PAIN BEFORE GAIN: THE EDINBURGH TRAMS

SquareOne News Feature

by Chris Hammond

With the furore over the Edinburgh trams getting increasingly heated SquareOne caught up with a tram travelling expat Scot living in the Polish City of Wroclaw for his opinion.

Gregor Gowans is a part time music journalist and English teacher who has been living in Poland for nine months now. He knows Scotland like the back of his hand and is in a perfect position to comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the tram system in one of the biggest cities in central Europe. Does he, like so many people in Edinburgh agree that the trams are going to be detrimental in the long and short term?

“Well I know what Edinburgh is like, the traffic is hellish. It’s a really congested city and I can’t think anyone would really fancy driving around there. Thing is though Wroclaw is a much bigger city and just as busy but you just don’t get the same sort of problems over here and yeah that could well be down to the efficiency of the trams. They are cheap, clean and fast. I use them whenever I can.”

Gregor tells SquareOne the trams vary in age and are still dependant on the flow of traffic for making it to their stops on time. But he also thinks their status as environmentally friendly could work in their favour over here.

“There aren’t actually many routes the trams take but the ones they do use are much better than the buses. To be honest the other thing about them is that they are seen as environmentally friendly and as a real student city people seem to like this. I mean Edinburgh is pretty polluted right? You hardly see a bird in some parts of town. Wroclaw isn’t great either but trams are better than anything else in that respect”.

So without being in Edinburgh right now can Gregor appreciate the problems that are being caused by the introduction of the trams and does he think that the ends will justify the means?

“You know what it’s a little pain for a lot of gain. Petrol is going up in price and this is the time for other kinds of transportation. If a city can get away with it now then why not do it? Sure the commotion will cause problems and I don’t expect that the work will be quick but it’ll be worth it”.

Photo by Katie Lips

BREAKING NEWS: CYCLIST KILLED IN EDINBURGH

SquareOne News

by Pere Fornes

A cyclist was killed after he was hit by a lorry in Edinburgh city centre this morning according to police.

The 35 year-old man suffered serious injuries and died at the scene after the accident that happened on the corner of Nicolson and West Richmond Street at about 9.30am.

A police spokesman appealed for witnesses. He said: "An investigation is under way to establish the cause of the collision and the driver is assisting with inquiries."

Clerk Street was closed to traffic after the collision. This, combined with ongoing gas main works in the area brought traffic chaos to the surrounding streets. Police diverted traffic through Nicolson Square which caused problems for bus passengers around Surgeons' Hall.

ARE THE BUSINESS PAGES BORING?

by Christopher Mackie

SquareOne Business


What would happen if the BoE refused BAE’s Triple-A rating on the basis of some dodgy CDOs or PERLS owned by a Non-Dom employee?

Well, let me tell you that the FTSE, the NASDAQ and the ONS might have something to say about it. And, FYI at the COB each day, every CEO is concerned with their OD, HR and KPI. And, as if that doesn’t take up enough time, all company directors love to check with R&D to ensure that the ROI allows for their core values to be facilitated. From VAT to ITV, the business world loves to abbreviate. And if they can’t abbreviate it, they love to invent some jargon to replace it.

Perhaps it is because everyone in a pinstripe suit is just so darned busy to be bothered by full names. Perhaps managing directors across the globe can shave valuable seconds from their working day by abbreviating every name that comes their way. Or maybe they can only remain upright and awake whilst poring over company accounts by inventing spurious allegories to make their business sound more interesting. Well, what would you rather hear – that a company’s new venture into Indonesia was a “major, success following a period of hard work in a difficult market” or that “management’s success in this pathfinder project is a real home run”?

It’s because of this fog of confusing jargon that the business pages of any newspaper run the risk of being viewed as dull, filled with esoteric rhetoric and obsessed by numbers ahead of stories.

At first glance this seems to be true. The business sections carry vast reports showing unit trust performance, or complicated tables displaying interest rate comparisons. Most will carry a graphic showing the stock market performance of the day, which is interesting and important to those in the know but somehow distant and irrelevant to most. There are stories about company restructures and gloomy pieces about underperforming bosses. Company accounts are examined and interpreted and tax regulations explained.

But, increasingly the business agenda is creeping onto the front pages, and our thirst for perceptive analysis increases faster than you can say ASAP. Ignore the detailed lists of pension fund performance or share price indices and focus on the stories. Most of them concern real people and the money in their pocket, and in the hands of a skillful reporter can be as compelling as the most devious politics and as dramatic as real hard news.

Far from being boring, the business pages deal in such Shakespearean themes as; deceit (Enron), incompetence (Northern Rock) and egomaniacal high folly (Societe Generale). But aside from the backstabbing and high drama of vast industry deals, coverage of the economy is vitally important to all of the UK’s citizens. As the world flirts with recession, and ordinary people begin to worry about their mortgage payments or credit card debt, they rely on trusted industry journalists to put things in plain English.

So, if you’ve managed to reach this point without resorting to a dictionary or a stiff drink and you feel like finding out who Fannie Mae is, look beyond the initials in the business sections and you’ll find some real gilt-edged stories.


Unlock the secrets of the business jargon here - Business Glossary