Bunny-tails to be shaking once again May 25, 2011 Finishing touches are being applied to Mayfair’s prettiest new face, where Hugh Hefner plans to evoke the golden age of his empire – the Playboy Club London on Old Park Lane soft launches tonight. Would-be Don Drapers will absolutely adore this extravagant and exclusive establishment, where gentlemanly desires such as dining, drinking and gambling will [...]
Learning from mistakes for success May 25, 2011 ADAPT BY TIM HARFORD Little Brown, £20 by Philip Salter THE “undercover economist”, Tim Harford has a new book out: Adapt. Its central theme is the examination of failure and success, reasoning that a bit of the former is vital to achieve the latter; and even when you are successful, in order to keep it, [...]
Fancy yourself as a top chef? Sign up to The Big City Cook May 25, 2011 WE’VE all been there – Sat in front of the television watching “Masterchef” frustrated, as yet another builder/housewife/Z-list celebrity turns out a deflated soufflé. Suddenly the thought pops in to our heads: “I could do better than that.” Well soon, the suffering could be over. September sees the launch of The Big City Cook, a [...]
Lagarde announces IMF candidacy May 25, 2011 Christine Lagarde has announced her candidacy to be the next head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The French finance minister had been an early favourite to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned last week to fight sex assault charges in New York. Lagarde has the support of much of Europe but emerging, co-called BRIC countries [...]
Flights resume as ash cloud clears May 25, 2011 Flights resumed across the UK today rescuing the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of Britons. Air traffic controllers Nats said the country was expected to remain clear until at least 7pm of high levels of ash from the eruption of Iceland’s Grimsvötn volcano. Icelandic weather officials also said no ash plume has been seen [...]
FTSE dips on eurozone fears and slipping commodities May 25, 2011 The FTSE 100 dipped today as jittery investors lost confidence in commodities and remained nervous over the eurozone debt crisis. With raw material prices dropping amid concerns over a slowdown in China, riskier assets were being shunned. Shares in commodities giant Glencore fell as much as three per cent on their Hong Kong trading debut [...]
UK economy grows at 0.5pc May 25, 2011 The UK economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the first three months of the year, official figures have confirmed. The figures were the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) second look at the GDP data, which were first published last month. Although the manufacturing and service sectors had performed well, the ONS said construction continued [...]
Glencore falls in Hong Kong trading debut May 25, 2011 Shares in Glencore International fell as much as three per cent on their Hong Kong trading debut, dented by concerns over valuations and the outlook for commodities after a lacklustre start in London the previous day. The dual listing in London and Hong Kong puts an end to the drawn-out process of taking the 37-year [...]
US Treasury sells AIG shares May 25, 2011 The Treasury is barely breaking even on its investment in beleaguered insurance giant American International Group, according to an early litmus test of market interest in the firm’s stock. The Treasury sold 200m shares of AIG at $29 per share, a slight discount from their closing price and not far above the $28.73 average price [...]
JJB recovery plan hit by £181m loss May 25, 2011 JJB Sports, the struggling retailer rescued by a deal with landlords in March, said annual losses ballooned to £181m and it could take five years to fix the business. The company said on Wednesday trading in the first quarter of its new financial year had met its expectations and it planned to revamp 150 stores [...]
