FTSE 100 recovers from two-year lows as ‘Santa rout’ hits US markets December 21, 2018 The FTSE closed slightly up at 6,721 points after recovering from a slide caused by a “Santa rout” on Wall Street and Donald Trump threatening a US government shutdown. The blue chip index plunged to a fresh two-year low of 6,653 as President Donald Trump threatened a “very long” government shutdown over funding for his border wall. [...]
Don’t ruin Christmas by bringing Brexit to the dinner table December 21, 2018 The build up to Christmas has almost reached its agonising conclusion. Since November, when the first few flinching bars of Slade seeped from the radio, we’ve crawled through endless reels of TV adverts and Christmas lights. It’s nearly over, though; the bonus has been frittered on tat for loathed relatives, the out-of-office message is on, [...]
Super Smash Bros Ultimate review: A stylish Switch brawler, and a comprehensive celebration of the series December 20, 2018 The Super Smash Bros series has been around since the halcyon days of the Nintendo 64, which launched – you might want to sit down for this – 20 years ago. The original starred characters from a bunch of disparate Nintendo games beating seven shades of shandy out of one another, and as the series [...]
The Weekly Grill: Rochelle Canteen restaurateur Margot Henderson tells us about the first meal her husband Fergus cooked for her and her love of snails December 20, 2018 Who are you and what do you do? I am a wife to my darling Fergus Henderson, mother to three lovely young adults, a food lover and have made restaurants my life. I love to cook and eat and gather people together. My business partner Melanie and I have had restaurants for 24 years, including [...]
The rise in popularity of recipe boxes is just the beginning of a revolution in food-prep convenience. Here’s what’s next December 20, 2018 Humans love to cook, ever since a caveman accidentally roasted his own forearm on a bonfire and reckoned it smelled kind of delicious. From there it was a short jump to cooking meat that wasn’t attached to our arms. Soon ancient humans were experimenting by throwing bigger and bigger animals on to the flames. Mice [...]
From bottling in Battersea to viniculture in Tooting, you barely have to venture outside your house to find a winemaking scene December 19, 2018 There are many ways people imagine exploring wine country. In a Fiat 500, driving across the hills of Tuscany with sunglasses on noses and Alanis Morissette in ears; touring the Languedoc by train, sipping crisp Saumur from Tours all the way to Paris. And these days, back home in England, where from Kent all the [...]
You’ll soon be able to charge your car at the pub, as long as you stick to the Diet Coke, but London’s electric vehicle infrastructure is still in need of some juice December 18, 2018 One of the country’s leading pub chains has announced it’s planning to roll out electric vehicle charging points to boozers up and down the country. For Londoners, it’s jarring enough to be reminded that pubs outside the M25 even have their own car parks, let alone ones that will soon dispense a fleet of perfectly silent [...]
Have you got a Scrooge loose at work? December 18, 2018 Festive cheer may be in short supply in the UK’s workplaces this Christmas – and it’s got nothing to do with Brexit, rail fare rises, or miserly pay increases. Instead, it’s the fact that a growing number of employers have cancelled the annual staff party. At one firm, an employee reports receiving an email out [...]
Halo Top ice cream defrosted from the startup doldrums to become a retail success December 17, 2018 Junk food is, rightly, under assault. This year, we’ve seen the introduction of a sugar tax on soft drinks, and last month London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a ban on junk food advertising on the capital’s public transportation network. This comes after tougher TV advertising rules introduced last year, which meant that ads for food [...]
Activist investor launches searing attack on Just Eat over poor returns December 17, 2018 One of Just Eat's shareholders has slammed the company’s management, saying the firm has become the “worst-performing public equity in online food delivery”. Cat Rock Capital, which holds a two per cent stake in Just Eat, urged the board to offload non-core assets, provide a three-year financial plan and change pay incentives for executives in a [...]