Cable in plea to business after Hague attack May 14, 2012 VINCE Cable was forced to defend his cabinet colleague William Hague yesterday after a series of Conservative attacks on British business provoked outrage. Cable said “commercial diplomacy” is a major part of foreign policy as Hague came under fire from business leaders for telling them to stop “complaining” about the economy and “work harder”. “He [...]
Hunt called to answer to House of Commons ahead of Leveson May 14, 2012 JEREMY Hunt yesterday received fresh calls to face the House of Commons and answer to email evidence that he supported News Corp’s takeover of BSkyB. Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman asked whether it was appropriate for Hunt to refuse to answer parliamentary questions “because instead he’s going to tell Lord Justice Leveson”. Speaker John Bercow [...]
London Heathrow retains top spot as Europe’s busiest airport May 14, 2012 LONDON Heathrow was Europe’s busiest airport in 2010, handling 66m passengers, ahead of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt’s Main airports, figures released by the European Union show. This was in stark contrast with Stansted, London’s third biggest airport where traffic fell by seven per cent in 2010 – the second largest decline in passenger [...]
One to ones, two to ones and too many meetings May 14, 2012 EVER wondered how much time and money you’ve squandered meeting for the sake of meeting and nodding off as the discussion goes round in circles? Well, according to business expert David Pearl it could take up six years of your career – that is, if you waste two hours a day in “ineffective meetings”. Pearl, [...]
THE QUEEN GETS A NEW WAXWORK May 14, 2012 MADAME Tussauds yesterday unveiled a new waxwork image of the Queen in time for her Diamond Jubilee celebration next month. It is the 23rd waxwork model of the Queen at Tussauds and observers say it shows more wrinkles than the Queen, who turned 86 in April, has actually got. Tussauds is owned by Merlin, a [...]
Loewe soars on rumours of an Apple buyout May 14, 2012 SHARES in German TV maker Loewe jumped 32 per cent yesterday following rumours of an Apple takeover. Online rumours this weekend claimed the tech behemoth has offered €87.3m (£69.6m) for the high-end television maker, which Loewe’s management has been advised to accept. But despite denials from Loewe, investors jumped on the Frankfurt-listed stock ahead of [...]
Seamless and simple: the Steve Jobs television dream May 14, 2012 AFTER Steve Jobs realised he was terminally ill, he made a dying wish. “When I was diagnosed with cancer, I made my deal with God or whatever,” he said in 2007, “which was that I really wanted to see Reed [his youngest son] graduate”. Tragically, he didn’t get the chance: Reed Jobs is due to [...]
CITY VIEWS WOULD YOU BUY AN APPLE TV? May 14, 2012 RICHARD LAMBERT FORMER DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE CBI I’m reading the Steve Jobs biography so the answer is I have no choice, I’ll have to buy it. Apple has done a compelling job in producing products that we always wanted but never knew we did. DOMINIC HENNESSEY NORTON ROSE I’ve already got a TV that’s similar so unless [...]
Invensys stock climbs on bid reports as group heads for forecast profit drop May 14, 2012 INVENSYS shares were boosted by five per cent yesterday following reports this weekend that potential bidders are circling the engineering company. Siemens, General Electric, ABB and Emerson were said to have approached Invensys within the past few weeks in a sign that interest in the FTSE 250 company is intensifying. Analysts were divided over the [...]
Channel 4 ups UK investment May 14, 2012 CHANNEL 4 yesterday posted an annual pre-tax profit of £44m, down 19 per cent, as its share of viewing declined slightly. But revenues climbed by £6.2m to £941.4m, boosted by profits from box office success The Inbetweeners Movie, prompting the broadcaster to increase its budget for UK commissions by £5m to a historic high of [...]