Only the most ‘robust and resilient’ will survive post-Budget blues December 10, 2024 Jennifer Sieg meets Joanna Jensen, serial entrepreneur and founder of family skincare brand Childs Farm, to discuss all things business, investment and start-up trends If you are not prepared to make big personal sacrifices to boost your returns or retain your staff, you might not want to start a business anytime soon. This is the [...]
The Notebook: Doom spending, girl math, and the impact of financial social media trends December 10, 2024 Many of us have heard the term ‘doom scrolling’ – where you feel like you’re mindlessly scrolling through social media, and I think we can all agree that you never feel better after it. But I hadn’t heard of the term ‘doom spending’ until recently. It’s a newer trend on social media which essentially glamorises [...]
What watch did Elvis wear? Jay-Z? Jimi Hendrix? Find out here December 9, 2024 Back in 2014, former AC/DC manager Michael Browning published a book called Dog Eat Dog, detailing the five years he spent from 1974 taking the band from raw, young outsiders to stadium fillers. In those early days, he had two pieces of advice – don’t wear a watch and never take public transport. In an interview [...]
Plane weird: How the airport broke my spirit December 9, 2024 I’m not a nervous flyer in the usual sense. Being in a tin can at an altitude of 35,000 feet (that’s half the height of Gary Barlow’s son, for reference) doesn’t really get me rattled. The rational side of me kicks in. You’re more likely to be hit by a car, or die from a [...]
UK adults spent more on Black Friday than they invested the entire year. Something’s gone wrong! December 6, 2024 When the average UK adult spends more on Black Friday than they invest in an entire year, it’s clear we’re losing the battle for consumer attention.
Junk food advertising ban defies common sense December 5, 2024 The government’s ban on advertising foods deemed unhealthy is a big fat win for the nanny state, but it will end up costing us, says John Oxley Christmas is coming, and that means a deluge of seasonal advertising and, for most of us, overindulgence. This might be the last time we can enjoy those two [...]
Last Orders: An appreciation of the takeaway menu, a dying cultural artefact December 3, 2024 When I walked through my front door in Gateshead as a teenager, the doormat would be covered in a carpet of brightly coloured paper. A cherry-blossom pink menu from the local Chinese takeaway, the red and gold of an Indian place, and pictures of row upon row of bargain buckets from the local chicken shop. [...]
Pearl Mackie: The Doctor Who star on her dream last supper December 3, 2024 Pearl Mackie, star of Netflix thriller The Diplomat and the upcoming production of Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes at the National Theatre, tells us what she would eat for her last meal on earth My mum was vegetarian so I was veggie when I was growing up, until I was about 12. Back then it wasn’t great [...]
London risks losing its crown to New York December 3, 2024 The city that never sleeps is outpacing London – where pubs close at 10.30pm – on almost every measure. Even its Christmas tree is bigger, says Emma Revell As we enter December, London should come into its own. The lights are up on Oxford Street, the Christmas tree has arrived in Trafalgar Square and the [...]
The weird and wonderful world of Japanese model food December 2, 2024 Japan is famous for the way its cultural artefacts seem to evolve separately from the rest of the world. Travel to Tokyo and you can find fax machines that have continued to develop new bells and whistles long after their use in the west began its terminal decline in the 1990s. Shokuhin sanpuru (literally: food [...]