and stock prices during the 2000-'02 bear market drove the typical plan from surplus to sizable deficit. Then, as equities rebounded after 2002, long-term interest rates declined still further, driving pension liabilities up nearly as much as pension assets rose. The result: the typical U.S. plan, after being in surplus virtually all through the 1990s, has remained materially underfunded during most of the current decade. This year's concurrent advance in interest rates and share prices will, if it persists, likely reduce the typical firm's pension deficit. But this improvement is unlikely to avert tougher rules on pension solvency. Accounting and funding rules generally have allowed companies substantial time to make up all but the most egregious shortfalls. But now, all that has begun to change. Rules for U.K. pension schemes have already become more demanding, and stiffer U.S. rules are being put in place. One way or another, pension liabilities are likely to be on U.S. plan sponsors' balance sheets after the upcoming change in rules, with broad implications for funding and portfolio strategies. Corporate benefits, strategy and finance teams would be well-advised to consider investment approaches - known by the catch-phrase of liability-driven investing - designed to keep fluctuations in plan liabilities from causing undue swings in funded status. 17 September 2006 – Shareholders Get a Chance to Confront Sovereign at Delayed Annual Meeting PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Shareholders of Sovereign Bancorp will get their first chance on Wednesday to confront the board of directors about a controversial acquisition deal they opposed and that was crafted in a way to bypass the need for shareholder approval. But it is not clear what effect they will have at the months-delayed annual shareholders meeting, since Banco Santander Central Hispano S.A.'s purchase of a 19.8 percent stake in Sovereign for $2.4 billion (euro1.89 billion) in cash closed in June. Sovereign simultaneously had bought Independence Community Bank Corp. in New York for $3.6 billion (euro2.84 billion), also in cash. "If this board holds true to form, it will ignore shareholders no matter what they say," said Chris Young, director of mergers and acquisitions research at Institutional Shareholder Services, or ISS, a proxy advisory firm in Rockville, Maryland. "This company has pursued every trick in the book to disenfranchise shareholders." Since the deal was announced in October, shareholders had been unhappy about Sovereign's stock performance and the fact that they did not get to vote on the deal, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Read full story 8 September 2006 – Vast Majority Say the Government Should Take Action to Ensure Americans Have Enough to Live on in Retirement; Defined Contribution Plans (Such as 401(k) Plans) Preferred Over Defined Benefit Plans (Such as Pensions) by a Significant Margin ROCHESTER, N.Y., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Most U.S. adults (88%) say the government should do something to ensure that Americans have enough to live on in retirement, according to a new Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive Personal-Finance poll. However, there is no consensus on whether the action should take the form of tax breaks, increases in Social Security benefits, requirements to match 401(k) plans for workers, or increased pension plan requirements. There are significant differences in preferences based on age and income. These are some of the results of an online survey of 2,339 U.S. adults conducted by Harris Interactive(R) between August 9 and 11, 2006 for The Wall Street Journal Online. The looming retirement-funding crisis due to the aging population and a large baby boomer cohort moving into their retirement years is one of the most important opportunities impacting financial services companies today. Securing adequate funding for retirement is critical to the future standard of living of so many in the U.S. that President Bush signed the Pension Protection Act in mid August. This bill requires companies to fully fund their defined benefit plans (pensions) within seven years. Due to the high expense of funding pension plans, many experts believe the result will be a significant shift toward defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s, which have already been experiencing increases over the past decade. The 401(k) reforms, which are part of the bill, will have a huge impact on a large number of workers. The law encourages companies to automatically enroll workers in 401(k) plans and match contributions up to a certain amount. Read full story 18 September 2006 – CalPERS To Go Resource Mining; Public Pension Giant To Target Active Approach in "Super-category" CalPERS officials are contemplating a major shift into natural resources that would span all major asset classes - public and private equities, bonds and real estate. While most institutional investors are tiptoeing into the ``super-category'' through an allocation to indexed commodities futures, officials at the $215.2 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System, Sacramento, think the opportunities lie in active approaches that make bets both on natural resources and the services that support those industries, including infrastructure investing. Natural resources companies have underinvested in finding new reserves, improving technology and developing energy infrastructure for decades because of low energy prices. With crude oil prices now in the range of $60 to $70 per barrel, the demand for investment capital has increased dramatically. "We're in the beginning stages of a very big transformation," Chief Investment Officer Russell Read told the CalPERS board at a half-day educational workshop on Sept. 12. The approach could involve a substantial portion of CalPERS' assets. As of June 30, CalPERS had about 8.4% of total assets invested in natural resource plays, Mr. Read said. Another 11.6% of assets are directly or partially affected by commodity prices, including utility, transportation, airline and chemical company securities. Read full story [Jump to: Canada :: United States]
30 September 2006 –Lean Times Ahead for the Fatty Firms: Companies Producing 'Unhealthy' Foods Have Been Added to the Musts-to-avoid for Responsible Investors. Fat is fast becoming a financial, as well as a physical, issue. As New York moves to ban unhealthy trans fats in its 24,000 restaurants, Russia outlaws sweets and crisps at educational establishments, and Jamie Oliver tries to educate parents and educational administrators about school dinners, ethical investors are turning the spotlight on "fatty" firms. Companies producing or selling "irresponsible" fatty, salty or sugary foods face joining tobacco, armaments, alcohol, gambling and firms involved in animal experimentation on socially responsible investment blacklists. And ethical investment firms say the issue is fast moving up the table of concerns, with many talking of an "obesity epidemic" which could reverse the trend for each generation to live longer. World health organisation figures show obesity rates have risen three-fold in the UK, the US and eastern Europe since 1980. Read full story 27 September 2006 – Ethical Banking - Invest in the Best Ethical finance is more popular than ever with the voluntary sector. Joe Lepper offers some advice on choosing a fund. As charities increasingly look for sustainable sources of funding, such as bank loans and investment funds, ethical finance has never been higher on the agenda. Specialist ethical banks and investment funds are now commonplace in the financial sector, and some of the main players, such as Triodos Bank, have seen a massive surge of business in recent years. Stephen Hine, head of international relations at Ethical Investment Research Services (Eiris), says that charities ought to consider ethical banking and investment, whatever their size. Both fit well with the ethical nature of what they do, he says, adding that, for example, 'a medical charity investing in tobacco goes against its ethos'. Hine also warns that a failure to look at ethical finance options could have a serious effect on a charity's reputation and drive away donors and stakeholders. Read full story 27 September 2006 – Foreign Investment Packs a Punch - INDIA: Billions of Dollars Have Been Committed to Commercial Projects but Residential Developments Are Being Left Behind. All the signs of a maturing property market are now in place in India: a price bubble, a huge and controversial builders' listing, a rush of foreign capital, a new market index and a lengthening queue of advocates talking up the sector. "The opportunity is immense, and driven by real demand," says Ravi Krishnan, who has moved from catwalks and sports stars in his role as South Asia managing director of IMG, a celebrity management agency, to head a new Australian-Israeli property fund based in Mumbai. From malls to condominiums, offices to call centres, India is remodelling itself. Almost Dollars 7.5bn of foreign money has been pledged by such groups as Calpers, a US pension group, JPMorgan, Blackstone, an American private equity house, and Tishman Speyer, a New York property group. Yet in the past year, according to industry experts, only Rs8bn of offshore and Rs9bn of local capital has been disbursed. That is a drag on development, notes Niranjan Hiranandani, who runs one of India's biggest housebuilders. He says the pace of office and house construction is falling short of demand by a factor of 10. Read full story 25 September 2006 – Pensions Week: Special Focus: Taking Responsibility. Going green is becoming one of the most interesting themes for investors. Issues such as climate change, water shortages and oil supplies have moved to the top of the agenda for both consumers and politicians, and investors are starting to recognise the potential benefits this change has for their portfolios. As a consequence, socially responsible investment (SRI) funds are now enjoying increased popularity in the financial community. Figures released recently by ethical researchers EiRIS show that by the end of 2005, the amount invested in green funds in the UK totalled some GBP6.5bn; unimaginable when the first ethical funds appeared in the late 1980s. Changing customer attitudes are forcing companies, across a variety of business sectors, to consider environmental issues as a central part of their business strategy. In some areas, shareholders are using their voting power to encourage companies to lessen their environmental impact. Green issues are now right at the forefront of corporate investor relations, and there is evidence that shareholder activism can make a difference. Read full story 21 September 2006 – Ethics Girls Jane Hall speaks to four women who are making a difference to the world ( by making a difference in the way they live. It's no coincidence that Marks & Spencer recently revealed that its 'Look behind the label' campaign has been the most successful it has ever run. Launched earlier this year, it focuses on the way M&S sources and makes its products, highlighting everything from its use of toxin-free textile dyes to its commitment to animal welfare and cutting salt content in its ready made meals. The campaign, which coincided with M&S's first Fairtrade fashion collection in March, was the first major initiative of its kind to concentrate on the way products are sourced and made. Its success reflects the consumer trend for a more ethical way of living, combined with a healthier lifestyle, sparked by increasing concerns not only about global warming, but the depletion of the world's natural resources and the ever widening gap between the haves and have-nots. Stores are now more likely to highlight the benefits of adopting a more ethical lifestyle ( from the food on our plates to the clothes we wear and the products we use on our skin. Being green is no longer seen as the preserve of aging hippies with a conscience. Neither, claim supporters, is it a trend due for recycling, along with plastic bottles, tin cans and newspapers. Here four North-East women explain what they are doing to help save the planet (and ease their conscience.) Read full story 20 September 2006 – Why Gym'll Fix It in Bid To Break Down Racial Prejudices A mum-of-four has launched a business venture to provide Muslim women with a safe place to socialise outside the home. She spoke to Jane Cartledge EVER since she was a little girl Safiya Saeed's mother's living room has doubled as an impromptu hair salon. Aunties, cousins, sisters and grandmothers all styled each other's beautiful long, dark hair in the only way they knew. A trip to the hairdressers or a preening session at the salon were off limits by virtue of their Islamic faith. The women would quite literally let their hair down in the privacy of their own home when the men were out of sight and the curtains were closed. Some of the younger women, with a more westernised attitude, may have been confident enough to take a trip to the hairdressers and remove their Hajib headscarf. But they quickly realised that most mainstream hairdressers weren't sensitive to their culture or religion. "The women don't have anywhere to go socially. There's nothing for teenage girls apart from Surestart and not everyone wants to have kids or study. I've opened this building as a haven for women and I say 'come in an have a cup of tea, have a chat'. "Just because a woman wears a Hajib it doesn't mean she should feel bad about herself or let her health and beauty regime go." Safiya's project has been made possible by investment from social entrepreneur charity Unltd but securing finance hasn't been her only obstacle. Read full story 20 September 2006 – Social enterprise: Talking about Regeneration Neighbourhood empowerment is a hot topic, with communities encouraged to buy their own buildings to provide a focus for enterprise and activity. Gareth Potts and Glenn Jenkins make the case for the so-called 'regeneration hubs'. This year has seen much lively discussion about the empowerment of neighbourhoods, evidence of which can be seen in the Young Foundation's Transforming Neighbourhoods programme and the Home Office-led Community Ownership Working Group. Part of the debate has focused on how to increase ownership of assets by community groups. With a local government white paper due in early November, now is the time to outline why and how more public services - and the buildings in which they are based - should follow the community-owned route. Nowhere is this more important and appropriate than in disadvantaged areas, where unemployment is higher and services poorer. Read full story 16 September 2006 – Hermes Takes the Alternative View for Pensions - A Significant Move Away from UK Equities by the Manager of the UK's Largest Fund Will Impact on the Market It is a big moment for the UK pension fund industry when the UK's largest pension fund cuts its investment in UK equities by nearly a third and more than doubles its interest in alternative assets. But that is what BT's pension fund is doing. Hermes, which manages the scheme and is also owned by it, revealed that it is reducing the BT Pension Scheme's exposure from close to Pounds 10bn to Pounds 6.8bn and putting Pounds 1bn in hedge funds, among other alternative assets. Mark Anson, the former chief investment officer at the California State Public Employees Retirement Scheme, who recently joined Hermes as chief executive and is primary adviser to BTPS, says the rationale was to make the fund "more diverse and less dependent on UK equities". It is not that the Chicago-born Mr Anson, who until January lived in palatial style in Sacramento, has taken a sudden dislike to the UK stock market. But Hermes needed to increase BTPS' exposure to assets that can produce above-market returns for little extra risk, he says. The stock exchange will see the immediate impact as it struggles to absorb the rise in shares on the market. But there will be a longer-term impact for the market and the fund management industry as the trustees and pension fund trustees assess the implications. Bill Muysken, global head of research at Mercer Investment Consultants, says that, once a pension fund the size of BT's takes the plunge,it will encourage others to follow. "Market trends are driven high-profile early adopters. When pension funds are considering new investments, they always ask who else is doing it," he says. Few British pension funds have as high a profile as the BT pension scheme (BTPS), which has about Pounds 36bn in assets and is in deficit to the tune of about Pounds 2.5bn at the company's last valuation. Read full story 11 September 2006 – Hopes and Fears Politicians may trumpet the value of social enterprises, but they can still go wrong, writes Patrick Butler. "Make money!" Not an immediately obvious exhortation to come from the lips of a Labour minister, especially not to an audience of charity leaders; but that was the advice with which the then industry and regions minister, Alun Michael, signed off a conference speech about social enterprise earlier this year. Profit, he told charities, wasn't bad: it didn't mean surrendering core ideals; rather it was essential if the third sector is to achieve social and environmental goals. Dynamic and sustainable organisations should "recognise the need to make a profit to survive and grow". Michael's words demonstrate nicely the confidence with which not just Labour but politicians of all parties view the magical properties of social enterprise. It has become, almost overnight, the great white hope of public service reform. Certainly for a government still instinctively wary of the private sector and exasperated with the public sector (and possibly, the traditional charity sector), social enterprise offers a tantalising synthesis of hard-headed "can-do" business methods and social idealism. The Cameron Conservatives, too, sensitive over their links to nasty big business, are attracted to the way it can be offered up as the acceptable face of public service outsourcing. But what can it realistically deliver? For all the high hopes of politicians, it is unclear whether social enterprise has the capacity and experience to become a serious player in mainstream public service provision. Liam Black, an experienced and successful social entrepreneur, first with the Liverpool Furniture project and most recently as head of Jamie Oliver's Fifteen foundation, instinctively believes that social enterprise can run public services better than the traditional voluntary sector or private business; but he is realistic about its limitations, and critical of "the political hype that that raises impossible expectations and which doesn't ask hard enough questions about the real strength and viability of the social enterprises it picks up and champions". Read full story |
