Ice queen Amy cool on hero status February 21, 2010 SKELETON Olympic champion Amy Williams may have become a household name overnight but the unassuming 27-year-old insists she already cannot wait for the limelight to fade. Williams twice set new course records at Whistler, the fastest and most dangerous of all ice tracks, on her way to clinching Great Britain’s first individual Winter Games gold [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF February 21, 2010 Gallacher in warning to Tiger GOLF: Former Ryder Cup skipper Bernard Gallacher has urged Tiger Woods to ditch his current entourage following his fall from grace. Gallacher believes the American’s aides are partly responsible for the personal problems that continue to keep Woods away from the course. “He has been badly handled by his management,” [...]
Fed takes steps towards higher rates February 18, 2010 THE US Federal Reserve last night took a major step towards a more normal monetary policy when it hiked the rate it charges banks for emergency loans. In a surprise move announced after the stock market closed, America’s central bank increased the discount rate by a quarter percentage point to 0.75 per cent in response [...]
Optimism returns as flood of firms set for London flotations February 18, 2010 GOLD mining giant Barrick Gold yesterday led a spirited charge by companies back into the London initial public offering (IPO) markets, after quavering demand from investors sank prospects for three new flotations in the space of just over a week. Barrick announced plans to spin off its African assets into a new company, African Barrick [...]
Darling’s £3bn Icesave punt February 18, 2010 ALISTAIR Darling rejected advice from the civil service when he controversially went ahead and guaranteed all the UK deposits of those who had savings with Icesave, the Icelandic bank, it emerged yesterday. Darling was advised by permanent secretary Nick Macpherson that bailing out Icesave carried with it the prospect of having to do the same [...]
The Beatles were right about taxes February 18, 2010 BEATLEMANIA is back – or at least that is what it is starting to feel like when one reads the endless coverage of the proposed sale of the Abbey Road studios by EMI, Guy Hands’ troubled music giant. Let me join in: the current political climate reminds me increasingly of that described so beautifully in [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RIPOSTE BY 60 ECONOMISTS TO CALL FOR CUTS More than 60 leading economists have backed Alistair Darling’s decision to delay spending cuts until 2011, creating a dividing line within the profession on the crucial general election issue of how to tackle the UK’s huge public debt. Two letters in today’s Financial Times warn [...]
Babcock keeps heat on VT February 18, 2010 SHIPBUILDER Babcock ratcheted up the pressure on services company VT Group yesterday by publicly calling on the board to enter into discussions over its £1.26bn takeover approach. In a move designed to stir up VT shareholders, Babcock said it was “disappointed” chief executive Paul Lester and his team had refused to engage. Babcock reiterated its [...]
Boeing plans to regain top spot February 18, 2010 Boeing is expected to become the world’s biggest civil aircraft maker again within four years, according to the head of the US group’s commercial aircraft business. Boeing lost the top spot to Airbus in 2003 when the European manufacturer overtook its US rival for the first time. Boeing, maker of the 747 jumbo jet, the [...]
EasyJet pay angers investors February 18, 2010 EasyJet pushed through an executive pay deal yesterday despite significant opposition from its investors. In the latest sign that investors are determined to keep executive pay in check, nearly 30 per cent of voters opposed or abstained from a vote on the discount airline’s pay policy at its annual meeting at Luton airport. Much of [...]
