FTSE tumbles to lowest close for a week as bank shares fall January 17, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, with declines from miners and banks offsetting a lift from merger and acquisition moves, as finance ministers were gathering to discuss changes to the Eurozone’s rescue fund. Smiths grabbed top spot on the blue-chip leaderboard, up 7.7 per cent, after the engineering firm rebuffed a £2.45bn bid for its [...]
Europe treads water ahead of EU summit January 17, 2011 EUROPEAN shares ended flat yesteday, with banks among the top fallers, as investors traded cautiously ahead of the outcome of a Eurozone finance ministers meeting aimed at discussing changes to the bloc’s rescue fund. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed flat at 1,156.59 points. Financials were lower, with the STOXX Europe [...]
Getting bigger slower January 17, 2011 THE Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Retail Price Index (CPI) figures are both out today. CPI is expected to hit around 3.5 per cent, while RPI could go as high as 4.8 per cent. That difference may seem fairly insubstantial, but a lot of people reaching retirement should take note. Why? Well because according to [...]
Pensions and Savings Bill effects: a breakdown January 17, 2011 1. THE “default retirement age” is to be scrapped. That means that employers will not be able to force retirement on workers who are older than 65. If workers wish to stay on, they will benefit from all of the employment protection available to younger workers, forcing employers to pay redundancy packages or else to [...]
Russians hold the key to the coolest sushi spot in Mayfair January 17, 2011 Sumosan 26 Albemarle Street, W1S 4HY Tel: 020 7495 5999, www.sumosan.com FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £40 ALMOST entirely lacking the fanfare of Nobu, Roka and Zuma, Sumosan is nevertheless one of the best Japanese dining spots to name drop. It certainly ticks the boxes: a Russian-operated, clubby restaurant in the heart [...]
ROOM WITH A VIEW: THE NEW OXO TOWER BAR January 17, 2011 A VERITABLE COCKTAIL FRENZY The Oxo Tower always startles me by how far away it is from wherever you are coming from. There it glows, a powerful beacon despite its relatively small size. But as you walk towards it you realise it’s not getting nearly close enough. The night I visited the revamped bar, it [...]
OUT OF OFFICE: LONDON ART FAIR January 17, 2011 FOR a prospective London art buyer just knowing where to start looking can be baffling, such is the abundance of galleries and the variety of what they offer. Thank goodness, then, for the London Art Fair, opening this week, which makes the job a lot easier by bringing a huge number of the galleries together [...]
Clegg: Increase paternity leave January 16, 2011 DEPUTY Prime Minister Nick Clegg will today risk a row with business leaders as he announces a raft of proposals to reform the UK’s paternity leave regulations. Industry leaders called the proposed changes “a bureaucratic nightmare”, coming on top of an overhaul of paternity leave already introduced by the last government. Businesses are currently preparing [...]
BP’s Russia deal comes under fire January 16, 2011 BP’S HISTORIC tie-in with Russia’s state oil company came under intense scrutiny yesterday, as politicians and businessmen piled in to examine the merits and dangers of the deal. The share swap, announced late on Friday, sees BP hand a five per cent stake to Rosneft in exchange for a 9.5 per cent holding in the [...]
Cam lays out health plans January 16, 2011 DAVID Cameron will today give details of his controversial plans to modernise the NHS, including abolishing Primary Care Trusts (PCT) and handing control of health budgets to GPs. More than 140 consortia led by GPs have already signed up, covering over half of the country and providing health care to 28.6m people. Cameron says the [...]
