Rugby viewers up 90 per cent October 15, 2013 VIEWING figures for Premiership Rugby have almost doubled from the same period last season following the switch to BT Sport, top-flight chiefs said yesterday. The 16 matches from the first five rounds of the season shown live on the channel attracted average audiences 90 per cent greater than last year, according to figures from the [...]
Doping claims hit eventing October 15, 2013 EVENTING has been dragged into the equine doping row after New Zealander Jonathan Paget was suspended because his horse Clifton Promise tested positive for a tranquiliser. Paget won Badminton and Burghley and was aiming to become only the second person, after Britain’s Pippa Funnell a decade ago, to complete eventing’s £225,000 grand slam in Kentucky [...]
Golf Comment: Lynn goes from his sickbed to fantastic Portugal Masters win October 15, 2013 AFTER seeing David Lynn so ill last week, I didn’t imagine he would even make it to the Algarve, let alone win the Portugal Masters. David was struggling with a virus when he was away with me at the Seve Trophy and he wasn’t going to play in his singles match on the Sunday against [...]
Mumbai to stage Tendulkar swansong October 15, 2013 CRICKET: Mumbai will stage India batsman Sachin Tendulkar’s 200th and final Test appearance next month, it was revealed yesterday. The 40-year-old is the highest runs scorer of all-time in Test cricket and will bring the curtain down on his glittering 24-year international career at his home ground against West Indies. The two Test series begins [...]
Injured Allen out for three months October 15, 2013 RUGBY UNION: Leicester Tigers centre Anthony Allen will be sidelined for three months following surgery to an ongoing leg injury. The 27-year-old has been suffering from compartment syndrome and underwent an operation to remove pressure from his leg. Allen was tipped last month by Leicester’s backs coach Paul Burke to be named in the England [...]
America crawls towards a deal October 14, 2013 FIGHTING American leaders edged closer to a deal last night with just two days to go before the US runs out of cash to pay the interest on its debts. Jittery markets crept up on renewed hopes that the government can avoid a default, which could happen on Thursday 17 October if no budget deal [...]
Royal Mail races past 470p as full trading starts October 14, 2013 THOUSANDS of individual investors are expected to offload their Royal Mail shares today, as the company completes its listing on the London Stock Exchange. Shares in the privatised postal service yesterday closed at 471.36p, up 42 per cent on Friday’s flotation price. This means people who received the maximum £749.10 allocation are already sitting on a [...]
Bank of England deputy fears surge in risky loans October 14, 2013 THE HELP to Buy scheme could leave house buyers dangerously overstretched by encouraging them to take out risky mortgages, the incoming Bank of England deputy governor warned yesterday. The mortgage guarantees on offer from the government mean banks will be protected against taking excessive risks, but borrowers could be encouraged to over-reach themselves, Sir Jon [...]
What the latest Nobel Prize winners in economics can teach us October 14, 2013 SOME people still remember their university exam questions; I can still vaguely recall a few if I really put my mind to it. But I vividly remember a mock exam we were given in an undergraduate financial economics course at the London School of Economics in the late 1990s. It went something like this: if [...]
Zombie estate agents at risk from rate rise October 14, 2013 ALMOST half a million British firms are now zombies, only able to stay afloat because interest rates are so low, insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor estimated yesterday, with estate agents the worst affected. One in seven firms can barely cover their interest payments and are at risk of going under if rates go up, amounting to [...]
