Architecture is frozen ambition July 10, 2011 Office Space Despite talk that tall buildings have had their day, skyscrapers still reflect our highest values TALL buildings are a mirror of human confidence, ability and enthusiasm. They reflect our belief in our own capabilities to design and build them, and in the appetites of the markets to fund, lease and buy them. In [...]
Opportunities for careful investors July 10, 2011 Office Space Residential provides commercial returns if you pick well THE current financial climate is making it harder to decipher where investors are going to find returns. The rates on holding cash are low, bond yields in general have narrowed substantially and there is much uncertainty on the outlook for the stock market. In addition, [...]
EU guilty of credit rating hypocrisy July 7, 2011 SOME people simply can’t win. The largest credit rating agencies – Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch – were rightly pilloried for providing ridiculously optimistic advice in the run-up to the financial crisis, deeming bundles of sub-prime mortgages to be as safe as the debt of very cautious and successful companies or governments. It was [...]
Want to enjoy work? Become the office Elvis July 5, 2011 OVER 60 per cent of people admit that they are not engaged at work, according to a Towers Perrin/Gallup poll. Chris Barez-Brown, a career coach, says this need not be the way. All the bored and frustrated need to do to bring office work to life is “Up their Elvis.” “When Bono, the U2 star, [...]
Britain needs its own Ronald Reagan July 5, 2011 HERO-WORSHIP is always a mistake. No statesman is perfect: all make mistakes. But Ronald Reagan – of whom a statue was unveiled in Grosvenor Square yesterday – was one of the few major figures of the 20th century to leave their country in a hugely better state than they inherited it. He helped America regain [...]
Sorry, money doesn’t grow on trees July 1, 2011 AT LAST, an interesting idea to tackle the something for nothing culture that has corrupted so much of Britain’s political debate. Sajid Javid, the MP for Bromsgrove and one of the Tories’ rising stars, will be introducing the National Debt Cap Bill (under the ten minute rule) in the House of Commons later this month. [...]
Sharp style comes home to the City June 29, 2011 THE City’s menfolk have been through various versions of the traditional business uniform, each a reflection of the age in which they were worn. The pinstriped, bowler-hatted patrician of old; the jacket-off, red-braces bravado of the ‘80s; the dress-down-Friday scruffs of the ‘90s; the wide-tied, wide-striped wide-boys of the more recent boom. Clichés all, but [...]
SQUARE MILE STYLES June 29, 2011 Left: pinstripe suit by Hackett, price on application. www.hackett.co.uk; Middle: navy double-breasted suit by Gieves & Hawkes, £2,250 www.gievesandhawkes.com. Right: two-button navy suit by Brooks Brothers, from £349, www.brooksbrothers.com
Bespoke, made to measure or ready to wear? June 29, 2011 THE difference between bespoke, made to measure and ready to wear is neither incidental nor arbitrary. It is very important in the consideration that goes into buying a new suit and is tightly defined. The term “bespoke” tends to be bandied around pretty liberally today, but inthe context of tailoring it represents a wonderful tradition [...]
The rise and rise of tailoring that won’t break the bank June 29, 2011 THE resurgence in suit wearing over the past few years has seen a slew of young companies appear offering tailored suits at recession-friendly prices. The denizens of Savile Row may turn their noses up at such upstarts, who make no bones about saving costs by making their suits abroad, but there’s no denying the value [...]