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When sound became a feature of the movies, thousands of piano players asked: Who will employ us now? This analogy was chosen by Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems, when the San Francisco Chronicle asked him who would employ all the Silicon Valley workers whose jobs have gone overseas. McNealy observed, "You know, we could have kept all those piano players. Does anybody think that would have been a step forward?"

McNealy has a point, but it's hard not to sympathise with the pianists, as we did with textile workers, shipbuilders, steelworkers and farmers. In today's information age, white-collar workers, perhaps for the first time, have seen their jobs go the same way. More>>

Around 71% of people in the UK have at least one life insurance policy, compared with 45% of people in Italy and 53% in both Germany and Spain, according to insurer Axa.

The group found that buying a home was the most common trigger leading to people in the UK taking out life cover at 41%, while 11% took out a policy after receiving financial advice.

But the research found that just 20% of Britons have income protection insurance to tide them through periods of ill health or unemployment, while only 40% have health or some form of disability insurance.

Among those who do not have a life insurance policy, 23% said they thought the cover was too expensive, 21% did not think they needed it, 11% said they were not worried about it yet and 10% admitted they had never thought about it. More>>