EPISODE 51 – A BELLINI AFTER TEN YEARS April 2, 2012 It’s 5.58pm on 3 April. Precisely ten years ago Emma and I stood on this very spot, in similar spring early evening sunshine. And I asked her to marry me. Last night, Maria discreetly packed a suitcase for Emma and this morning a cab took us to the airport. Emma had no idea of our [...]
Get fit… and make a difference too April 2, 2012 FIT IN THE CITY Picture the scene: it’s 6.30pm on a Wednesday evening at the Reebok Sports Club and instead of being full of weary looking execs wishing they were in the pub, the reception is buzzing with an eager group of runners about to head out to a local community garden to enjoy a [...]
UK finance chiefs: The worst is over April 1, 2012 THE UK’S top finance chiefs no longer expect the country to face a double-dip recession, and are instead advising their firms to expand into an increasingly optimistic landscape, a new survey revealed today. Just 30 per cent of chief financial officers surveyed in Deloitte’s landmark poll now expect a renewed recession, down from 54 per [...]
Fuel drivers set for talks to halt strike April 1, 2012 TRADE unionists and fuel haulage firms are due to meet this week in a bid to avoid a strike. The Unite union has said it will take part in talks with dispute resolution group Acas and the seven tanker companies, where more than 2,000 drivers have voted in favour of industrial action. However, thousands of [...]
Argentina threatens banks linked to Falklands oil firms April 1, 2012 ARGENTINA has threatened legal action against banks linked to oil explorers in the Falklands, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of its war with Britain over the islands. Just weeks after Buenos Aires ramped up its objections to British firms in the region, its embassy has sent letters in Spanish to 15 banks warning [...]
UK’s over-taxed public is running out of patience April 1, 2012 EXORBITANT: that is the only way to describe the cripplingly high levels of Air Passenger Duty (APD) now facing everybody flying from the UK. The era of cheap flights which had done so much to make international travel accessible to the vast majority of the public is coming to a sorry end: the tax on [...]
Government to allow real-time internet spying April 1, 2012 PRIVACY campaigners yesterday reacted angrily to government plans to allow security services to monitor email exchanges and website visits in the UK. Legislation expected in next month’s Queen’s Speech is set to allow GCHQ to examine “on demand” any phone call made, text message and email sent and website accessed. Nick Pickles, director of the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 1, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES BSkyB begins board overhaul Two key independent directors at BSkyB are set to leave as the pay-TV company embarks on an overhaul of its board that could weaken its unanimous backing of James Murdoch as chairman. Dame Gail Rebuck, chief executive of Random House, the publisher, and Lord Wilson of Dinton, former cabinet [...]
Trade bodies slam Indian tax law April 1, 2012 The CBI and other industry bodies have written to Manmohan Singh, the prime minister of India, “to express deep concerns” about the tax provisions proposed in the Finance Bill 2012. The new laws would introduce a retrospective tax on overseas deals in India over the last 50 years and reverse the judgment of several cases, [...]
Kurdistan halts oil exports April 1, 2012 Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region halted oil exports yesterday, accusing the central government in Baghdad of failing to make payments to companies working there in the latest clash in their long-running dispute over oil rights. The row heightens tensions in a broader dispute between Iraqi Arabs and ethnic Kurds over contested land, political autonomy and oil [...]
