Why tablets, like me, are finished August 22, 2012 Last night I dreamt the tablet was dead. The entire industry – the jobs, the billions of dollars spent on R&D, the network of subsidiary industries that suckle from its teat like a litter of helpless electronic piglets – was rendered instantly, completely, hopelessly obsolete. Microsoft had abandoned the Surface (its tablet, rather than the [...]
The car in front is a… What? A Kia? August 21, 2012 The car market used to be so much easier to understand. You used to be able to make a brand table that looked like a ladder, with value brands at the bottom and premium brands at the top. As a manufacturer you either made a lot of cars and sold them for less profit per [...]
Car talk August 21, 2012 Want one of these? Don’t hold your breath This unusual-looking beast is a one-off supercar built by McLaren Special Operations (MSO), the bespoke division within McLaren Automotive. Called the McLaren X-1 it is based on the company’s carbon MonoCell structure and has a unique, bespoke “timeless” and “classically elegant” body. It took two and a [...]
Mortgage lending jumps ahead of Funding for Lending Scheme August 20, 2012 MORTGAGE lending jumped sharply in July, according to industry data published yesterday, with the government’s new Funding for Lending Scheme expected to boost loans further through August. Gross lending rose eight per cent to £12.7bn in the month, reversing the fall to £11.7bn in June, the Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed. However, analysts warn the [...]
Create your own personal OLYMPIC LEGACY August 20, 2012 Legacy is the buzzword du jour. Will the government be able to translate the success of the Olympic Games into future sporting prowess? Or, like the Australians, will we crumble into mediocrity? Will our legacy be greater social cohesion? Can we become a fitter, healthier, less obese nation? These are all reasonable questions but they [...]
Olympic volleyball player Louise Bawden explains how to get the perfect derrière August 20, 2012 FIT IN THE CITY Female beach volleyball players may be fearsome athletes but they have also gained pin-up status thanks to their fantastic glutes. We catch up with Australia’s Louise Bawden to talk Games, genetics and, of course, bums. Q. Beach Volleyball seems to be played on the whole by long, lean athletes. Is it [...]
Bovis Homes doubles profit in first half August 20, 2012 Housebuilder Bovis Homes Group doubled profit in the first half of 2012, helped by a rise in the number of its sales outlets, and said it expected profit to increase further in the second half of 2012. The company said today that profit before tax for the six months to the end of June was [...]
All aboard the magnificent Orient Express August 19, 2012 ITALY’S in debt, you say? Well, I’m on the Orient Express headed straight to Venice – fiddling while Rome burns, you might say – and there’s no sign of the Italian economy crashing here. As if to prove my point, the flamboyant Massimo shows me another popular purchase from the train’s on-board shop. “These diamond [...]
Travel notes August 19, 2012 C’est magnifique Famous Parisian hotel Le Meurice has undergone a “sumptuous” refurbishment of its presidential suites by French interior designer Charles Jouffre. The designer aimed to create an atmosphere more akin to a stately home than a hotel, with use of drapes and high quality materials. dorchestercollection.com Souk it and see Dar Jaguar, a five [...]
How to enjoy the sun while it lasts August 16, 2012 Film 4 Summer Screen Somerset House £10; Until 25 August Set in the jaw-droppingly beautiful Edmond J Safra fountain court, this is the ideal way to spend a summer evening in London. Likewise, if you enjoy open-air cinema then this is the destination for you. Classics including Hitchcock’s menacing The Birds will be showing on [...]