Retail sales rise less than forecast in July August 18, 2011 Retail sales barely grew in July, data showed, in yet another sign that cash-strapped consumers cut back spending, underscoring the risks for the fragile economic recovery. The Office for National Statistics said sales volumes including automotive fuel grew by just 0.2 percent last month, leaving retail sales unchanged from last year’s level. Analysts had forecast [...]
Dinner at Soho’s favourite bar August 15, 2011 Cafe Boheme 13-17 Old Compton Street, W1 5JQ Tel: 020 7734 0623 www.cafeboheme.co.uk FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £35 WHO hasn’t begun, ended or whiled away a night at one of Café Boheme’s little street-facing tables? With Soho’s best vantage point on the corner of Old Compton and Greek Streets, no discernible [...]
Republicans battle it out for 2012 race August 14, 2011 MICHELE Bachmann scraped to victory in the weekend’s Iowa straw poll of Republicans, with the race to challenge President Barack Obama set to heat up. Bachmann narrowly pipped libertarian Ron Paul to the post, winning with nearly 29 per cent of the vote — just 152 votes ahead of Paul. Supporters of the more-ideological Paul [...]
Milking Cowes Week: How to get most out of world’s best regatta August 3, 2011 World-beating sailor lends her expertise ahead of the Isle of Wight extravaganza PREPARATION comes in all sorts of guises. As an Olympic Sailor I spent four years preparing for one event; our thoughts encompassed all possibilities and we prepared and practised for everything that was in our control. Walking around Cowes last weekend it was [...]
Turning up the heat on fro yo August 3, 2011 YESTERDAY was a big day for fans of icy treats as Pinkberry, the cult US frozen yoghurt brand, opened a concession in Selfridges. Stars from David Beckham to Alexandra Burke have publicly rejoiced and Americans all over the city are in raptures. Scheduled to open here in 2008, Pinkberry delayed its UK opening after Lehman [...]
Genteel, smart… meet the old Marbella July 24, 2011 THE plane descends over the southern Spanish countryside and the perfect rows of olive trees almost resemble a Roy Lichtenstein cartoon from above, neatly formed into different sections by hill slope and field. The dramatic mountains give way to bold blue waters and there are whisps of white as the waves collide with the land. [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK July 24, 2011 ACCOUNTANTS have a reputation for being somewhat straight-laced, but this tale suggests it isn’t entirely deserved. When two employees turned up for their first day at one of the City’s biggest accountancy firms, their new colleagues put them through an initiation ceremony that had more in common with the ways of an American university fraternity [...]
Vodafone boosted by emerging market growth July 22, 2011 Vodafone reiterated its outlook after faster-growing markets such as India and Turkey helped the world’s largest mobile company by revenue to withstand tough trading and increased regulation in Europe. Vodafone posted first-quarter organic service revenue growth of 1.5 per cent, down from the 2.5 per cent recorded in the previous quarter but broadly in line [...]
Seaweed and bog myrtle? Yes please July 17, 2011 IT is a bright spring day in the gentrified area of Christiana in Copenhagen, and the houseboat that is the Nordic Food Lab – or the ministry of bonkers food as it should be known, is a hive of activity. Birch twigs are being slowly cooked “sous-vide”, to be turned into tea. Buttermilk is being [...]
Wall St sags on new Bernanke talk July 14, 2011 US STOCKS fell yesterday as new comments from the Federal Reserve chairman dashed investors’ hopes for the chance of further stimulus and tech shares pushed the Nasdaq down one per cent. During a second day of testimony about the economy, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated that the US central bank would be ready to inject [...]