Make like Bond with an Aston in the Alps August 21, 2011 AMERICAN novelist Mark Twain wrote that rambling in Switzerland’s Bernese Oberland was incomparable to any opiate, legal or otherwise. Imagine the rush, then, to be booming an Aston Martin V8 Vantage S round the picturesque, vertiginous Alpine passes, past crystal-clear glacier lakes and verdant valleys where cow bells jangle for miles. I’ve been let loose [...]
Great title, great stars, bland result August 18, 2011 Film COWBOYS & ALIENS Cert: 12A IT’S the best film title since Snakes on a Plane, and this would-be blockbuster also has two huge stars – Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford – on good form. Craig is especially memorable, riding into the dusty town of Absolution with no name, a mysterious shackle on his wrist, [...]
Osborne must heed the Misery Index August 17, 2011 FOR years now, American elections have featured discussions of the Misery Index, a simple indicator which sums the unemployment and inflation rates. The higher the index, the angrier the electorate. In 1976, Jimmy Carter famously made a big deal of the index, arguing that Gerald Ford had no right even to seek the presidency given [...]
CAR TALK August 16, 2011 PRIUS PLUG-IN Toyota is introducing a plug-in version of its Prius hybrid electric car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. The Prius Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) has an extended EV (electric power only) range – of up to 12.5 miles – and can achieve 128 mpg and has CO2 emissions of just 49g/km, [...]
A gritty kids’ adventure that isn’t quite great August 4, 2011 Films SUPER 8 Cert: 12A Sometimes it can be a pleasure to see a children’s movie with real grit and pathos (especially after you’ve watched Mr Popper’s Penguins – see the review below). Of course, Super 8 has an A-grade pedigree, having been produced by Steven Spielberg and written and directed by J.J. Abrams, the [...]
Strong pricing helps Ford hold up its earnings July 26, 2011 FORD Motor’s quarterly profit topped Wall Street expectations yesterday due to higher North American vehicle sales and the higher prices consumers are paying globally for cars such as the Focus and Fiesta. Ford, the only US automaker that did not accept a government bailout in 2009, has posted a net profit for eight straight quarters. [...]
Ford beats Wall Street expectations July 26, 2011 Ford’s quarterly profit beat Wall Street expectations, helped by higher prices and improved sales in North America. Ford, the only US carmaker that did not accept a government bailout, has posted a net profit for eight straight quarters. It had racked up net losses of $30bn(£18.3bn) from 2006 through 2008 when it cut jobs, sold [...]
Second bid for Lookers was 70p per share July 7, 2011 CAR dealership Lookers yesterday revealed that the bid it rejected last week from a group of investors led by Jack Petchey was priced at 70p per share, below the expected 80p. Petchey’s Trefick vehicle downgraded its offer after taking a gloomy view of Lookers’ pension fund and valuing its property portfolio at a lower level [...]
Advertisers ditch tabloid July 6, 2011 BLUE-CHIP companies’ boycott of the News of the World following the fresh revelations in the phone hacking scandal could cost News International millions of pounds in lost advertising revenue, according to analysts. The tabloid generates about £35m in annual advertising revenue, and as much as half of this could be lost to rival Trinity Mirror [...]
Advertisers snub Murdoch tabloid July 5, 2011 A string of top companies yesterday said they could pull advertising from the News of the World as the phone hacking crisis engulfing the newspaper continued to escalate. Ford said it will not place adverts in this weekend’s edition and companies including nPower, Halifax and Everything Everywhere say they are considering cutting ads in light [...]