FOOTBALL IN BRIEF June 25, 2009 United Costa trial bid rejectedMANCHESTER UNITED’S search for a replacement for Cristiano Ronaldo hit another hitch yesterday when they were refused permission to take Brazilian starlet Douglas Costa on trial. United wanted to see the 18-year-old attacking midfielder train in England for 20 days but his club Gremio rejected the proposal. President Duda Kroeff said: [...]
FESTIVAL ATMOSPHERE June 25, 2009 City workers gathered yesterday in Paternoster Square as a musically-gifted one of their number performed an impromptu recital on one of the pianos dotted about London by mayor Boris Johnson. The piano initiative was put in place as part of this year’s City of London Festival, running until 7 August, which involves a number of [...]
GLAMOROUS DRAGON HAS SIGHTS ON TV DEN June 24, 2009 ENTREPRENEURIAL types and their brave backers packed the Institute of Directors yesterday for the fifth bi-annual Entrepreneur Country conference, hosted by BBC Dragon, Ariadne Capital chief executive and City A.M. columnist Julie Meyer. Meyer was proud to introduce her new protégé, Warren Cole, to the investors in the room, after he became her third investment [...]
PA sought: grads with languages, intellect and drive may apply June 24, 2009 ANYBODY in the financial industry looking to employ a competent secretary or executive assistant would do well to avoid BBC3’s latest drama offering. Personal Affairs, about a trio of secretaries working for a London bank, proposes a world of twirling bimbos who appear to be good for little other than photocopying, gossiping and inspiring the [...]
CAREER CASE STUDY June 24, 2009 CARMEL BOURKE, SENIOR PA AT GLOBAL INSURANCE FIRMI didn’t go to secretarial school or anything, but that’s not really what it’s about now. Most people think of it as filling in calendars and taking dictation, but it’s not that anymore. It’s really about understanding the message being put across to the client, asking lots of [...]
CAREERS CLINIC June 24, 2009 LINDA JACKSONMANAGING DIRECTOR, FAIRPLACEI used to work in fund management, but quit three years ago to bring up my children. I’m looking to return to work, but have lost touch with most of my old contacts and am worried, in this job market, that I’ll have trouble getting employed. What can I do to improve [...]
Bullets, bombs and books on the front line June 24, 2009 THE JUNIOR OFFICERS’ READING CLUB: KILLING TIME AND FIGHTING WARSBy Patrick HennesseyPENGUIN, £16.99PATRICK HENNESSEY is a 27-year-old trainee barrister, who happens to have spent the past five years as an officer in the Grenadier Guards, fighting his way through the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan and – as the title of his book suggests – [...]
Frugal food hits the top table June 24, 2009 A RESTAURATEUR who grew up in the South of France once told me that the reason that French cuisine is superior to English simply because the produce is better. In the Mediterranean world, he led me to believe, tomatoes as big as your hand grow effortlessly, exotic fish jump straight out of the sea and [...]
RECIPES ADDING VALUE TO DULL INGREDIENTS June 24, 2009 ONIONS by Jeremy Lee, Blueprint Cafewww.blueprintcafe.co.ukWe get these lovely pink onions from Lincolnshire, and we fry them for as long as possible – we are talking about 30 to 40 minutes – so that they go really soft and turn a golden brown. When they are done, we then add lots of chopped parsley, cider [...]
Comet owner Kesa plunges into the red June 24, 2009 KESA Electrical, the owner of Comet, yesterday said it had plunged to a £81.8m full-year loss due to a slump in demand for electrical goods. The group, which owns a number of European electrical retailers including Darty in Frnace, boasted a pre-tax profit of £128.8m a year ago. The losses were largely due to a [...]
