The Wedding People by Alison Espach: Unpacking bridezilla July 7, 2025 The average cost of a wedding is around £23,000, so it’s no surprise that we all act a little differently at them. Depending on our temperament, and perhaps how much money we ourselves have been forced to fork out to attend them, weddings can bring out the very best or the very worst in us. [...]
Searches: Selfhood in the digital age – A chat with ChatGPT July 7, 2025 In the year 2025, using ChatGPT to write about ChatGPT has already become a cliche. But Vauhini Vara may have been the first. In 2020, having previously shadowed Open AI CEO Sam Altman for a tech profile, Vara asked him if she could try out the new text generator they were then testing: GPT-3. Using [...]
Bloomsbury: Profit falls at Harry Potter publisher despite sales rise May 22, 2025 Profit at Bloomsbury Publishing, the giant most known for the Harry Potter series, was cut by almost a fifth during its latest financial year despite revenue rising. The London-listed company has reported a pre-tax profit of £32.5m for the year to 28 February 2025, down from the £41.5m it achieved in the prior 12 months. [...]
Dear England: Gareth Southgate to write book on leadership February 12, 2025 Former England manager Gareth Southgate will publish a book, Dear England: Lessons on Leadership, later this year. It will draw on “the defining moments that shaped his leadership style, principles that defined his decisions, and the resilience that enabled him to perform under the most intense public scrutiny,” said publishers Century, part of Penguin Random [...]
Missing WFH? I’ve found solace in the office booth February 6, 2025 Replacing WFH with the open plan office can be a recipe for misery. But Anna Moloney says she's found a solution: the office booth.
London house where Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick goes on sale January 27, 2025 The former Blue Plaque home of American author Herman Melville, where he wrote early drafts of Mody-Dick in the late 1840s, has gone on the market for £9m. The five-bedroom, four-storey townhouse on London’s Embankment housed Melville for two separate periods of the 1800s, and the nearby wharf served as inspiration – along with his [...]
Waterstones: Return to the office helps profit almost quadruple January 21, 2025 The return of employees to offices in major UK city centres helped profit almost quadruple at Waterstones during its latest financial year. The bookseller cited the trend of the return to work as a key factor in its pre-tax profit surging from £11.2m to £42.9m in the 12 months to 27 April, 2024. In newly-filed [...]
How can UK businesses prepare for Trump? Remember how he thinks January 21, 2025 The best approach to dealing with Trump? Resist the hysteria and remember how the President thinks, writes Michael Martins.
Waterstones plans dozens more UK stores as it mulls possible London or US IPO January 6, 2025 Waterstones boss James Daunt has said he plans to open dozens more bookshops this year in the UK, along with considering a potential flotation in London or New York. He told the Financial Times it would be “logical” to look at an initial public offering of a consolidated combination of Waterstones and Barnes & Noble [...]
How to write a wedding speech: A pro speechwriter’s top tips December 28, 2024 Have a role to play in the nuptials of a friend or family member? Professional speechwriter Alex Dymoke gives his advice on how to write a wedding speech, including managing nerves, getting the right tone and making it as personal as possible. The other day, at a birthday drinks at a musty little pub in [...]