London Time: Smart watches, we’re afraid to report, are here to stay February 6, 2014 YOU know how rude it seems when someone checks their wristwatch during a conversation? Well, things are about to get a lot ruder, thanks to 2014 being the year of the smartwatch. Just as the pocket watch proved itself useful enough to migrate to our wrists over the course of the 1930s, we are now [...]
An understated Montblanc coup February 6, 2014 The Meisterstück Heritage collection is surprising in all the right ways SIHH is not exactly known for its restraint. It’s the chance for some of the watch world’s most capable brands to show off; consequently one is usually beset on all sides by skeletonised tourbillon watches that can tell the time on Mars. The total [...]
Hands on heart Valentine’s timepieces February 6, 2014 Blancpain Saint Valentin Price on application Each year Blancpain brings out a Valentine’s watch. This one bears a mother-of-pearl dial, plenty o diamonds and a trio of hearts. www.blancpain.com Chopard Happy Sport Medium £5,230 The diamonds in Chopard’s Happy Sport watches sit loose, rolling about above the dial – whimsical and eye-catching at once. www.chopard.com [...]
Do voters want Labour to bring back Brown? February 6, 2014 While the 2015 election is still months away, party insiders may want to take note of a recent poll by Ipsos MORI, which charts satisfaction with their leaders among the electorate. It’s a well-known fact that David Cameron consistently polls higher than his opposite number Ed Miliband when it comes to the ratings, but the [...]
SocGen’s Albert Edwards thinks it’s 1997 all over again for emerging markets February 6, 2014 Societe Generale’s uber-bear is at it again. After the turmoil in emerging markets over the past few weeks, Albert Edwards thinks the unravelling has been “the final tweet of the canary in the coal mine”. He thinks the warnings are being ignored, and that the ongoing “debacle will be less contained than sub-prime ultimately proved [...]
Statoil expected to cut spending and output February 6, 2014 Norway’s Statoil will be the latest of the energy giants to show its cards tomorrow, as it unveils its fourth-quarter results and a strategy update. Statoil’s rivals – Shell, BG Group and BP – have failed to ignite the market with their results, as weak oil prices, low US gas prices and poor refining margins [...]
UK pension funds – behind the curve February 6, 2014 A fascinating graphic from Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s new UK pension report. It shows how much FTSE 350 UK pension schemes allocate to fixed income assets compared to their funding levels – and what it reveals offers a troubling insight into the management of UK schemes. As funding levels rise, the general idea behind pension [...]
Draghi’s good kind of deflation February 6, 2014 Setting monetary policy for the whole Eurozone was never going to be easy – one interest rate for all the economies from Germany to Greece is always going to leave plenty of people unhappy. European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi today tried to weigh up the balance between suffering in the periphery and recovery in [...]
How toy businesses’ pinkification limits girls and the economy February 6, 2014 The economy is being harmed by toys aimed at boys and girls, according to one minister. "The way we play as children informs the skills we develop", said Jenny Willott, consumer affairs minister. While toys marketed towards boys boost interest in science and maths, and girls shy away from those subjects, UK businesses will "miss [...]
London’s housing shortage is cramming young families into shared homes February 6, 2014 The number of families living in shared houses ballooned by 70 per cent in the decade up to the last census, as typically young families are increasingly locked out of a the UK’s harsh housing market. The Office for National Statistics has broken down some census data on the number of concealed families in England [...]