High potential is still at the heart of Africa July 13, 2010 WITH so much uncertainty about the world economy, it is a good time to diversify your portfolio by investing in Africa-facing funds. The recent launch of two such funds adds to a widening range of options: Sanlam Investment Management has started up an ex-South Africa fund, while Silver Street Capital has just set up an [...]
CITY LOSES TO OCTOPUS IN FOOTY FORECASTS July 12, 2010 OH, HOW they chortled in the City yesterday at comparisons between the world’s most famous cephalopod and those investment banks who dared to put out predictions on the outcome of the World Cup. Paul the psychic octopus, they sniggered, had managed to get EVERY SINGLE ONE of his predictions correct, beating statistical odds of 1/256. [...]
Treats in store at Lisbon’s glam Ritz July 11, 2010 IF you are going to visit Lisbon, you should stay at the Ritz Four Seasons, an enchanting, marble-clad property from one of the world’s best hotel operators. Its location and positioning is ideal; the hotel offers vistas of Eduardo VII Park, St. George’s Moorish castle, the Old Town and the Tagus River from atop one [...]
Spreading success, little by little July 11, 2010 WILSON Moleni is on his first trip to the UK. And what a first visit it is: he is dining with royalty, meeting dignitaries and briefing journalists. Not bad for a man who grew up among Malawi’s poorest, and who (most of the time) had just enough food to continue to go to school. Moleni, [...]
Bringing panache to lunchtime July 8, 2010 THE eureka moment for a new business idea can strike at any time. For Mark Lilley it was while he was eating fresh sushi with his wife in downtown Sydney in the middle of a round-the-world trip in 2002. The result was a ticket home and opening Abokado, a cross between a sushi bar and [...]
Six ways to spice up your kitchen July 7, 2010 LIKE your fellow time-pressed City denizens, you know you should be eating healthy home-made bread and organic frozen yoghurt instead of endless ready meals, but during that rare evening off who really has time to drop everything for hours of authentic home-cooking? Luckily, thanks to the wonders of human progress and the innovative genius of [...]
Tequila’s birthplace gives the drink a whole new spin… July 4, 2010 I’M drinking Tequila for the first time in years, as fingers of blazing Mexican sun poke down between the swaying branches of a shady tree. I can’t quite believe that I’m sipping firewater on the lawn outside a picture postcard 150 year-old hacienda – a Mexican manor house – as I eat a splendid lunch [...]
When work becomes a religious experience June 30, 2010 THE WAY WE’RE WORKING ISN’T WORKING BY TONY SCHWARTZ, JEAN GOMES AND CATHERINE MCCARTHY, £12.99 THE title might sounds a bit like the election poster from 1979 that proclaimed “Britain isn’t working”, but this book is American through and through. It reached number two on the New York Times Best Sellers List, which suggests that [...]
Get your top off June 29, 2010 Weather like we’ve been having lately in the Big Smoke might make you yearn for a cruise out of town with the wind ruffling up your hair. But then this weather is a bit of an anomaly because, frankly, our summers aren’t usually this good, and the sun only occasionally puts in an appearance in [...]
Where safari meets heavenly white beaches June 27, 2010 TANZANIA combines the thrill of safari through the vast plains of the Serengeti with relaxation on the tropical beaches of the exotic Spice island of Zanzibar. Serengeti We draw the curtains of our room in Kempinski’s Bilila Lodge to find a welcome committee of seven elephants, obligingly gathered at a watering hole just steps away [...]