London rents accelerate as amount of payments in arrears increases January 22, 2016 London rents grew 6.3 per cent year-on-year in December, according to figures released this morning. The rate of growth was the joint-fastest for a calendar year since 2011, estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains said. Across England and Wales, rents rose 3.4 per cent on the year, the fastest rate of calendar-year growth for [...]
Why TfL running London trains is actually a terrible idea for the capital January 21, 2016 Whenever something does not work properly, we demand a “fat controller” to sort it out – especially when it comes to trains. Sure, there are many aspects of our transport system that are grossly unsatisfactory, but, certain facts do stand out and they do not point in the direction of more state control of the [...]
Racing betting: Cloudy Too can brighten up Haydock in Saturday’s Peter Marsh Chase January 21, 2016 Even though frost has been the big worry this week, Haydock looks set to race on Saturday and the ground is going to be absolutely bottomless. We’ve had a good run of things over the past fortnight, thanks to Kerry Lee’s exploits with Mountainous and Russe Blanc. Unfortunately the rookie trainer doesn’t have a runner [...]
Racing betting: Clarence House Chase looks a race to savour but save your money for other Ascot races January 21, 2016 Ascot plays host to a mouth-watering clash between Betway Champion Chase hopefuls Un De Sceaux and Sire De Grugy in Saturday's Sodexo Clarence House Chase (3.00pm). Some bookmakers go as short as 4/7 about the former who is on the comeback trail after falling on his seasonal reappearance at Leopardstown. It seems strange to have [...]
Football betting: Arsenal and Chelsea to share the points in Premier League derby stalemate January 21, 2016 It says plenty about Chelsea’s dominance of Arsenal in recent years that, even during this nightmare campaign, they still managed a comfortable 2-0 win in September. Chelsea are undefeated in their last eight competitive clashes against their London rivals. New boss Guus Hiddink beat Arsenal 4-1 at the Emirates in 2009 but don’t expect the [...]
The Uniwheel is the British-made alternative to last year’s cheap, exploding hoverboard toys January 21, 2016 The last time I attempted to ride a hoverboard, the device turned on me. The supposedly self-balancing bastard hurled my innocent body to the ground and shattered my left elbow before zooming off, filling the air with triumphant bleeps and bloops as it made good its escape. If this was the first punch thrown in [...]
Buoyant in Bexley or sad in Sutton: These are London’s happiest and saddest boroughs, according to Twitter January 21, 2016 If you live in Sutton and find it hard to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, it's not your fault, it turns out. A new survey, which has ranked London's boroughs from happiest to saddest based on their tweets, has found Sutton is London's most miserable borough. Enfield comes a close second, with Lewisham [...]
Halfords’ share price jumps as company cuts costs to keep profit on track January 21, 2016 Halfords's share price jumped this morning after the group cut back expected costs in its retail arm, enabling it to keep its profit guidance unchanged following muted third quarter sales. The figures Total revenues for the 15 weeks to 15 January were up 0.4 per cent across the group, but for its retail division sales actually fell 0.3 per [...]
Royal Mail’s share price rises as strong Christmas helps it deliver results in line with expectations January 21, 2016 Royal Mail's share price climbed this morning, after posting solid results covering the crucial Christmas period, giving the venerable institution confidence that full year figures will come in line with expectations. The figures Group revenue for the company – which is celebrating its 500th birthday this year – nudged up one per cent for the nine [...]
Barclays cuts bonuses and jobs in London, New York and Asian Investment Banking divisions January 20, 2016 Barclays' Investment Banking division could see its bonuses cut by 10 per cent as cost cutting continues, it has been reported. As part of the ongoing restructuring at the investment bank, staff could see their bonuses fall 10 per cent compared to last year, according to Bloomberg reports. As previously announced, Barclays will pay bonus payments later than [...]