Get the haggis right at your Burns supper January 23, 2012 If you’re thinking of hosting your own Burns night, the haggis should be the star of the show. Contrary to the belief of many south of the border, a well cooked haggis is far more than a bag of offal. Quality haggis contains an aromatic blend of spices and oatmeal, with meat as high quality [...]
Lobster and burgers, folks… that’s it January 23, 2012 THE vogue for culinary simplicity has been around for a while. The shorter the menu, the better – after all, asks the modern diner, how can caviar, steak, chicken, risotto and a thousand other dishes from one kitchen and one staff be fresh, made with the best of the day’s ingredients? Well, the guys behind [...]
WALL STREET WEEK AHEAD January 22, 2012 STOCKS rising, bulls rampant are motifs you might pick if designing a coat of arms for Wall Street at the moment. But the motto should read: Caveat emptor. Yes, buyer beware. The S&P 500, a broad measure of the market valuation of the biggest US publicly traded companies, is up 20 per cent from its [...]
When skiing becomes more like snow-flying January 22, 2012 The American satirist PJ O’Rourke had little time for snow sports. As he put it: “Skiing consists of wearing $3,000 worth of clothes and equipment and driving 200 miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and drink.” That might not have been so bad for O’Rourke – he is famous [...]
NY Fed sells AIG assets January 19, 2012 CREDIT SUISSE has won an auction to buy a $7bn mortgage securities portfolio once owned by AIG. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which did not reveal the sale price, was selling the assets it acquired through the bailout of American International Group in 2008. Goldman, Barclays Capital and Bank of America Merrill Lynch [...]
RAPID RESPONSES January 19, 2012 Fed up of fairness Allister Heath writes that the coalition needs to tackle unemployment while Sara Parker reports that London is now an unemployment hotspot [It’s official: London is now a hotspot of unemployment – business must help tackle it, yesterday]. I own a number of small businesses and in the past year have been [...]
HAWAIIAN SHIRTS SET THE AGENDA FOR FEDERAL RESERVE COMEDIANS January 15, 2012 THE SUB-PRIME mortgage meltdown was rumbling ever-louder in the background, but the 2006 meetings of the Federal Reserve were still a laugh a minute. The transcripts of that year’s meetings of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee were released at the end of last week after a standard five-year delay. But for readers who didn’t [...]
UP THE SWANNY January 15, 2012 SWANSEA (3) vs ARSENAL (2) Arsenal boss Wenger accuses Dyer of diving for penalty after defeat to Swansea in five-goal thriller deals his side’s hopes of catching Spurs and Chelsea a major blow FURIOUS Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger last night accused Swansea winger Nathan Dyer of diving to win a key penalty, after his side [...]
US regulator in favour of Volcker rule January 11, 2012 US REGULATORS came a step closer to implementing the Dodd-Frank rules on banking yesterday, after laying out a fresh draft of the Volcker rule and giving more protection to collateral in swaps deals. The Volcker rule, under the Dodd-Frank Act, prevents banks that hold customer deposits from proprietary trading, on the basis that it could [...]
Fed reports improved growth January 11, 2012 The Fed’s Beige Book last night confirmed improving economic conditions in the US. Most districts reported “more favourable conditions than identified in reports from the late spring through early fall”.