West Coast main line: Has Richard Branson forgotten the virtues of competition? October 23, 2014 Richard Branson’s famous guerrilla campaign to break British Airways’s grip on Heathrow Airport is safe in history as a victory for competition and passenger choice. The tenacious campaign fought by Virgin to secure access and slots at Heathrow dominated the UK aviation scene for most of the 1990s, and ultimately led to lower fares and [...]
Dave Lewis’s shopping list: Blueprint for a Tesco turnaround plan October 23, 2014 Another update, another set of gloomy results from Tesco. The pattern is now well established, and yesterday’s weak trading numbers didn’t come as a great surprise. But one thing that did surprise was the apparent lack of a forward strategy. What is new chief executive Dave Lewis going to focus on? The issue of price [...]
Tesco boss Dave Lewis in video interview says “We’ve got to be a little bit disappointed” October 23, 2014 Tesco boss Dave Lewis has taken to YouTube to talk about the supermarket’s troubles after posting a 91.9 per cent drop in profits and a £263m profit understatement. “We’ve got to be a little bit disappointed," said Lewis, erring towards an understatement rather than overstatement this time. “It’s fair to say it’s been a challenging [...]
Tesco firefighter Dave Lewis has no time to pause as results come in October 22, 2014 It's day 53 for Dave Lewis as chief executive of Tesco. Ordinarily, that might be a time for a new boss to pause for breath, but the firefighting engulfing him since his arrival looks like the first act of a much longer-term drama. The word emerging from Tesco’s Cheshunt HQ is that there will [...]
NFL UK: George Osborne backs London franchise October 22, 2014 Chancellor George Osborne has given his support to the idea of an American Football team in the capital, arguing it would be a “huge boost to London”. With Wembley due to host the second of three NFL games this season on Sunday, and the FA contemplating hosting England games elsewhere, there has been increased [...]
Diane Abbott: Labour’s mansion tax on £3m properties will not save the NHS October 21, 2014 Labour MP Diane Abbott has urged shadow chancellor Ed Balls to rethink his so-called mansion tax policy, warning that the “tax on London” will fail to raise enough to support the NHS as promised. “I am worried about how much this policy will actually raise and I am worried about it as a sustainable funding [...]
Warren Buffett’s hat-trick of woe: Billionaire loses $1bn as Coca-Cola, IBM and Tesco share prices crash October 21, 2014 Billionaire investor Warren Buffett lost $1bn yesterday after shares in his second biggest investment Coca-Cola crashed to a six-year low, capping a torrid week for the 84-year old after similar misfortunes with IBM and Tesco. Buffett’s 400m shares in the soft drinks firm fell $2.61 each, reducing the value of his holding by $1.1bn after [...]
Yet another missed deficit target for Osborne – public sector pay is to blame October 21, 2014 Why can’t the UK government get its deficit down? This issue has been exercising commentators recently, in the light of the latest assessment from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that George Osborne will once again miss his target for the deficit in the 2014-15 financial year. Of course, the size of the deficit has [...]
TechCrunch Disrupt: Neelie Kroes dodges Jean-Claude Juncker question as AOL’s Tim Armstrong denies Yahoo merger October 20, 2014 European Union digital commissioner Neelie Kroes performed some masterful sidestepping at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in Old Billingsgate. The outgoing head enjoyed a grilling from TechCrunch’s editor-at-large Mike Butcher on stage including a cheeky question about her boss, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and his rumoured appreciation of fine wine. Butcher jokingly asked if Juncker liked [...]
Boris Johnson continues gas-bagging at #AskBoris Twitter question time October 20, 2014 Boris Johnson flexed his fingers and hit Twitter yesterday for his monthly #AskBoris question time and, as usual, the mayor didn’t disappoint with his flamboyant answers. He made an extraterrestrial quip when asked about the reinstatement of Peckham Lido, tweeting #takemetoyourlido. He said if he were to spend a night in any building at [...]