He added that the company always tried to maximise the benefits to its technology from research grants

He added that the company always tried to maximise the benefits to its technology from research grants. He said safety was “paramount, and we are very heavily governed by regulatory and certification procedures”.Mr Redman has urged the board of British Aerospace to conduct an independent external review of the project. He also wants the company to retract a formal verbal warning it made against him.. He added that the company would not comment on “individual cases”.However, he said that the new chief executive, John Weston, had said he would re-examine Mr Redman’s concerns. THE SQUARE MILE has suffered its second setback in four weeks with news that Societe Generale Bank is set to follow HSBC to Canary Wharf. We’re not talking about a complete leap in the dark.”A spokesman for BAe said the company was confident that the composite wing research programme would be successfully completed.

It’s a natural extension of existing technology to passenger aircraft. US rival Boeing is working on composite wing technology in Seattle. Composite wings have already been developed for military aircraft and there is one light turboprop design in commercial use.Composite wings cost far less to make than metal wings. The former BAe manager explained that even if safety concerns were meticulously addressed, an imperfect design could result in high maintenance costs.The race to develop a carbon-fibre composite wing will be crucial to Airbus. Being much lighter, they substantially reduce running costs through lower fuel consumption.Frank Matthews, a director of the Composite Materials Centre at Imperial College, London, is sure that an all-composite wing will emerge “Someone’s going to do it, if not Airbus, then Boeing. The various work packages are not properly linked”.Mr Redman said disarray on the project was not only frittering away the money of BAe shareholders and taxpayers supporting it indirectly through government research grants, but that the eventual outcome could be compromised.

It is fragmented, and it is difficult to understand an individual company’s role. He provided documentation showing that other BAe staff were worried as well.A memo from Glyn Rogers, chief airframe engineer at BAe’s military aircraft division (MAD), to Paul Chivers, the CWP manager, said: “At a number of CWP meetings I have recorded my concern about the [research] programme … Mike James-Moore of the University of Warwick said the project was not “holistic. and I draw on similar comments made in writing to myself from other involved MAD staff.”Outside consultants are also concerned. “The programme is, frankly, a shambles,” said Mr Redman, who left the company after a dispute about it late last year.
The object of the programme is to develop a revolutionary all carbon- fibre wing for the Airbus family of aircraft.

If the programme fails, it could hinder Britain’s bid to supply the next generation of wings for the Airbus passenger aircraft.Mr Redman, 52, a project leader on the composite wing programme, left BAe’s Filton site. He accepted a redundancy package from BAe because he could see that his career at the company, where he had spent 33 years, was at an end. He went public with his criticisms at BAe’s annual general meeting at London’s Queen Elizabeth II conference hall.In an interview with the Independent on Sunday, he detailed his reservations over the direction of the programme. His concerns centred on what he called the failure of BAe management to set a clear shape or goal for the project. Other European clubs will be watching Lazio’s progress.”I’ve got some Lazio shares,” says Tony Fraher, chief executive of Singer & Friedlander, and the manager of its Football Fund, an investment trust that buys football club shares He’s also trying to buy some holding in Ajax “What I’m doing with the fund is looking to European shares.

Ajax in the Netherlands is also planning a float, and has reserved almost all the shares for club fans, rather than professional investors. “A surgery may be clean but not have the latest wallpaper because the GPs have spent their resources in other ways. However, positive signs may be toys for younger children, information on hospital services or where to go if you wish to complain.”The average GP has just less than 2,000 patients to look after, so you cannot expect a luxury service. However, warning signs of a poor surgery may include few extra services, rude staff and doctors and a scruffy waiting room.When joining a new practice you have the right to be offered a basic health check, and can have a health check from your current GP if you have not consulted for three years. Your GP is responsible for ensuring that 24-hour medical cover is available when necessary, although she or he does not have to supply it personally. You also have the right to be referred to a consultant acceptable to you when your GP thinks it necessary, and to be referred for a second opinion if your GP agrees it’s desirable.