Qantas forced to ground planes as dispute deepens October 18, 2011 AUSTRALIA’S Qantas Airways has grounded two more planes due to an escalating industrial dispute which threatens to disrupt thousands of domestic flights leading up to the crucial Christmas period. Qantas warned yesterday of a maintenance backlog as aircraft engineers threatened to continue work bans until the end of the year, sending its shares down more [...]
A journey to the promised land of New World wine October 16, 2011 It was a few years ago, on an evening near Christmas in a neon-lit office boardroom, that I set my heart on South African wine. Until that night, I’d floundered when faced with supermarket wine sections and restaurant lists. Nothing tasted worth the money. And yet wine played an almost daily role in my life. [...]
LUNCH PRICES HIKED TO HIGHLIGHT PROBLEMS FACED BY THIRD WORLD October 12, 2011 LONDONERS may be accustomed to signing away the vast majority of their pay packet on the capital’s rising rents, but what if everyday food was as much of an outlay, accounting for 50 to 80 per cent of income every month? That’s what the Red Cross is hoping to highlight as it takes over popular [...]
Americans to blame in Reds TV cash row, says Whelan October 12, 2011 WIGAN chairman Dave Whelan has blamed Liverpool’s American owners for an attempted football television rights breakaway from the rest of the Premier League, calling it “appalling” and “greedy”. Reds managing director Ian Ayre has indicated the club would like the freedom to strike their own potentially more lucrative overseas broadcast deals, as Spanish giants Barcelona [...]
Debenhams to create 6,500 Christmas jobs October 10, 2011 DEBENHAMS is to hire an extra 6,500 seasonal staff to cope with the Christmas rush, it said yesterday. The temporary workers will be employed in mid-November and cover the period to the end of the January sales. Retail is the biggest private sector employer in the UK, with around 3m people working in the industry. [...]
Footfall down on UK high streets October 9, 2011 The number of shoppers hitting UK high streets in September was down 1.2 per cent compared with the same month last year, according to retail analysts Springboard. Cities fared worse than towns overall as the latter were given a boost by a move towards more local shopping. Excluding cities, footfall was up 1.3 per cent. [...]
Bank of England ups QE by £75bn October 6, 2011 The Bank of England has raised its quantitative easing fund by £75bn. A total of £200bn had originally been earmarked for the scheme, which aims to breathe new life into the economy. The decision to expand its asset purchase programme to a total of £275bn highlights the precarious state of Britain’s economy as global growth [...]
Ted Baker bucks high street gloom October 6, 2011 Designer clothing brand Ted Baker posted strong first-half results led by growth in its overseas and online businesses, and raised the interim dividend 13.5 per cent. The fashion retailer, which began as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1987, said it remained cautious of the second half given the uncertain macroeconomic environment. “Whilst we have [...]
PM hit by row over debts on credit cards October 5, 2011 DAVID CAMERON was forced to hastily redraft parts of his conference speech yesterday, after he was widely criticised for pre-released extracts that called on Britons to repay their credit card debts. “The only way out of this crisis is to deal with your debts. That means households – all of us – paying off the [...]
Thorntons sales melt away October 5, 2011 Chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons yesterday said sales had fallen 7.6 per cent in the past three weeks. Sales from its own shops were down 10.1 per cent. Chief executive Jonathan Hart said cost-conscious consumers were choosing promotions over full-price chocolates, and the high street remained weak. He said that Thorntons’ rollout of its new [...]