Should Sunday trading hours be extended in supermarkets for the Christmas period? November 22, 2012 YES Dalton Philips The seven trading days before Christmas day are the busiest days of the year for grocery shopping. This period puts a huge strain on staff across our business, but particularly those in stores, logistics, and in manufacturing. Our analysis shows that, in the seven days prior to our early closing on Christmas [...]
Rapid responses November 22, 2012 Taxing times [RE: Our bureaucratic tax system is destroying jobs and growth, yesterday] Fiscal reform is desperately needed. There is a bewildering menu of taxes in this country, and even more red tape as a result. With the government’s avaricious appetite, high levels of taxation are not going to go away any time soon. And [...]
Mr Hare ushers in a new era for luxury men’s footwear November 22, 2012 Standing IN Marc Hare’s much talked about new store on Stafford Street, Mayfair, it’s hard to fathom that his life was far from rosy this time four years ago. Back in 2008 the designer was going through a divorce, had broken his leg and lost his job: and all in the same week. But his [...]
End of Watch is a wild ride November 22, 2012 FILM END OF WATCH Cert 15 **** Plaudits are deserved by anyone who manages to do something new with the guns and drugs cop movie. Director David Ayer’s documentary-style camera work, combined with excellent central performances, ensure that End of Watch makes a fresh contribution to a tired genre. It begins with Brian Taylor (Jake [...]
Few Silver Linings in this average rom-com November 22, 2012 FILM SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK Cert 15 *** It’s refreshing to have a mainstream movie with mental illness as its central tenet, especially when Hollywood’s usual treatment of the issue amounts to little more than: “Look! a crazy person! Aren’t they funny!” (Me, Myself and Irene springs to mind). At its best, Silver Linings Playbook is [...]
Gambit is an unforgivably dull carnival of grotesque stereotypes November 22, 2012 FILM GAMBIT Cert 12A ** Culture clash comedies risk falling into the trap of reducing their characters to dull stereotypes. Gambit does not fall into this trap – it gleefully dives into it with suicidal abandon. Colin Firth plays Harry Deane, the long-suffering art buyer for misanthropic mogul, Lord Shabandar (Alan Rickman). Financially hard up [...]
David Tennant fails to lift a family flop November 22, 2012 FILM NATIVITY 2: DANGER IN THE MANGER Cert U | * David Tennant must have something against car-producing cities in the West Midlands. Only this would explain his descent from playing Hamlet and Dr Who to starring in this 101 minute insult to the city of Coventry. Tennant plays Mr Peterson, a teacher who has [...]
UK tech boss: My side of the story November 21, 2012 MIKE Lynch, the founder of British software giant Autonomy, yesterday hit out at the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP) over claims the US company had been lied to during its $11bn (£6.9bn) acquisition of Lynch’s firm last year. The former Autonomy boss, who was forced out of HP in May, denied any wrongdoing, rejected claims [...]
New help for zombie firms as debts bite November 21, 2012 LLOYDS hopes it can save tens of millions of pounds by sending in turnaround experts to combat the horde of zombie firms plaguing the economy and bank balance sheets. But KPMG yesterday warned that thousands of struggling firms could starve to death, running out of cash over the next year if the economy does not [...]
Glencore set to win EU approval on Xstrata deal November 21, 2012 THE £56bn mega-merger between commodity giants Glencore and Xstrata looks set to clear another hurdle today, as EU antitrust regulators are expected to approve the deal. Glencore is understood to have improved its offer to secure an approval from European Commission antitrust regulators, which is set to be officially announced today. The commodity trading powerhouse [...]
