OUT OF OFFICE December 13, 2010 LOVE STORY – THE MUSICAL It’s extraordinary in this day and age to think that Love Story, the schmaltzy 1970 film that gave the world Ryan O’Neal in a duffel coat, and the phrase “love means never having to say you’re sorry,” swept the Golden Globes and caused grown adults to weep into their popcorn. More [...]
CITY OF LONDON CHIEF HITS OUT AT PAY RULES December 12, 2010 CITY of London policy chief Stuart Fraser has slammed new EU laws regulating bonus payments as “political point scoring” that will drive business out of Europe and destroy London’s status as a global financial capital. In his column for City A.M. today, Fraser, the chairman of the policy and resources committee at the City of [...]
500,000 households in negative equity December 12, 2010 CLOSE to half a million British households could be facing negative equity, according to survey released today by the Bank of England. Between four and five per cent of mortgage holders owe more than the value of their properties, it was revealed in the Bank’s final quarterly bulletin of this year. There are 11.4m mortgages in [...]
Bloomberg: I will not run December 12, 2010 NEW York Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday fiercely denied rumours he would run as an independent for the US presidency. Asked if he would fight for the US top job, the 68-year-old mogul said, “no way, no how”. Appearing on NBC’s television show “Meet the Press”, Bloomberg said he intends to remain focused on being mayor, [...]
Tackle bondholders – not staff pay December 12, 2010 ALMOST incomprehensible. That is the only way to describe the rules governing pay and bonuses for the financial services industry unveiled by the European Union on Friday. Only one thing is clear from the 82-page document, which could affect up to 2,500 UK firms: it will make many lawyers and compliance officers rich. It makes [...]
Madoff son: the final email December 12, 2010 THE eldest son of convicted fraudster Bernard Madoff was found hanged in his New York apartment on the second anniversary of his father’s arrest, just hours after he sent an email saying: “Nobody wants to hear the truth.” Mark Madoff, 46, who had worked at his father’s firm, “succumbed to two years of unrelenting pressure [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 12, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CREDIT SUISSE TO ISSUE COCOS EARLY Credit Suisse’s chief executive said he hoped to begin issuing billions of dollars in contingent-capital bonds in the next year to help shore up the bank’s financial strength well ahead of new Swiss regulations. Brady Dougan also defended Credit Suisse’s decision to award one-off payments to about [...]
Nick Clegg’s popularity falling December 12, 2010 The popularity of Nick Clegg has plummeted and supporters are deserting his party over plans to raise university tuition fees, said a poll published yesterday. Parliament voted on Thursday in favour of plans to allow English universities to almost treble current fees, a policy that has divided Clegg’s Liberal Democrat party and led to violent [...]
Swedish bomb suspect: UK link December 12, 2010 A man claimed by an Al-Qaeda-linked website to be behind bomb blasts in Sweden reportedly lived in Britain and studied at the studied at the University of Bedfordshire in Luton. Taymour Abdel Wahab was identified by website Shumukh al-Islam as the man behind two weekend bomb blasts in Stockholm.
CSC refuses Simon’s plan for Peel deal December 12, 2010 SIMON Property tried to give takeover target Capital Shopping Centres (CSC) a peace offering linked to its £1.6bn purchase of the Trafford Centre yesterday, after weeks of trying to block the deal. However, Capital rejected Simon’s offer of £800m to help fund the purchase last night, because it meant the US group taking a bigger [...]
