Most British motorists wouldn’t use a driverless car March 4, 2014 The Geneva Motor Show opens today, bringing with it the car industry’s latest attempts to show off driverless vehicles – but British motorists look unlikely to adopt the new technology any time soon. Swiss firm Rinspeed is exhibiting the XchangE, a concept car based on the Tesla Model S that allows passengers to sit facing [...]
3 things Putin probably hadn’t bargained for March 4, 2014 It seems Vladimir Putin, upon whom everyone’s been keeping more than half an eye, is backing off. Following the beating the Russian stock market and currency took yesterday, the Russian leader's been speaking at a news conference. He told reporters this morning that there’s no – current – need for military force in Ukraine, that [...]
Video: The City’s poshest pancake race March 4, 2014 Earlier today, spectators gathered for what has to be a contender for London's poshest pancake race – certainly the City's (remember parliament had one earlier). The 10th Anniversary Inter-livery Pancake Race, held at the Guildhall, saw four livery companies – the car men, the cutters, the insurers and the launderers – speed their battered charges [...]
How 4 banks are cutting quarter of a million staff March 4, 2014 The true scale of British banks’ world-dominating ambitions in the boom years and devastating collapse in the crisis is still only now becoming clear – the latest figures show the big four banks have cut 200,000 jobs since the credit crunch struck. And another 50,000 or more are set to be cut in the next [...]
Steve Ballmer gets called “Bill” at Oxford March 4, 2014 Microsoft’s former chief exec and dancing man Steve Ballmer appeared at Said Business School, Oxford today to talk in front of a packed audience of students. He refrained from doing one of his signature dancing entrances but certainly wasn’t lacking in energy, characteristically whooping, clapping enthusiastically and calling people “dude” where possible. But even his [...]
What you need to know before the US open March 4, 2014 US stock futures have rallied, following open markets that are responding to the cooling situation between Russia and Ukraine. The US has said it’ll provide $1bn in loan guarantees to Ukraine, to help restore financial stability. The Treasury will also send “technical advisers” to help the country in its negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. [...]
How Ukraine’s unrest will affect prime London property prices March 4, 2014 World shares, particularly in banks, insurers, miners and energy stocks, have been hit as a result of the political tension and unrest in Ukraine. But what would be the cost of an economic fallout or any potential sanctions by the West against Russia have on the London property market? Joshua Raymond, chief market strategist of [...]
UK exposure to Ukraine crisis extremely limited March 4, 2014 The UK is facing only limited exposure to the crisis in Ukraine, according to a note from London-based consultancy Capital Economics. The UK's direct trade with Ukraine is close to insignificant, with UK exports to Ukraine amounting to just 0.2 per cent of the total in 2012. UK banks' are also relatively safe from exposure [...]
Why is Venezuela’s capital more expensive than London? March 4, 2014 London doesn’t make the top 10 in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest assessment of the world’s most expensive cities (which may be a surprise to anyone who’s trying to buy a house): Singapore, Paris and Oslo and are some of the predictable pricey towns that do. But readers might be surprised to [...]
Putin defends Gazprom price hikes on Ukraine March 4, 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended a planned price rises for Ukraine by state-owned Russian energy giant Gazprom. Speaking to a press conference President Putin said: They failed to pay off the debt, I think it's $1.5bn as of today, and if they don't pay for February it's going to be $2bn. So if you [...]