Mike Ashley positions former Newcastle United MD Derek Llambias as Rangers director November 3, 2014 Former managing director of Newcastle United Derek Llambias has been appointed non-executive director of Rangers, after being nominated by Mike Ashley's venture Mash Holdings. Llambias, who is a long-time associate of Ashley, had been acting as a consultant for the club after the sudden departures of chief executive Graham Wallace and finance director Philip [...]
US elections: Obama can only salvage his failing presidency if his party loses November 2, 2014 There is a lovely story about how the administration of US President John F Kennedy – for all its intellectual glitter and panache – managed to get Vietnam so wrong. Coming back from his first cabinet meeting, vice president Lyndon Johnson told his mentor and great friend Sam Rayburn, a crafty giant of the House [...]
Virgin Galactic crash: Richard Branson says “Space is hard… We will persevere” after space test flight accident November 1, 2014 Richard Branson has said Virgin Galactic will continue with its space tourism venture after the fatal crash of one of its spaceships during a test flight. “Space is hard – but worth it. We will persevere and move forward together,” Branson wrote in a blog post as he headed to the crash site in the Mojave [...]
ECB council member Ewald Nowotny: We cannot rule out quantitative easing in the Eurozone October 31, 2014 We cannot rule out quantitative easing in the Eurozone: that was the message European Central Bank governing council member Ewald Nowotny gave CNBC today. "I think that we have all learned in life that we should never say 'never',” Nowotny told the channel. Nowotny is generally considered a hawk, preferring the austere German methods of [...]
Eurozone inflation hits expectations – but it’s still in the ECB’s “danger zone” October 31, 2014 Inflation in the Eurozone ticked up a tenth of a percentage point in October, which will do little to allay fears about the state of the economy in the single currency zone. According to the latest flash estimate (which will be confirmed next month) the rate was 0.4 per cent in October, compared with 0.3 [...]
Bullish US outlook helps Janet Yellen win over Charles Plosser and Richard Fisher to interest rate pledge October 29, 2014 Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen persuaded two hawkish colleagues to join her pledge yesterday to keep interest rates low for a “considerable time”, winning them over by sounding an optimistic tone on the US job market and inflation. Immediately after the announcement, the dollar surged to a three-week high. The Fed announced the end of [...]
Chancellor George Osborne tells EU: Slash UK’s £1.7bn bill now October 29, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne yesterday expressed confidence that he would win a reduction in the £1.7bn bill that the UK had been asked to pay by Brussels. However, his comments, made after a meeting with European financial chiefs, suggested that Britain would stump up some of the cash, which would concern backbench Tory MPs who want [...]
What’s it like to spend $200k on lunch? Guy Spier wins bid for date with Warren Buffett October 29, 2014 What’s it like to go for lunch with Warren Buffett? Aquamarine Capital fund manager Guy Spier knows, and it cost him only $216,000. Spier and friend Mohnish Pabrai were successful in Buffett’s annual lunch bid in 2007, with all proceeds going to charity. Was it worth it? “Absolutely. It’s hard to calculate the ROI but [...]
Over to you, chancellor: David Cameron tells George Osborne to probe £1.7bn EU fiasco October 27, 2014 David Cameron has handed chancellor George Osborne and his Treasury colleagues the unenviable task of picking through statistics which led to the UK being landed with a £1.7bn bill from Brussels last week. The Prime Minister openly refused to pay the £1.7bn bill yesterday, which is backdated to 2002 and has been calculated by EU [...]
Mike Ashley to make £2m loan to Rangers FC October 27, 2014 RANGERS chief executive Graham Wallace has resigned after less than a year in the role, as the Scottish football club accepted a £2m loan from Newcastle owner Mike Ashley. In a statement issued yesterday, Rangers’ board thanked Wallace for “his contribution to the club during a difficult period”. Wallace was appointed chief executive in November [...]