NO PLAN B FOR BRITAIN SAY TORY BELIEVERS July 7, 2011 DON’T have a business card on you? No problem – just write your name on the back of a £50 note and drop that in the hat for the City lunchtime raffle instead. Yes, it could only be the annual fundraising gathering of The Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association, where the Tory body’s [...]
Apple climbs as App Store sales hit 15bn July 7, 2011 APPLE customers have downloaded more than 15bn applications in the past three years, the company said yesterday, releasing figures that suggest the rate of downloads is sharply accelerating. The latest figures from Apple show that customers have downloaded around 5bn apps so far this year, as the company said in January that it had just [...]
CITY VIEWS: HOW DO YOU BUY YOUR MUSIC ONLINE? July 7, 2011 MIKE MACPHAIL RWE “I don’t often buy music online. When I do I use iTunes. I prefer to buy a whole album but if I really like a song I buy it on its own.” CHARLOTTE BERRY BNA INTERNATIONAL “I buy music from iTunes. I can’t remember the last time I bought a physical CD. [...]
US album sales up for first time since 2004 July 7, 2011 IN A rare boost for the beleaguered US record industry, album sales rose in the first six months of the year in the first growth since 2004. UK sensation Adele, who topped charts with 2.5m sales of her album 21, helped push the industry to a four per cent gain. In total 221.5m albums were shifted in [...]
Survey gives a boost to US jobs market July 7, 2011 AMERICA’S economic soft patch could be coming to an end according to surprisingly bullish jobs market data released yesterday. The US private sector created 157,000 new jobs last month, smashing expectations of many economists. Only 36,000 jobs were added in the previous month, according to the widely-watched ADP survey. “There is a more than 90 [...]
Lib Dem group backs reform July 7, 2011 THE LIBERAL Democrat wing of the coalition government should embrace reforms that bring competition and choice to public services, Westminster’s leading liberal think tank will argue today. There is a “very strong historical strand of thinking within the Liberal Democrats in favour of choice and the role of markets”, the Centre Forum will state, citing [...]
Britain’s factories spring back from April’s slump July 7, 2011 MANUFACTURING output rose at its fastest pace in over a year in May as factories ramped up output after a royal wedding-related drop in April, official data showed yesterday. Manufacturing production jumped 1.8 per cent between April and May, after a 1.6 per cent drop in April. Yet the wider measure of industrial production only [...]
Stuttering quarter for economy July 7, 2011 The UK economy grew by a measly 0.1 per cent in the three months to June, according to an initial estimate by an economic think tank. One off events in April are partly to blame, yet underlying growth is “still likely to be weak”, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said. Labour pounced [...]
London rents soar to all-time high July 7, 2011 Rents in London have surged to record levels and are now 50 per cent more expensive than in the rest of the country, according to figures released yesterday by HomeLet. The average rental cost in London has jumped 12 per cent in the last year to reach £1,125 a month. Across the UK as a [...]
TOKYO TOPS LIVING COST LEAGUE TABLE July 7, 2011 TOKYO was yesterday named the world’s most expensive city, retaining its top spot on a list of the most pricey places to make a home, based on the cost of living. Of the top ten most expensive cities in the world, seven are in Europe, with Oslo – where a litre of local beer in [...]
