Rapid responses November 21, 2012 The cost of saving [Re: Fresh allegations overshadow welcome cultural shift in the City, yesterday] As a higher rate tax payer I benefited enormously from the 40 per cent tax relief on my pension contribution. But I was struck by the discrepancy between my position and that of my wife. As a lower rate taxpayer, [...]
MBA candidates are moving against the conventional grain November 21, 2012 THE decision to sign up to an MBA programme should not be taken lightly for a whole host of reasons. The two-year, full-time programme is expensive and, in applying, candidates are choosing to voluntarily leave the workplace, pay tuition fees, and dig into their savings to fund their living expenses. This may in part explain [...]
Tablets that don’t cost the earth November 21, 2012 AMAZON KINDLE FIRE HD Amazon.co.uk, £129 (seven inch) The Kindle Fire was hailed as the first serious challenger to Apple’s domination of the tablet market – a colour e-reader with access to the web that seamlessly integrated with your Amazon account. In reality it was too heavy and too ugly to ever set the tablet [...]
Terminator 2 has shown us why robots should not kill November 21, 2012 Should robots be allowed to kill people?” It’s a question anyone who has seen Terminator 2 shouldn’t have to think about for long. Killer robots are not, science fiction has taught us, a very good idea. Give a robot a gun and a modicum of intelligence and it won’t be long before it is scheming [...]
FTSE 100 down on concerns over Greece November 21, 2012 The blue chip index edged down in early deals today, weighed down by a lack of agreement among Greece’s international lenders on emergency aid for the Eurozone country. Credit card insurer CPP Group fell 7.48 per cent, while Imagination Technologies sank 6.42 per cent on the news that it faced a rival for its bid [...]
Japan exports fall for fifth straight month November 21, 2012 Japan’s exports fell for a fifth consecutive month in October, hurt by weak global demand. Overall, exports fell 6.5 per cent in October from a year earlier. Shipments to China, Japan’s top export market, dropped by an annual 11.6 per cent last month following a 14.6 per cent fall in September, as a territorial dispute [...]
Daily Mail owner offloads regional titles November 21, 2012 Daily Mail and General Trust said this morning it will sell its regional titles to newly-formed media group Local World, led by tabloid veteran David Montgomery. From the sale of its regional newspaper business Northcliffe Media, the Daily Mail parent company will receive £52.5m and a 38.7 per cent stake in the new media group. [...]
Halfords reports slump in first-half profits November 21, 2012 Bicycle and car parts retailer Halfords posted a 23 per cent slump in first-half profits this morning, as the ‘summer of sport’ failed to offset a poor start to the year. Pre-tax profit before one-off items was £41.9m in the half year to September, down from £54.7m it made in the same period last year. [...]
French downgrade wasn’t unexpected November 21, 2012 MOODY’S downgrade of France this week was hardly a surprise. Although blamed on the risk of Greece leaving the Eurozone, France’s structural challenges – its declining competitiveness, high unemployment, public debt and market rigidity – have long been worsening. The Eurozone crisis has only highlighted a more gradual decline in the country’s ability to compete [...]
HP accuses Autonomy of $9bn lie November 20, 2012 FORMER bosses at British software giant Autonomy were yesterday accused of “serious accounting improprieties, disclosure failures and outright misrepresentation” by the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard (HP), after the US firm wrote off $8.8bn (£5.5bn) over last year’s purchase of Autonomy. Meg Whitman, who took the reins at HP shortly before the $11bn deal was completed [...]
