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, [...]
ROTHSCHILD COURTS OLIGARCHS UNDER £1M MONTENEGRO SKIES July 10, 2011 BIG BUSINESS came to Montenegro this weekend, lured by the £1m fortieth birthday celebrations for Nat Rothschild, the billionaire scion of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Peter Mandelson, Russian investor Oleg Deripaska and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich were among the 300 oligarchs and mining magnates who flew to “the St Tropez of the Adriatic” for the [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 10, 2011 FOUR Mayfair hedge fund managers hit the town last Tuesday to experience Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr’s one-off champagne tasting menu at his new London restaurant Roux at The Landau. The seven-course, £225-a-head dinner – which included asparagus served with bone marrow crumb and roast guinea fowl supreme with creamed morels – was served with [...]
Ofcom eyes News Corp ‘fit and proper’ probe July 8, 2011 Media watchdog Ofcom has released a letter it has presented to the chairman of the House of Commons culture committee, over News Corp’s proposed takeover of broadcaster BSkyB. Ofcom’s letter to MP John Whittingdale made clear its awareness that it can commission an investigation into whether New Corp would make a “fit and proper” owner [...]
Cameron vows press shake-up after Coulson arrest July 8, 2011 The arrest of Andy Coulson forced prime minister David Cameron to defend his judgment while promising sweeping new rules for the British press today. As Cameron fielded hostile questions over why he hired Coulson after he resigned from editing the paper in 2007 – despite knowing that one of his journalists had been jailed for [...]
BSkyB shares down 7pc over Murdoch takeover doubt July 8, 2011 BSkyB shares dropped seven per cent today after the government said it would consider the closure of the News Of The World tabloid in its review of Rupert Murdoch’s bid for the British pay-TV company, potentially pushing back any approval. The Department for Media has examined News Corp’s planned $14bn (£8.7bn) takeover of British pay-TV [...]
Santander moves India call centres back to UK July 8, 2011 Santander, the UK’s third largest bank, has decided to move its two Indian based call centres back to the UK after receiving complaints about its services last year. In 2003 Abbey, as it was then, relocated its call centre operations to two centres in India, one in Bangalore and one in Pune. Since then complaints [...]
FTSE plunges after horror US jobs data July 8, 2011 A bombshell set of US data showing negligible job creation in June caused the FTSE 100 to crash almost 100 points in the minutes after its release The index dropped from 6.083 before the data release to a low of 5,992 just 40 minutes later after the US non-farm payrolls data showed that employment edged [...]
News of the World former Royal editor Clive Goodman arrested July 8, 2011 Clive Goodman, the former News of the World Royal editor, has been arrested today on alleged corruption charges. Goodman, who was jailed for four months in 2007 on phone hacking charges, was arrested for allegedly paying police for information, police sources have said. He was originally jailed after royal staff members complained about voicemail messages [...]