Isis fight sends Iraq to debt markets August 21, 2015 Baghdad plans to raise $6bn as ongoing battles with militants have decimated infrastructure. Iraq is heading to the bond markets with hopes of raising billions, as low oil prices and the fight against Isis eat into state finances. Deputy governor of Iraq’s central bank, Zuhair Ali Akbar, confirmed the country will issue $6bn [...]
It’s official: Dining at your desk or on the move makes you gain weight August 20, 2015 We all know we should get outside for some fresh air at lunchtime – but it turns out missing out on exercise isn't the only reason eating "al desko" makes you gain weight. A new study, by scientists at Surrey University, has found if you're focusing on something other than your meal – by, for [...]
London house prices: Not another brick in the wall? London has a 24 million brick shortage August 19, 2015 London is more than just one brick short of a full load. A new study reckons the capital has a 24 million brick shortfall if it's to meet the demand for new homes. As the population of the UK's capital swells to nine million by 2021, the Linton Group claims London will need 66,000 [...]
Restaurant review: Fall down the culinary rabbit hole at Céleste at the Lanesborough hotel August 18, 2015 Céleste at the Lanesborough 9 Hyde Park Corner, SW1X 7TA Tel: 020 7259 5599 These are halcyon days for the London restaurant scene, a time when seemingly everybody is a foodie and every borough in London has at least half a dozen restaurants worth visiting. You can start to take it all for granted, [...]
How European is the UK? Five charts that show how we differ from the EU in alcohol consumption, living costs and working hours August 18, 2015 It's a potent question at the moment: what does it really mean to be “European”? It turns out our living costs, alcohol consumption and general life satisfaction make the UK the sixth most European country in the EU, according to analytics firm Qlik. In a study pulling together statistics about how we live, work and [...]
Diabetes has become a huge problem in the UK – here are four recent breakthroughs that could keep it under control August 17, 2015 Thanks to our unhealthy lifestyles and expanding waistlines, the number of diabetes sufferers in the UK has gone up significantly over the last decade. Read more: Metformin: The world's first drug to increase life expectancy could go on trial next year Figures released today by the charity Diabetes UK show that there are currently [...]
Becoming Mr Matchmaker: Venntro founder Ross Williams talks going mobile, nature v nurture, and ginger dating August 16, 2015 A week today, Ross Williams will be a married man. “Oh, I’m not stressed, nervous, anxious, oh no,” he laughs. But Williams shouldn’t worry – after all, he’s got a wife and mother-in-law-to-be who are “absolutely fantastic” organisers, and his relationship was founded on a very firm footing: he and his fiancée met on an [...]
What future for forecasts? It’s time economists grappled with the flaws in their models August 12, 2015 Macroeconomic forces influence truly vast sums of money, but the process of analysing them is notoriously unreliable. Economic forecasting is often very wide of the mark and seriously inaccurate just one year ahead. Traditional economic forecasting has conspicuously failed to identify turning points in the economic cycle, while the highly sophisticated DSGE (dynamic stochastic general [...]
Can Arsenal still be champions? Only one other club has lost their first game and won the Premier League August 10, 2015 If Arsenal are to win this season's Premier League they will become just the second club to do so after losing their first game of the season. Read more: Don’t blame Petr Cech for Arsenal loss, says Arsene Wenger The ballooning hype surrounding Arsenal's title credentials was suddenly burst yesterday after an impressive West Ham [...]
Public Health England warns “neglected” over-40s to get more sleep, stop smoking and reduce alcohol comsumption August 10, 2015 The UK's public health body will launch a new campaign warning those between the ages of 40 and 60 to live more healthily after it found those in middle ages are "neglected". In a document published last month, Public Health England said because most health campaigns target the very young and the very old, the [...]