Letters to the Editor – 14/04 – Let the people vote, Housing bank, Best of Twitter April 14, 2014 Let the people vote [Re: Let voters kick out MPs between elections and watch standards soar, Thursday] The right to recall is a vital addition to Britain’s democratic toolkit. Some argue that it would mark the end of representative democracy – our MPs would become delegates, following the whim of public opinion. But who can [...]
The Iron Brady April 14, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks to sporting executive-turned TV star Karren Brady – the Conservative Party’s ambassador for UK small businesses SHE IS known as the First Lady of Football, but Karren Brady’s list of accolades extends far beyond the beautiful game. Wikipedia describes Brady as a sporting executive, novelist, author, TV broadcaster and columnist. And as [...]
The MBA myth: Why business schools are failing entrepreneurs April 14, 2014 WHEN I was 20 years old, I quit my undergraduate degree to become Skype’s first employee. It was an easy choice – trading in the stuffy lecture hall to change the world at an exciting startup. Seven years later, I went back to the classroom, studying for an MBA at the business school Insead. Since [...]
Gimme 5 April 14, 2014 …STARTUPS CROWDFUNDING THIS MONTH Humble Grape Target: £250,000 for 15 per cent An existing and profitable wine merchant and events company raising funds to take the brand to the high street. Raised £308,000 via Seedrs Expires before 10 June Bikini Fling Target: £120,000 for 16 per cent Swimwear brand that enables customers to mix and [...]
Opportunity knocks April 14, 2014 Annabel Palmer talks to Dan Clays, the man who gave OMD new direction WHEN Dan Clays joined OMD UK as managing director in 2012, he was on a mission. There was, he says, huge opportunity to “bring the agency back into the spotlight”. It was good timing – Clays had been in his previous role [...]
Generation Wealth: Brands are overlooking the most lucrative demographic April 14, 2014 @LiamWardProud COURTING millennials is something of an obsession among media types. With brands chasing the digital trendsetters born between 1980 and 2000, marketing campaigns seem increasingly driven by Twitter hashtags, Facebook follows and all manner of social media buzzwords. This could be a huge mistake. The UK’s population is ageing – quickly. In 2015, over-40s [...]
The week in brief April 14, 2014 OMD awarded £21m UK Disney media account OMD has won Disney’s £21m UK media planning and buying account (part of a wider review into Disney’s business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa). Havas Media will be responsible for local markets in Benelux, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Disney’s EMEA incumbent agency Carat is contracted [...]
A thrilling ride if you can stomach the violence April 13, 2014 FILM THE RAID 2: BERANDAL Cert 18 | By Alex Dymoke Three Stars TWO and a half hours? 150 minutes? That’s more like a war of attrition than a “raid”. More western front than embassy siege. Still, Indonesian martial arts extravaganza The Raid 2 flies by quicker than most films half its length, thanks mainly [...]
Pangaea is a transcontinental hotchpotch April 13, 2014 ART PANGAEA Saatchi Gallery | By Joseph Funnell Two Stars SINCE moving to its Chelsea residence in 2008, Charles Saatchi’s eponymous gallery has often grouped artworks by country or region. But with Saatchi having scoured every corner of the earth for big art bounty, London has been left wondering where the gallery has left to [...]
Musical adaptation of film is a certain hit April 13, 2014 THEATRE DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS The Savoy Theatre | By Alex Dymoke Four Stars STARRING Robert Lindsay, Zoe Wanamaker and the guy from the BT adverts, My Family was the sitcom equivalent of Michael McIntyre; good-natured mass-market comedy so inoffensive it ended up offending the chattering classes. Lindsay played flustered middle-class dentist Ben Harper, a far [...]
