2010’s Christmas book round-up December 1, 2010 BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS CRISIS ECONOMICS BY NOURIEL ROUBINI WITH STEPEHN MIHM Pengiuin, £25 More than just another me-too account of the crisis, Nouriel Roubini – often called Dr Doom for his Cassandra-like prophecies – gives a compelling account of the 2008 meltdown. He provides the lay reader with succinct and clearly written explanations of the [...]
Hooray: Hakkasan comes to Mayfair November 29, 2010 Hakkasan (Mayfair) 17 Bruton Street, W1J 6QB Tel: 020 7907 1888, www.hakkasan.com FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £55 LAST week I gained half a stone. It all started (relatively) modestly with a couple of (gastro) pub meals. And it ended modestly: eating a cheeseburger and chips while standing up at the crowded, [...]
Lady liberty has found her sense of humour – PJ O’Rourke checks in November 29, 2010 POLITICIANS,” growls PJ O’Rourke, “don’t understand finance at all – even the last little bit. Yet they’re increasingly in charge of it.” America’s greatest living satirist is back in town and training his anger on the political enterprise. His new book is titled Don’t Vote! It Just Encourages The Bastards. The idea of politicians setting [...]
When the torrent turns into a trickle November 28, 2010 THANKSGIVING might not make much of an impact on most British households, but for those trading on the financial markets, it will certainly have been noticeable. As millions of Americans take leave from work to eat turkey, drink, shop and nurse their hangovers, the number actually still trading shares drops off heavily. But it isn’t [...]
ASK THE EXPERTS November 24, 2010 LAST week the government said that it wants to measure the country’s wellbeing, and not just GDP. But it’s not just politicians who should be interested in wellbeing, but employers and workers too. So how do you make work a happier place? Dr Jo Perkins Coaching psychologist, Orbit Consulting Research demonstrates that psychological wellbeing is achieved [...]
There is no folly in eating here November 22, 2010 The Folly 41 Gracechurch Street, EC3V 0BT Tel: 0845 468 0102 FOOD SERVICE ATMOSPHERE Cost per person without wine: £20 THE City, it appears, has been truly starved of a good, affordable restaurant/bar with funky design (yes, funky, rather than drab, formal, sticky or cafe-style). Because from the moment the Folly, the enormous, windowy multi-story [...]
Planning now will save time and cash later November 18, 2010 ALMOST everything you will ever want or have to do in life will cost you money, so it is worth – every now and again – taking stock of your situation to think about your goals and how you can plan your finances accordingly. Next week is Financial Planning Week, which should provide you with [...]
Watches ready for action November 18, 2010 BACK in the heady days of what we’re now calling “the bubble” (2006, basically) things in the world of watches had all got a little bit much, frankly. If the thing strapped to your wrist wasn’t big enough to eat your dinner off and full of enough moving parts to dazzle a rocket scientist, it [...]
The world’s in peril…again November 17, 2010 ZERO HOUR BY ANDY MCNAB Bantam £18.99 More aggressively masculine thriller-writing is hard to come by – McNab’s Nick Stone is the toughest of the tough (of British men), and his partners in crime operate in a world of violent political espionage and the most blood-letting, explosive of special ops. With Zero Hour, the prolific [...]
Far from the Medina crowd November 14, 2010 MARRAKECH might not immediately spring to mind when choosing somewhere to unwind. And to be sure, its main square Jemaa el Fna delivers noise, commotion, smoke and crowds, with tourists tripping over dancing monkeys and baskets of cobras to get to their next tagine. But there’s another side to the pink city, away from the [...]