Alternative finance powerlist: These are the most influential people in peer-to-peer lending and crowdfunding on social media The growth rates for alternative finance in the UK and Europe make it pretty clear that this is a sector that can't be ignored. Providers made £1.74bn available to UK firms and individuals in 2014, with person-to-business lending at £749m, person-to-person lending at £547m and invoice discounting at £270m. Indeed, the former, which includes debt-based crowdfunding, [...]
UK economists top 100: From George Magnus to Stephen King, these are the most influential financial experts in the UK and Ireland Maybe you want to get your head around why British workers aren't producing as much as they should be, quibble about when the Bank of England should start hiking interest rates, or simply stay on top of the steady stream of economic indicators spun out by various agencies. There's a lot of chatter out there [...]
Social MPs powerlist: After the General Election, these are the most influential politicians online Are the UK's new crop of MPs actually any good at social media? From tweeting Tories to sharing socialists, we've put together a list of the UK's best (and worst) politicians on social media. Although those at the top may not be Westminster's best negotiators, these are the MPs who seem to communicate best with [...]
UK media powerlist: These are the most influential people in media, advertising and communications on social media October 29, 2015 The creative industries of media, advertising and communications contribute billions to the UK economy and employ more than half a million people. But who’s making all that happen? We’ve put together a list of the leaders, the influencers, the movers and shakers, and the people creating a world-leading industry who have most clout on social [...]
Head back in time to the bowling alleys of 1950s America for some retro style July 2, 2015 Photography: Packard Stevens Styling: Ozzy Shah Joe: Markus Lupfer jumper, £330, and trousers, £285, both markuslupfer.com Lizzy: Marco De Vincenzo top, £760, liberty.co.uk; Just Cavalli trousers, £320, harrods.com; Kate Spade New York rings, £55 and £80, and bracelet, £100, both katespade.co.uk Pinko top, £183, pinko.it; Mikimoto necklace, £2,300, mikimoto.co.uk Lizzie: YMC top, [...]
Film review: The Look of Silence June 12, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★★★ In Joshua Oppenheimer’s acclaimed 2012 documentary The Act of Killing, genocidal amateur dramatics played out against paradisal Indonesian landscape in a spectacle so bizarre and disturbing it felt instantly classic. In that film, ageing, unrepentant perpetrators of the 1965 Indonesian genocide re-enacted their murders in the style of their favourite [...]
Theatre review: Oresteia June 12, 2015 Almeida Theatre | ★★★★★ It may be undergoing a revival in London, but Greek tragedy is not an easy fit with the contemporary stage. Traditionalist directors risk creating something either staidly academic or bathetically hysteric, while would-be revolutionaries can dilute the sources’ inherent power. Robert Icke’s new Oresteia at the Almeida, which he has [...]
Secret Cinema Presents Star Wars will have you grinning in awe June 12, 2015 Secret location in London | ★★★★☆ Secret Cinema returns with its most ambitious project yet, and it’s out of this world. Reviewing Secret Cinema without giving away its… well, secrets, is tricky. Suffice to say you will explore a number of instantly recognisable locales from the Star Wars universe, each rendered in painstaking detail, [...]
Theatre review: Kafka on the Shore June 5, 2015 Barbican | ★★★★★ Haruki Murakami’s novel Kafka on the Shore is an ever-shifting mirage where dream and reality, past and future, here and there all twist and collide. It’s a book about ideas, encompassing western philosophy, Greek tragedy, psychoanalysis and science fiction. It should translate horribly to the stage, but legendary Japanese theatre director [...]
Theatre review: Bradley Cooper’s physical performance is a little too good in The Elephant Man June 5, 2015 Theatre Royal Haymarket | ★★☆☆☆ Bradley Cooper’s performance in The Elephant Man is an impressive feat of physical acting that’s a little too good for a largely uninspired play. In one of the few genuinely innovative scenes, we first see Cooper as a near-naked, barrel-chested vision of human perfection. As Joseph Merrick’s many [...]
