Both black and white beers will bring out the best in oysters November 26, 2009 London's connection with oysters goes back as far as the city itself. The eating of oysters in London began in Roman times, when the British product was shipped as far as Rome. They continued to be popular in medieval times, when the church imposed lots of “fish days”, during which seafood had to be eaten [...]
How to control Xmas party damage November 23, 2009 THE revelry of the Christmas season always carries the same sting in its tail: hangovers, weight gain and liver strain. On average, people gain five pounds over the four-week period, the result of consuming 500 extra calories a day (a few handful of crisps, a mini sausage roll, a couple of glasses of wine and [...]
An East End gastropub on the up November 23, 2009 The Princess of Shoreditch76 Paul Street EC2A 4NE,Tel: 020 7729 9270Cost per person without wine: £34 THE NEWLY revamped Princess of Shoreditch describes itself as a “gastropub and restaurant”, which might be seen as having your cake and eating it, but the owners have grand ideas. In the bar downstairs you can get souped-up pub [...]
Trekking with condors and canyons makes the Wild West unforgettable November 22, 2009 COMPUTER-controlled fountains rising out of an artificial lake on the Las Vegas Strip cavorted to the strains of The Pink Panther. Later we joined the midnight crowds singing along to Don McLean’s American Pie at a laser show in Fremont Street, downtown where the first casinos were built. It couldn’t be a greater contrast with [...]
Now’s the time to shoot the puppy November 22, 2009 ALL professions lend themselves to slang, but few are as fertile as the City and Wall Street. Since the term “credit crunch” emerged, a host of other terms have entered the lexicon. A year ago quantitative easing was just an arcane – if tongue-twisting – bit of economic theory. Now it is part of the [...]
JPMorgan eats up 1bn Caz leftovers November 18, 2009 US INVESTMENT bank JPMorgan Chase & Co is expected to seal its £1bn buyout of the remainder of Cazenove today. JPMorgan will pay around 500p per share for the last 50 per cent of the 190-year-old British brokerage, valuing the total business at £2bn. The deal will land a multi-million pound windfall for many Cazenove [...]
The amateur economist who finds the truth in the freakiest places November 16, 2009 FOR someone who has spent much of the last decade successfully writing about economics, Stephen Dubner is surprisingly keen to point out that he is not an economist. Following his co-authorship of Freakonomics, one of the publishing phenomena of recent years, and a sequel called Superfreakonomics, however, surely he has picked up some knowledge. Well [...]
A stylish new hotel comes to the Square Mile November 15, 2009 There’s a new hotel in the City – and about time too. Considering the area’s global pre-eminence as a centre of finance and business, with people constantly jetting in from around the world to do deals, it’s surprising how light it’s been on good places for them to stay. That’s about to change thanks to [...]
Get your hands dirty in Sardinia November 15, 2009 THESE days, you can hardly turn on a television without seeing somebody rummaging around in hedgerows, or cooking a meal with something they have just picked or plucked from a tree. Foraging is in. The idea of wandering around the British countryside in November looking for my dinner doesn’t exactly appeal – but doing so [...]
Black swans, blondes and other shaggy dog stories November 11, 2009 WHAT THE DOG SAWBY MALCOLM GLADWELLPenguin, £12.99 WHETHER Malcolm Gladwell – the author of Blink, the Tipping Point and Outliers – is really the “the world’s most influential thinker”, as the blurb on the back attests, is open for debate. What is certain, however, is that he is formidably fashionable, and on the strength of [...]