Mutuals will stay high street bit players for many Christmases yet December 17, 2013 MUTUALS and co-operatives have been promoted as the acceptable side of business by both arms of the coalition. Nick Clegg has lauded the Waitrose and John Lewis model. Advisers to David Cameron, as well as Vince Cable, have argued that the banking sector would be more stable if more companies followed the mutual model. But [...]
I mince pie with my little eye… December 17, 2013 This week, we salute the humble mince pie. They’re as much a part of a British Christmas as Buck’s Fizz, crackers and pigs in blankets. Here, the City A.M. team gives their verdict on the best luxury pies in the run up to the big day Konditor & Cook Mince Pie Dozen 7.8/10 With the [...]
Get Fit Diary: Balancing newfound fitness with Christmas indulgence December 17, 2013 @AlexDymoke WHEN I tell people I’m doing a 12-week Get Fit challenge, everyone always asks the same thing, “What about when it finishes? Are you going to carry it on?” Short term at least, the answer is simple: no. Christmas is around the corner, and if you think I’m going to spend the party season [...]
Cricket Comment: Ashes catastrophe means this England team is finished December 17, 2013 THEY say Christmas is a time for reflection and I’ve a feeling England team director Andy Flower will be doing more soul-searching than most over the next couple of weeks. The late Bob Woolmer once told me he believed coaches had a maximum of five years with a team – by then you’ve imparted all [...]
Any Other Business – 18/12 December 17, 2013 ANDREW Sentance, senior economic adviser to PwC and a former member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, is well-known for his rock’n’roll take on economics. So when The Capitalist caught up with him, we thought it was only right to talk music. The result? He put together a suggested playlist for Bank of [...]
Any Other Business – 17/12 December 17, 2013 IT’S good to see that a bit of jail time hasn’t stopped friends of Vicky Pryce (Chris Huhne’s ex-wife and member of City A.M.’s shadow MPC) from inviting her to their Christmas festivities. The Capitalist is pleased to hear that Pryce, who spent two months in Holloway Prison for perverting the course of justice, had [...]
Miliband sets his sights on big housebuilders December 16, 2013 ED MILIBAND has angered housing developers by suggesting that they are guilty of hoarding land destined for new homes in order to make cash. The Labour leader made the comments during a tour of Stevenage yesterday as he launched a “non-stop drive” to boost building in the UK. “Profits for our four biggest housing developers are [...]
Online retailers take £10bn in a bumper November December 16, 2013 ONLINE retailers took over £10bn of sales in November, a new monthly record that raises further fears that high street retailers have been left behind in the key Christmas trading period. Online retail sales jumped by 30 per cent in November compared with the previous month – the highest monthly increase in 10 years. This [...]
Cue Card prepared for King George return December 16, 2013 Bill Esdaile pays a visit to Kempton hopeful’s stable CUE Card, a dual Cheltenham Festival winner and ante-post favourite for next week’s William Hill King George VI Chase, is certainly not alone at Venn Farm. The seven-year-old shares his small, picturesque Dorset stables with 67 other racehorses and 235 dairy cows under the watchful eye [...]
All this analyst wants for Christmas is Fed tapering. Here’s why December 16, 2013 Most would put the uncertainty of a Fed tapering announcement near their top of big 2013 unknowns – and some strong data from the US has convinced some Fed watchers that they may start to remove monetary support. But the discussions over when the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will actually get round to tapering [...]