78 Carlton Hill: Eric Idle’s old St John’s Wood home where Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher partied with the Rolling Stones November 27, 2014 Eric Idle used to let movie stars stay in his home in St John’s Wood while filming. Now, anyone can stay, for the right price. Tucked away in a quiet corner of north west London, a magnificent townhouse once hosted an unusual evening of frivolity between some of the biggest icons of 1980s pop [...]
England to start march towards World Cup with victory over Wallabies November 27, 2014 AFTER months of careful planning, preparation, and fans’ anticipation, England’s Autumn Internationals all comes down to this. The Red Rose will run out at Twickenham tomorrow for the final time of 2014 to take on Australia, knowing that yet another defeat to a Southern Hemisphere side will cast serious doubt on their ability to emerge [...]
Mortgage lending falls at Nationwide as house prices cool November 25, 2014 Mortgage lending at Britain's biggest building society fell £900m to £13.1bn in the six months to the end of September, suggesting "cooling measures" introduced by the Bank of England are taking their toll on the market. Nationwide added that mortgage lending had "reflected a recent flattening of the housing market", caused by a combination of [...]
Aviva share price falls as Friends Life shares rise: Surprised market reacts to deal bombshell November 24, 2014 The market was divided yesterday following the announcement of a planned merger between insurer Aviva and its competitor Friends Life. Aviva saw its shares fall by more than five per cent during the day, while shares in Friends Life climbed by six per cent. Most analysts agreed that the announcement was surprising, with [...]
Indivior IPO: Reckitt Benckiser splits off addiction unit November 17, 2014 Addiction treatment firm Indivior is set to join the FTSE100 as parent Reckitt Benckiser yesterday said it would float the business as a separate entity. However, the drug business may not remain listed in London for long – 80 per cent of its revenues come from the US, and its chief executive Shaun Thaxter expects [...]
London average house prices top £600,000 for the first time November 16, 2014 The average price of a residential London property has risen above £600,000 for the first time but signs of cooling are evident. The break through the £600,000 barrier in house prices in November marks just a 0.8 per cent increase on October’s figure, according to data released today by online property market platform Rightmove. Rightmove’s [...]
Thinking bigger: My Voucher Codes founder Mark Pearson talks Fern Britton and young tech entrepreneurs November 16, 2014 While we’re talking, it suddenly dawns on Mark Pearson that it’s his company’s eighth birthday. “It’s definitely around now,” he laughs, raising his empty plastic water cup in the air. In June of this year, Pearson sold My Voucher Codes, as part of his parent company Markco Media, to global mobile money technology provider [...]
The Eurozone is not likely to survive its own Japanese-style lost decade November 13, 2014 BEFORE the fiscal and monetary stimulus of “Abenomics”, Japan was afflicted with a chronic economic sickness. Crippled by excess private sector savings, it fell into deflation in the 1990s, despite very low nominal interest rates. Today, it is often suggested that the Eurozone is experiencing a similar malaise. Prior to the autumn, the leaders of [...]
Focus on Chiswick: Why are families flocking to west London? November 13, 2014 Many people seem to think that, between oligarchs buying up prime central London and renters occupying the trendy suburbs, the capital is becoming a place of transition. But there’s one place that’s defying that trend: Chiswick. This ancient country retreat, which was once part of Middlesex, is every inch the traditional London village. [...]
Lending decline points to cooler housing market November 11, 2014 LENDING to home buyers fell month-on-month in September, but remains substantially higher than a year ago. The number of loans to home buyers was 58,000 in September – seven per cent lower than in August – according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders yesterday. However, the figure is still 13.1 per cent [...]