Waving goodbye to another British summer – among the wettest ever August 1, 2008 As this weekend marked the last few official days of summer, Sunday’s storms sealed one of the “wettest summers in 52 years”. Despite highs of 27 degrees celsius in the south and east, there was little sign of sunshine and the forecast remained dull and thundery. Sun lovers had a little more luck on Saturday, [...]
Freddie’s on fire but he’s getting no support August 1, 2008 Whether it be with bat, ball, or in the field, England have almost been a one-man team in the opening two days of this third Test. From one to 11 the only man to have played with any kind of confidence at all is Andrew Flintoff and if England are to steal anything from this [...]
Magnificent Flintoff gives England hope of comeback August 1, 2008 All-rounder takes four wickets as South Africa restricted to 256-6 on Day Two Andrew Flintoff produced a devastating bowling spell to lead England’s fightback in the third Test at Edgbaston. The all-rounder single-handedly ripped through the South Africa middle order to record figures of 4-68 and reduce the tourists to 256-6. After dominating the morning [...]
Budget airlines have become a part of modern life, for better or worse August 1, 2008 Rising oil prices mean that cheap flights are under threat. But is that a good or a bad thing? Such arcane things as the price of oil were until recently beyond the ken of most ordinary folk. But the workings of massive Kazakh exploration companies and the politics of laying pipelines across Uzbekistan are now [...]
In volatile times there are still investments that offer a safe haven August 1, 2008 There are ways to guarantee returns, but always read the small print, warns Esther Shaw In today’s volatile stock market, some anxious investors are cashing in their equity investments and rushing to reduce their exposure to risk by taking shelter in lower-risk asset classes. Finding a safe haven is no mean feat right now and [...]
BAT looks to overseas for profits hike August 1, 2008 A strong performance in emerging markets helped BAT turn in better than expected first-half profits yesterday Europe’s largest cigarette maker, whose brands include Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike and Pall Mall, reported a 16 per cent rise in profit from operations to £1.72bn from £1.49bn a year earlier. The reported group revenue increased by 15 per [...]
Advertising slump dents Trinity sales August 1, 2008 Trinity Mirror revealed an 8 per cent fall in first-half sales to £460.8m, with heavy falls in advertising revenues continuing to take their toll The parent company of the Daily Mirror was further rocked by a 15 per cent slump in advertising sales during the month of July. Advertising comprises nearly 51 per cent of [...]
Slowing sales of broadband August 1, 2008 Growth in sales of broadband connections, which surged in recent years, has peaked and is now slowing rapidly, according to figures released by the UK’s leading broadband providers. Carphone Warehouse yesterday said it had missed its fixed line revenue growth targets, adding just 41,000 broadband customers in its first quarter, compared to earlier forecasts of [...]
Cheer Up: Not all media companies are preforming badly August 1, 2008 Look: it’s time for all this generalised gloom about the state of the media to stop There is nothing anyone can do about the state of the economy or the severe downward pressure on advertising revenues. Not even Gordon Brown can do anything about that. But this week there has been more good news than [...]
Miliband says no leadership challenge July 31, 2008 The favourite to succeed Gordon Brown sidestepped claims yesterday he was launching a leadership bid and said he was convinced the prime minister could win the next election. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, a youthful figure at the centre of the party, sparked talk of a leadership challenge by saying Labour needed a “radical new phase” [...]
