TRAVEL NOTES February 14, 2010 Celebrate Caravaggio at Hotel Russie, Rome Art, luxury and culture come together with a package that revolves around Caravaggio’s 400th anniversary show at the Scuderie del Quirinale gallery. You’ll stay at the opulent Roman Hotel Russie and be provided with tickets to the show, a copy of the catalogue, and a daily buffet breakfast. Package [...]
HOTEL REVIEW: TEN MANCHESTER STREET February 14, 2010 THE HOTEL: If you are staying in the West End, you can’t beat Marylebone. Manchester Street is a quiet Georgian number where the houses bear the discrete silver plaques of osteopaths and accountants. The hotel is in a reassuringly traditional building through a lovely doorway. Inside, reception is dinky, but a big smile and a [...]
THE WILD ONE: OTHER CANADIAN ADVENTURES February 14, 2010 Husky Adventure in the Yukon Learn the basics of mushing, and each day the trails through some of the most spectacular wilderness in Canada’s Yukon advance in difficulty. Relax in the evenings with a sauna and in a lodge by a wood stove. Dog sledding is integral to the local culture throughout Yukon and most [...]
Sore arms and seals in Canada’s beautiful waters February 14, 2010 IT is a bright, warm and dazzling spring day and we are paddling our solo sea kayaks straight into the wind and sun. White diamond rays of sunlight bounce off the ocean; it looks like a carpet of sequins. With the wind roaring in my ears, I set my core muscles to firm, get my [...]
RED DRESSES IN FOR SPRING February 14, 2010 LAST Friday was “wear red day” in the States, in support of the American Heart Association. Here in London, although red is a huge colour for spring, there appears to be some trepidation amongst City professionals about sporting it in the office. In the States, red has somewhat aggressive connotations if worn in interviews; here [...]
The return of the plain white shirt February 14, 2010 THE white shirt is to men what the little black dress is to women – it goes with anything, can be extremely formal or stylishly casual, and everyone has one. In fact, every chap should have several, since it’s back in fashion, particularly in the City. Eighteen months ago, when expressing brash confidence rather than [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK February 14, 2010 A BIT of a Thursday night blowout for this group of four diners, who spent a cosy evening at Mayfair’s new luxury Italian haunt Babbo. In true continental style, our foodies did not spare a thought for their waistlines as they chowed their way through carpaccio, mixed antipasti and crab salad for starters; beef cheek, [...]
EX-FAIRFAX CHIEFTAIN MAKES HIS COMEBACK February 14, 2010 MEMBERS of the City’s investment banking community have probably been wondering for months what has become of Adam Hart, the cheery former managing director of Fairfax. Hart left Fairfax last summer and hasn’t been heard from since, apart from a stubborn rumour doing the rounds in the autumn that he was about to join Edward [...]
German recovery stalls February 12, 2010 GERMANY’S recovery from recession has hit the buffers in the final quarter of 2009, according to preliminary figures released on Friday. The German economy failed to grow in the last three months of the year, leaving GDP unchanged compared with the previous quarter. Meanwhile France reported a 0.6 per cent rise in GDP for the [...]
New Look postpones IPO February 12, 2010 HIGH Street fashion retailer New Look has shelved its planned initial public offering (IPO) making it the third private equity-backed firm in as many days to abandon a flotation in turbulent financial markets. The decision to pull back from £1.6bn offering will cast a shadow over other IPO hopefuls, like travel firm Amadeus and online [...]
