NEED TO KNOW | AREA INSIGHT February 24, 2011 Commuting: First-rate connectivity. Liverpool Street is just five minutes away on the central line, while the jubilee line can transport you to Canary Wharf in a quarter of an hour. Crime: Crime rates are higher than national averages, but regeneration projects (most notably – the Olympics) should encourage these to fall. Education: Stratford might not [...]
S&P 500 is on a great rolling boil February 20, 2011 BRING up to a rolling boil then leave for…. How long exactly? That is precisely the question that spread betters everywhere are asking about the S&P 500. It’s been climbing for two years now, smashing through glass ceilings like a highly caffeinated new-age woman. But – realistically – how long can the rally last? The [...]
WHISKY, JAZZ, AND BETTING ON THE EURO February 16, 2011 WITH whisky tasting, a jazz band and the chance to win a sports car for the weekend on offer, WorldSpreads winter party (definitely not just a late Christmas do) was the place to be in the City on Tuesday night. Held in a candlelit crypt underneath St Etheldreda’s church near Chancery Lane, the night saw [...]
ALSO OUT THIS WEEKEND February 10, 2011 FILMS JUST GO WITH IT Rom com with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston. For masochists only. YOGI BEAR New animated version of the Sixties cartoon, with Dan Ackroyd on “pick-a-nick basket” duties. SON OF BABYLON Iraqi drama about a boy and his grandmother in the chaos of modern Iraq. DVD EAT PRAY LOVE Julia Roberts [...]
City’s hidden Japanese gem February 7, 2011 Soseki 20 Bury Street, EC3A 5AX www.soseki.co.uk Tel:020 7621 9211 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £40-£100 ZUMA, Roka, Aqua Kyoto, Sumosan, Umu. Expensive, famous, globally branded restaurants dominate London’s Japanese food scene. I say “scene” – think rich Russians, Sloanes in celebratory mood, wealthy Asian tourists. The interiors are minimalist and violet-lit, [...]
Rising commodity prices have further to go February 6, 2011 FOR two weeks our headlines and television sets have been dominated by Egypt. Prior to the scenes in Tahrir Square, all eyes were on Tunisia; contagion is spreading across the Middle East. So what role did rising food costs play in pushing the region to the brink? And how can citizens be expected to understand [...]
More people should be The Apprentice February 6, 2011 WHEN the City opened its doors to the barrow boys of the East End – the wheeler dealer market traders who were first let loose on the London Stock Exchange in the 1980s – they were a roaring success. They had the drive, the hunger and the charisma to allow them to thrive in the [...]
To the ends of the earth February 6, 2011 CHILE is a land of contrasts – and not least for the euphoria of the miners’ rescue last year, preceded by the coastal earthquake. But it is this land – volcanic and alive, and rich in minerals – that entices me to travel half way around the world to explore its natural wonders, the northern [...]
FREW STEPS UP FOR THE 30 PER CENT CLUB CAUSE February 3, 2011 GOOD news – of a kind. The 30% Club has finally found a female chairman to join its ranks. For those not au fait with the club’s goings-on, it was founded to pursue the “aspiration” of getting boards at the UK’s top companies to be at least 30 per cent female by 2015. While the [...]
FACT CHECKER February 2, 2011 THE CLAIM: THE COALITION GOVERNMENT IS CUTTING PUBLIC SPENDING THIS YEAR BY JUST £2BN LESS THAN LABOUR PLANNED TO AS the coalition gets ready to swing the axe on public services, it is busy reminding voters that Labour also planned to make big cuts if it won the election. George Osborne (right) claims that Alistair [...]