EPISODE 16: In trouble with the parents June 27, 2011 DAD, Please listen.” My father does not listen. My mother has fallen and broken an ankle. My father is angry with the doctors. He is angry with my mother. And he is angry with me. He is expressing his boundless anger with great clarity. I hold the telephone away from my ear. Noel and Billy [...]
CRUNCH TIME FOR THE HIGH STREET June 26, 2011 FASHION retailer Jane Norman was on the brink of collapse this weekend, after all of its stores across the UK were closed for business, signalling imminent insolvency. Zolfo Cooper, the US accounting firm, has been lined up to put the distressed fashion retailer into a pre-pack administration, which could be approved in court as soon [...]
China gives support to Eurozone June 26, 2011 CHINESE premier Wen Jiabao is expected to throw his weight behind the future stability of the Eurozone when he meets with David Cameron at Downing Street today. As part of wide-ranging talks touching on issues from trade to human rights, Wen will discuss the use of China’s massive cash reserves and spending power to help [...]
BIS: interest rates too low June 26, 2011 INTEREST rates are too low in developed economies, risking a dangerous price instability and market distortions, the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) declared yesterday. BIS, the college of central bank governors responsible for developing Basel III, has warned that abnormally low rates “risk creating serious financial distortions, misallocations of resources and delay in the necessary [...]
The debt nexus that binds the world June 26, 2011 MASOCHISTS seeking further evidence of the West’s decline will have had a field day this weekend. Most strikingly, China’s premier Wen Jiabao, currently visiting the UK, said his country was ready to buy billions of European debt to prop up the single currency. The Chinese haven’t lost leave of their senses – they can afford [...]
Cameron pal found dead June 26, 2011 PRIME minister David Cameron led tributes yesterday for Conservative Party official and friend Christopher Shale, who was found dead at the Glastonbury music festival. Shale, 56, who was chairman of the Conservative Association in Cameron’s own West Oxfordshire constituency, was found in a portable toilet in a VIP backstage area, close to the main press [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 26, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES REGULATORS AGREE TO EXTRA CAPITAL CHARGE TO PROTECT TOP BANKS Central bankers and regulators have agreed to impose an extra capital charge of 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent of risk-adjusted assets on the largest banks in a move to protect them from the losses that could trigger another financial meltdown. The [...]
Mary Portas to meet Tesco boss June 26, 2011 Mary Portas, the TV celebrity retail expert appointed by the government to oversee a review of Britain’s changing high streets, will this week meet with the UK chief executive of Tesco. Portas, best known for her Mary Queen of Shops TV series, will meet with Tesco UK boss Richard Brasher to examine the future of [...]
Sky directors expect News to pay more June 26, 2011 SOURCES close to BSkyB’s independent directors were last night calling for Rupert Murdoch to pay at least £9 per share to take full control of the satellite broadcaster. The same sources also indicated that a price of up to £10.40 a share, as called for by Crispin Odey, the founder of Odey Asset Management and [...]
British Land taps US bond markets June 26, 2011 LONDON-listed property giant British Land is close to raising $500m (£313m) by issuing bonds in the US private placement market. The firm, which owns the Broadgate complex in the City that it will now be able to redevelop following a campaign by City A.M. against an English Heritage objection, had looked to place $200m of [...]
