EU’s Google verdict may not quash complaints August 17, 2010 LEWIS SILKIN FOR most businesses, it is vital that prospective customers can find them on the internet. And the “ranking” that a business can achieve in search engine results – how high up it is on a search page – is a big part of that. Recognising this, a number of years ago search engines [...]
A very grown up car indeed August 17, 2010 Like an ageing playboy, this Lexus has a handsome face, but is let down somewhat by its rather bloated rear end, inflated no doubt by the installation of its excellent folding tin top roof. Maybe an ageing playboy is the target buyer for the IS250C. Not me then. Yet there’s no doubt that the inside [...]
CAR TALK August 17, 2010 VAUXHALL NEW WARRANTY Vauxhall has announced a new lifetime warranty on all its new cars, trumping Kia which offered the best warranty up until now. The Vauxhall Lifetime Warranty applies to the first owner of any Vauxhall car and covers powertrain, steering and brake systems as well as electrical equipment. The warranty lasts throughout the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE August 17, 2010 OPERA AND DINNER UNDER THE STARS Dining outdoors in a frescoed courtyard while being entertained with soaring opera is pretty much a win-win plan for an evening, right? If you agree, then nab the chance to experience a night of opera and dinner under the stars at 51 Buckingham Gate, the private Taj residences in [...]
Pay deal averts BAA strike pain August 16, 2010 FEARS of travel chaos over the busy Bank Holiday faded last night after airport operator BAA secured a last-ditch pay deal with unions, who agreed to call off planned strikes. In a dramatic climbdown, Unite said it would urge workers at Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports to accept a “much improved” pay [...]
Wall Street fumes over GM fee cut August 16, 2010 WALL STREET has been left fuming after an exceptionally cheap pitch from Goldman Sachs led the US Treasury to slash fees for all banking advisers on its impending $20bn (£13bn) flotation of General Motors. Goldman, which was mired in allegations of securities fraud when it applied for a role in the GM initial public offering [...]
EC rules to hit UK companies August 16, 2010 INSTITUTIONS including Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland will be hit by an overhaul of European rules giving regulators greater powers over combined banking and insurance groups. The European Commission (EC) yesterday put forward plans to tighten oversight of “financial conglomerates”, defined as firms that lend and provide cover across multiple European states. [...]
Reflections on the Philip Green saga August 16, 2010 MY first contact with Sir Philip Green came around two decades ago when he was running a small public company called Amber Day. I had written a two paragraph story for the Independent newspaper which provoked the retailing tycoon to scream down the phone at me the following day. “I cut out your article out [...]
Sir Alan Budd regrets leak August 16, 2010 SIR Alan Budd, the former head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), yesterday admitted he regretted the impact of a leak that dogged his short tenure at the independent fiscal forecaster. “I enormously regret the effect it had on our reputation… That was in some sense the most harmful event in terms of the [...]
Citi blocked in $75m SEC payoff August 16, 2010 Citigroup’s $75m (£48m) settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its alleged failure to disclose up to $40bn in sub-prime securities has hit an obstacle after a federal judge refused to approve the payment. US district judge Ellen Segal Huvelle said she did not have “sufficient information” to green-light the deal. The SEC [...]
