London shops get wedding fever boost May 15, 2011 TRADING at London’s West End shops during April outperformed both last year’s figures and the rest of the country, as the extended bank holidays and Royal Wedding celebrations boosted footfall at the capital’s retailers. Sales at 600 stores on Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street rose 7.6 per cent year on year, according to [...]
This spring’s must-see shows May 12, 2011 ONE of the more niche benefits of an unusually warm spring is the fact that it makes venturing to Shakespeare’s Globe less of a trial of endurance against the elements. The start of this year’s al fresco shows at the Globe – opening with All’s Well that Ends Well and Hamlet, no less – opens [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 12, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS’ BISCHOFF COUNTERS CALLS FOR CHANGE The chairman of Lloyds Banking Group has countered suggestions from some investors that he should step down ahead of the bank’s reprivatisation. “In one or two years I suspect I’ll still be here,” Sir Win Bischoff told the Financial Times. The government is expected to begin selling [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES SAMOA TO MOVE BACK TO THE FUTURE Samoa, the tiny Pacific Ocean island state, is travelling through time to improve its economic prospects. In a vote of confidence for the Asian century, the country has decided to shift the jagged International Date Line to its east at the end of this year, which [...]
Wary companies shy away from new office agreements May 8, 2011 LARGE companies stayed put rather than risk signing up for new office space in the last quarter, research seen by City A.M. suggests. Office take-up in central London tumbled by almost half to 2.336m square feet in the first three months of 2011, after a strong end to 2010, according to real estate adviser Equipe. [...]
Flower opts for captain Cook May 4, 2011 ENGLAND will today confirm Alastair Cook as the successor to Andrew Strauss as their one-day international skipper and Stuart Broad will be revealed as the new Twenty20 leader. Strauss, who will remain as Test captain, has been considering his future ever since England’s recent World Cup campaign ended in a crushing 10-wicket quarter-final defeat against [...]
Wasps cut ties with Powell by mutual consent May 4, 2011 WASPS last night dispensed with Andy Powell just weeks after the Wales No8 was involved in a high-profile brawl in a west London pub. The Premiership club decided against offering a new contract to Powell, whose short-term deal was due to expire this month. It leaves the 29-year-old’s World Cup hopes in disarray, with the [...]
Rugby Union’s ultimate hall of shame May 4, 2011 RUGBY’S image as a sport for hooligans played by gentlemen has taken a bit of a buffeting in recent weeks. Broadly speaking, however, the charges levied against Wasps’ barroom brawler Andy Powell, Northampton’s Ben Foden and curfew ignoring England outcast Danny Cipriani are nothing out of the ordinary when you consider the sport’s age old [...]
IT’S BACK: APPRENTICE RETURNS WITH FRESH BAIT FOR LORD SUGAR May 3, 2011 THE STAKES are higher than ever on series seven of The Apprentice with more pressure, more risk and even more difficult challenges for the 16 hard-nosed contestants. Gripping viewing – but no-one will be watching the opening episode of this year’s series (next Tuesday) with more interest than the employees of Scottish & Southern Energy [...]
A monster is dead but risks remain May 3, 2011 IT was the news we had all thought would never happen. At last, Osama bin Laden, the murderer of thousands, the man who ordered 9/11 and the defining symbol of 21st century global terrorism, is dead. It had started to look as if the blood-thirsty monomaniac would always elude the West’s intelligence services. In the [...]