Ori Gersht’s first UK show examines the nature of flux in a static medium April 25, 2016 Israeli photographer Ori Gersht is best known for his photographs of tranquil landscapes that retrace the paths of past traumas: his 1998 series After War was taken around Sarajevo, while White Noise was shot from a train between Krakow and Auschwitz. The historical memories create a tension between the beauty and stillness of the present [...]
I spent the entire day on the sofa using only my smartphone to feed, clean, entertain, wash and supply me. Here is my story. April 7, 2016 There’s never been a better time to have an aversion to effort. Fuelled by a heady mix of collective laziness and a perceived lack of free time, a new breed of smartphone app has rocketed to popularity: the convenience app; the concierge app; the can’t be bothered doing it myself app. All of them developed [...]
Will Steinway & Sons’ newest invention, the Spirio, bring the player piano back into homes? March 17, 2016 The digital revolution has upset a lot of industries, but perhaps none more so than the music industry. With file sharing and streaming via subscription services the norm, the sight of vast collections of CDs stacked up around a home entertainment system is already becoming a rarity in living rooms. As a heritage brand with [...]
From the Personal Savings Allowance and Dividend Allowance to the Help to Buy Isa, how can savers make the most of their Isa this tax year? March 15, 2016 The world of Isas was once a sleepy one. At every Budget, the chancellor would typically increase the amount you could contribute each tax year by some measure of inflation. You had a simple choice between putting that money into a cash or a stocks and shares Isa (or a slightly restrictive combination of the [...]
The certified investor: IW Capital and Money&Co’s Luke Davis on how to avoid a regulation deluge in the crowdfunding industry January 14, 2016 Before crowdfunding, plenty of private equity and investment firms were already helping their clients to raise money and make investments in smaller firms via the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) tax relief. Now, some of the individuals involved have branched out into crowdfunding. Meanwhile, the newest entrants into the crowdfunding market, particularly within equity, are structuring [...]
Countdown to Christmas 2015: Six of the most amazing and useful inventions of the year December 12, 2015 The stream of inventions flowing out of labs across the world never seems to stop, and 2015 has been no exception – over the last 12 months, a huge number of new inventions have been presented to us by scientists. Only today, we learned that American technicians managed to develop robots that can learn in [...]
Doesn’t wanting to become a bank miss the point of fintech? October 28, 2015 You can barely open a newspaper without seeing news of another challenger bank – each with their own vision for how they can serve customers better. This group was dealt a major blow however, when chancellor George Osborne announced that newly established challenger banks would not be exempt from the eight per cent tax that applies to the [...]
Working Lunch: Ceviche Old St September 16, 2015 WHAT? Ceviche Old Street specialises, unsurprisingly enough, in the South American dish of ceviche. Its diverse bar serves up freshly prepared seafood in the classic Peruvian style using tiger’s milk, a sparky and citric marinade that has absolutely nothing to do with tigers. WHERE? A minute’s stroll from Old Street Tube and tucked inside the [...]
Meet Paul Lister, the Laird who wants to re-introduce bears, wolves and forests to the Scottish Highlands July 19, 2015 It says something about the wildness of Alladale that TV adventurer Bear Grylls chose a spot nearby to set up his Survival Academy. It’s a wild place: Paul Lister, the Laird of this Victorian hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, might even answer the baronial door wearing a wolf mask. It’s his self-deprecating joke; [...]
Tapping into a priceless showcase for sport: MasterCard’s Mark Barnett wants the World Cup to pay off for rugby and his brand May 25, 2015 For those of a certain age, the day that Erica Roe streaked at Twickenham during an England-Australia rugby international is a sporting image to rival anything that the greats of that generation, from Duckham to Underwood, Beaumont to Carling, achieved on the field of play. For Mark Barnett, president in the UK and Ireland for [...]