EPISODE 25 : The best mate with youth on his side August 29, 2011 IT’S ridiculous Dave,” says my best friend Nick, thumping our fourth pint onto the table. “Taxpayers across the globe bail you guys out and then you just run the markets down again.” “Don’t be naive,” I snap. “Naive?” roars Nick, incredulously. I’m feeling woozy. “We didn’t used to have this kind of conversation,” I mumble. [...]
ONE MAN IN A BOAT FOR SOLO WORLD RECORD BID August 29, 2011 HE HAS already crossed the Tasman Sea and the Atlantic and survived two hurricanes in his attempt to complete one of the last remaining world firsts. Now Olly Hicks of executive search firm Oliver Stanley is counting down the days until his most extreme mission yet: an 18-month journey to become the first person in [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK August 29, 2011 THE CHAMPAGNE lounge at Kensington members club Amika is described as “the home of extravagance and indulgence”. And no-one reading this week’s bill would argue with that, because if two jeroboams of Cristal at £5,500 apiece don’t justify the description, then nothing will. Also making an appearance over the four international financiers’ £15,900 Saturday night [...]
Bernanke speech fails to impress markets August 26, 2011 Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke stopped short of signaling further action to boost growth, but said it was critical for the economy’s health to reduce long-term joblessness. The FTSE 100 and Dow dropped more than one per cent after the comments in a speech which had been widely anticipated as a rallying point for the [...]
Car bomb rips though UN building in Nigeria August 26, 2011 A car bomb ripped through the United Nations’ headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, killing at least 10 people, security sources and witnesses said. They said the car rammed into the office building before exploding in an attack similar a June assault on the Abuja police headquarters claimed by Boko Haram, a Nigerian radical [...]
US economic growth revised down August 26, 2011 The US economy grew at one per cent in the second quarter, the government said today That was slower than the previously estimated 1.3 per cent. The figures wee released ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke on the economy.
Santander UK profit hit by insurance mis-selling payouts August 26, 2011 Santander UK has seen its half-year profits more than halve, hit by needing to splash out £731m for compensating customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI). Pre-tax profit for the six months to 30 June came in at £549m, down from £1.2bn a year earlier. Most of the UK’s largest banks are paying out [...]
UK GDP growth confirmed at 0.2pc August 26, 2011 The economy grew at 0.2 per cent in second quarter of this year, confirming last month’s first estimate. The Office for National Statistics also confirmed the annual growth of 0.7 per cent, as analysts had forecast. The dominant services sector was the main driver of growth in the second quarter, but output fell by 0.1 [...]
ABN Amro to cut 2,350 jobs August 26, 2011 ABN Amro it would cut 2,350 jobs over the next four years, mostly in back office operations such as IT, as well as in retail and private banking, in a drive to save costs. Several banks, such as Swtizerland’s biggest bank UBS and Dutch cooperatively-owned Rabobank, in the past two months announced plans to cut [...]
INM profit falls 6pc August 26, 2011 Publishing group Independent News & Media posted a six per cent year-on-year fall in operating profit for the first half of the year, despite cutting costs and paying back debt, after advertising and consumer markets remained “remarkably tough.” The Dublin-based group, nearly 50 per cent owned by former bondholders, is focussing on media markets in [...]
