Alibaba wants a chief cuteness officer (no dogs allowed) October 28, 2016 Forget the days of shelling out money to get Kim Kardashian to promote your products. Alibaba has come up with the idea of recruiting for a "chief maimeng officer" (that translates as "selling its cuteness") to help sell its products and promote its bumper sale on Singles' Day next month. The Chinese e-commerce giant is hoping the successful [...]
Cat votes in French presidential primary October 17, 2016 Paws for thought. A cat has cast its vote in the Green Party's primary election in France. Gaston Lecat was added to the party's voter list for the presidential primaries by its owner, journalist Raphaëlle Besse Desmoulières. She said she paid €5 (£4.52) to register her cat to vote in the primary election earlier this month, and [...]
Chin up: How Twitter reacted to today’s sterling free fall October 7, 2016 It’s fair to say the pound has had quite a day. The currency regained some of its losses in afternoon trading, but spent most of this morning in free fall, after an overnight flash crash. Widely thought to be a case of either a "fat finger" or an algorithm picking up on negative Brexit stories overnight, at one point the [...]
The Bank of England should follow Dr Seuss’ example and publish simpler reports October 4, 2016 The Bank of England (BoE) needs to simplify its speeches and reports, a researcher at the institution has said – and he pointed to beloved childrens' author Dr Seuss as the perfect example for the Bank to follow. People writing in the financial industry put too many long words in long sentences, according to Jonathan Fullwood, from [...]
Bedwyr Williams’ The Gulch at The Barbican is brilliantly weird September 29, 2016 You’re greeted at the entrance of the Barbican’s Curve gallery with a polite warning: “If you want to perform – sing, dance, that kind of thing – please be respectful of other visitors”. I wasn’t tempted to burst into song, but it’s a suitably surreal way to enter this brilliantly weird exhibition. This site-specific installation [...]
A Dutch artist is creating tiny worlds suspended inside fragile glass tubes September 27, 2016 Standing at just a few inches tall, these lilliputian constructions from Dutch artist Rosa de Jong are the architectural equivalent of ships in a bottle. The series, entitled Micro Matter, presents miniature vertical townships of alien proportions, each suggesting a wider and more fantastical world beyond. Indeed, de Jong says she had initially intended to [...]
The Girl With All the Gifts review: this spiritual successor to 28 Days Later has plenty of bite September 22, 2016 This spiritual successor to 28 Days Later is an excellent example of pared-back British horror film-making. It follows Melanie, a bright young girl who just happens to be a zombie. She lives on a military base with other zombie kids who are dressed in Abu Graib-style jumpsuits and strapped into wheelchairs. They’re part of an [...]
EFL Cup round-up: Slaven Bilic urges West Ham to use last-gasp win as leverage to escape wretched start to season September 21, 2016 West Ham manager Slaven Bilic has urged his side to use their last-gasp 1-0 victory over League Two Accrington Stanley in the EFL Cup third round as leverage to escape their wretched start to the campaign. The clash looked certain to end goalless and head into extra-time before substitute Dimitri Payet curled home a sumptuous 25-yard [...]
Four extra-curricular career boosters that will make your CV stand out from the crowd September 20, 2016 What with algorithmic bosses and a Brexit-induced hiring freeze, how do job candidates stand out from the crowd in 2016? University qualifications are a given, not a bonus, and those working in the City will likely already have a depth of relevant experience. For employers, picking has never been harder. One technique that promises at [...]
Tottenham rocked as ankle ligament damage set to sideline striker Harry Kane for up to two months September 19, 2016 TottenhamT striker Harry Kane is set to sidelined for the next two months with the ankle injury picked up during his side’s Premier League victory over Sunderland on Sunday. Kane underwent two scans yesterday, which showed that the 23-year-old had escaped a fracture but had sustained ligament damage during a collision with Black Cats defender [...]