Montreal gives us the world’s first floating spa January 30, 2011 IT can’t be that difficult to find a boat, especially if it’s moored. When the taxi driver said “You can’t miss it!” my heart sank as that is precisely what I knew I would do. In my defence, my two colleagues and I were battling a snowstorm in the dark, in downtown Montreal, knee-deep in [...]
Royal honeymoon: three months to go January 30, 2011 GIVEN the furore surrounding the Royal Wedding, there has been surprisingly little speculation as to where Prince William and his new wife Kate will go for their honeymoon, even though it’s just three months away. Recognizing the tough times we are all facing and keen to show his understanding I believe that His Royal Highness [...]
VARSITY HOTEL, CAMBRIDGE January 30, 2011 The Varsity is a beautifully-built hotel – once you get past the unpreposessing brick exterior. But what is most remarkable about it is that it is Cambridge’s first proper, world-class luxury hotel. Complete with stunning penthouse suites, a wonderfully sexy roof terrace that will be brilliant in summer and a state-of-the-art spa, it would make any [...]
TRAVEL NOTES January 30, 2011 Four Seasons returns Four Seasons returns to Mayfair this week with the re-opening of the Four Seasons Hotel London, Park Lane. With views over Hyde Park and interiors designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the hotel is sure to become one of central London’s must-stay destinations. Call the hotel on 020 7499 0888; www.fourseasons.com/london. A room in [...]
Mount Gay, Barbados: a tour round rum’s natural home January 30, 2011 THE heart of the Barbados rum trade is perched at the northernmost tip of this small Caribbean island. High in the mountains in the St Lucy district sits the Mount Gay refinery, surrounded by a nine feet tall sugar cane plantation and gazing out over wild Atlantic waves which crash into the Florida coast 1,600 [...]
Invasion of the smart machines January 30, 2011 MY house isn’t smart enough. To get inside it I have to open the door myself. With a key. When I walk in, a digital voice doesn’t greet me, realise I’ve had a bad day and tell me a joke to cheer me up (I’m imagining a soothing voice like Hal from 2001: A Space [...]
Adding a little power to your ETF portfolio January 27, 2011 GIVE me a lever long enough and I shall move the world”. So said Archimedes. Had the Greeks invented listed products, he might also have moved his stock portfolio. Leveraged exchange traded funds (ETFs), which trade like ordinary equities on the stock exchange, are now offering investors the chance to lever up, achieving the big [...]
Vodafone drags on the FTSE despite strong insurer gains January 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 share index closed slightly lower yesterday, after a dip in index heavyweight Vodafone, dented by weak results from AT&T, offset a surge in insurers following positive broker comment. The FTSE 100 closed down 4.13 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,965.08, having added 0.9 per cent the previous session. Vodafone, the company [...]
Wall St buoyed by tech firm results January 27, 2011 STRONG corporate earnings led Wall Street to a 29-month closing high for a second day yesterday, but another run of big gains may be harder to achieve. The Dow and the S&P struggled to advance past major technical levels – the 12,000 mark for the Dow and 1,300 for the S&P – but investors see [...]
DIMON VENTS FURY AT BANK BASHER SARKOZY January 27, 2011 JP MORGAN Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon went head-to-head in a furious row with President Sarkozy yesterday, as the world of politics and banking clashed in spectacular form at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Dimon, one of Wall Street’s genuine big beasts, made a direct plea to the French President, currently also President of [...]
