Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button is at the centre of all the headlines for the sport at the moment, as his contract has run out at Brawn GP. The decision for Button on where to move has been made extremely interesting by the power shift created by Mercedes shifting shares from McLaren to Brawn GP, now to be known as Mercedes GP.

Button took a £5 million voluntary pay cut to help the then, newly branded Brawn GP team at the start of last season after Honda pulled out of the sport. Now being World Champion he has reportedly asked Mercedes GP for £8 million a year, some reports suggest Jenson has indeed been offered that amount and now with the arrival of Mercedes backing to the team is asking for more. Others state that Jenson has only been offered £5 million, which could be linked to rumours that Mercedes GP would prefer an all German driver line up next season, with lower wages offered to the World Champion to help force a move away to a team such as McLaren.

Jenson has been in talks with McLaren, who have reportedly accepted to meet his £8 million wage demand, but a move to the team could see sparks fly as 2008 World Champion Lewis Hamilton would likely retain his favourable position in the team having been groomed by the team for years.

The options would appear to be wide open for Button with offers from his competitive team from last season who he has already shown loyalty, and from the McLaren team who have always been at or near the top of the standings.

Please leave your related comments, for example where do you think Jenson should go & why?

It was some time ago now that taxpayers bailed out numerous UK banks, gaining little to no control over what banks could use the funds for. The idea was to keep banks afloat thus saving thousands of jobs, but mainly so that banks could give out the type of credit that people needed to either stimulate the economy through purchases or keep their businesses going.

It would seem that what has actually happened is that our money has been put into the banks only to see some of them such as RBS have to divide into smaller banking units due to new EU legislation to create greater competition. This is likely to cost the taxpayer more money to create these changes, and the banks are still not giving the type of credit that is needed to help the economy start recovery.

So one really has to ask the question why are we helping the banks, and more importantly why don’t the government and taxpayers through extension have more control over demanding what the banks can use our money for. After all without it who knows where they would be.

Definitely without their large bonuses for failure I think!

It has recently been announced that iPhone’s exclusive deal with O2 has come to an end.

The iPhone will soon be made available to Orange UK customers, bringing O2′s 2 year deal with the Californian computer company to an end. Pricing plans have yet to be made public, however a website has been created so potential customers can register their interest. The Californian technology company is hoping that branching out to new networks will help it sell more handsets, while Orange is desperate to enhance its offerings ahead of a proposed merger with the UK side of T-mobile. That move would create the UK’s largest mobile network, and would mean that the iPhone – often seen as an elite, high-end product – would be available to more than 49 million mobile users across Britain. This will no doubt create competition to the O2 network, but is this announcement too late?

Does 02 still have the upper hand? Having benefiting from the initial 2 year period of exclusive rights I would imagine anyone who wanted an iPhone may have already transferred networks in order to get their hands on the impressive handset and become an early adopter of the latest craze. If this is the case, it could be a costly move from Orange. Vodafone have also managed to clinch a deal with Apple, however the deal does not allow them to compete with O2 and Orange until after Christmas. This is a slight blow for consumers who would benifit even further from the increased competition of another network provider trying to compete on price. The cost of the handset itself may also be reduced for pay and go consumers due to Apple being able to sell more units on mass because of increase distribution; therefore decreasing the cost per unit of production, which produces more margin at base line level to decrease prices through the chain of distribution. O2 clearly have a battle on their hands and all us budding customers are eagerly waiting to see who can produce the best deal.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Just as I was leaving university the ‘credit crunch’ had just started to show its face, with the job market becoming increasingly competitive as more and more people became unemployed. Since then things have only got worse, with over 2 million unemployed across the country, many with years of experience and fair levels of education. For students the experience is usually what is lacking but with employers having so many candidates to choose from, how can students make themselves more employable.

The knock on effects of the ‘credit crunch’ are many, for all involved however with a focus on students there are extreme problems of making themselves employable and issues surrounding their qualifications being devalued at all levels. For example more students are looking to stay on at university, go to university or go back to university after long periods of work because of the struggle to find work. The logical thinking behind these peoples decisions is that they will be in many cases paid to learn, and make themselves more employable by having extra qualifications. However this is damaging for the student population in the long term, with a risk of more people staying on to complete higher education the amount of differentiation it offers against other candidates is lowered, simply because more people have them.

As an example lets take a snapshot of the current situation with reference to Masters degrees. The option of a masters degree is extremely appealing at the moment with the course likely to make people more differentiated and therefore more employable. However is this really the case? I would argue  as many others have over recent months that the back log effect of students staying on to carryout masters degrees is only going to devalue the qualification. Will this see the rise of another tear qualifications, or perhaps simply make lower qualifications harder or need to show some sort of extra for of differentiation such as making it compulsory to take a year industry?

The future for students is not looking quite the same now I would imagine, not all endless parties, but a worry of am I actually going to be able to get work when i finish my degree! A primarily problem for students looking to go to university is finding a place, this in its self will cause more problems, as the back log of people wanting to take up courses will cause more competition in other qualifications, and mean people missing out, not being able to necessarily find work and unfortunately in many cases, likely to go onto benefits. This is just one aspect of how unemployment has effected the economy, due to the ‘credit crunch’, the real question this begs asking is when will the economy as a whole actually, in reality, fully recover.

Not for sometime I suspect!

I for one will not be voting for labour. I hope most of the public follow suit and let whoever takes over can sort this mess out once and for all.

One thing I am very pleased to see however is that Lewis’ commitment cannot be questioned, he always gives 110% and always drives his heart out. I know through my own racing career the importance of staying positive and always giving everything you’ve got, even through very difficult times. So it’s hat’s off to Hamilton for never giving up, he’s an admiration to young up and coming driver’s everywhere. Let’s hope things get better for him sooner rather than later.

GLN Landscapes is a family run business which has been established for 25 years and work in partnership with some of the biggest property developers in the region offering a friendly and reliable service.

I hope this is the first of many companies which decide to come on board with us as I continue to work on raising more sponsorship. The first round is this weekend at Brands Hatch so I will be making an appearance and will keep you up to date throughout the year! In the meantime feel free to check out my website:www.michaelmoyers.co.uk