Rugby Comment: How I prepare for a Six Nations clash February 20, 2014 SINCE narrowly losing our Six Nations opener in France, our focus has been on emulating Wales, who recovered last year to win the title. We were clinical against Scotland in our next match and the whole England squad is excited to play our first game at Twickenham this year, against Ireland tomorrow. I’m not surprised [...]
Lancaster allays fitness fears over prop Wilson February 20, 2014 ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster has played down concerns about prop David Wilson’s lack of match practice for tomorrow’s pivotal Six Nations fixture against unbeaten Ireland at Twickenham. Wilson, who replaces the injured Dan Cole in the only change to the team that beat Scotland a fortnight ago, has played just 47 minutes of rugby in [...]
Ford primed to make England bow February 18, 2014 ENGLAND coach Stuart Lancaster has backed George Ford to handle the step up to Test level after handing the young Bath fly-half his Test debut on Saturday against Ireland. Ford, 20, was last night retained in boss Stuart Lancaster’s training party for the Six Nations showdown, meaning he is set to come off the bench [...]
Scotland ring changes for Italy trip February 18, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Scotland head coach Scott Johnson has made three changes for Saturday’s Six Nations visit to Italy. Scott Lawson replaces Ross Ford at hooker, Richie Gray replaces Tim Swinson in the second row and Johnnie Beattie is preferred at No8 to David Denton.
When bureaucracy goes wrong: The Environment Agency and onion futures February 12, 2014 THERE is something about onions that brings out the worst in bureaucrats. Orlando Figes’s A People’s Tragedy chronicles the early years of the Russian revolution. Under war communism, the Bolsheviks attempted to exert state control over the entire economy. A long list of vegetables was drawn up, specifying the prices at which they could be [...]
City Moves for 12 February 2014 | Who’s switching jobs February 11, 2014 Cushman & Wakefield The real estate services firm has announced the appointment of David Mills as a partner and head of portfolio valuation. He was most recently at BNP Paribas Real Estate, where he was a director in its portfolio valuation practice. Standard Chartered The bank has hired Michael Benz as group head of private banking. He [...]
Towers Watson promotes Brit to run its investment business February 10, 2014 PROFESSIONAL services firm Towers Watson yesterday named a London-based director as its global head of investment, giving him oversight of $2 trillion of assets. Chris Ford, who has been with Towers Watson for 23 years, most recently as its European investment head, will oversee the firm’s vast investment business, which employs about 800 associates around [...]
Victoria set for £4bn investment as Armani and Jimmy Choo relocate February 10, 2014 Victoria is set for a £4bn investment over the next decade as developers cash in on companies following in Armani and Jimmy Choo's footsteps and relocating their headquarters to the area. London’s busy transport hub has undergone a major shift over the last ten years as government departments who were traditionally the biggest office-users in [...]
More gold for Johnson-Thompson February 9, 2014 ATHLETICS: Heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson won her second gold medal of the British Indoor Championships in Sheffield yesterday. Having clinched gold in the high jump on Saturday with a new British record clearance of 1.96m, the 21-year-old followed up with a personal best leap of 6.75m to win the long jump. Olympic bronze medal winner Robbie [...]
Ashton and Youngs miss out again February 4, 2014 RUGBY UNION: Exiled duo Chris Ashton and Ben Youngs have been left out in the cold again for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown with Scotland. Head coach Stuart Lancaster is to stick with the same 23-man squad narrowly beaten by France last weekend. Fly-half George Ford is one of 10 released to play for their clubs this [...]