Why India’s political earthquake is the most significant turning point of 2014 May 19, 2014 GENOA – I find myself in this predictably beautiful Italian city, about to visit the house of Christopher Columbus. Like most American schoolchildren, I remember finding the fact that Columbus discovered the new world by mistake uproariously funny, as the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” literally bumped into the Americas, sitting annoyingly in the way [...]
Why India’s political earthquake is the most significant turning point of 2014 May 18, 2014 GENOA – I find myself in this predictably beautiful Italian city, about to visit the house of Christopher Columbus. Like most American schoolchildren, I remember finding the fact that Columbus discovered the new world by mistake uproariously funny, as the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea” literally bumped into the Americas, sitting annoyingly in the way [...]
Why Madeira deserves to be saved from obscurity January 21, 2014 Bottle.opener@cityam.com Call it a busman’s holiday but I have just had a sunny week in Madeira, sampling the delights of… Madeira. I was lucky enough to meet Chris Blandy, the seventh generation of the Blandy family to run the Madeira Wine Company (MWC), the mainstay of the island’s remaining wine industry. Madeira is the most [...]
Forget high speed rail. Driverless cars will revolutionise transport October 31, 2013 SOMETHING very exciting is about to happen in Milton Keynes, of all places. Starting in 18 months’ time, the Buckinghamshire town will host the first proper UK test of driverless cars. The trial will be modest by the standards of those happening elsewhere in the world – the hundred self-driving pods will use special lanes [...]
Forget high speed rail. Driverless cars will revolutionise transport October 29, 2013 SOMETHING very exciting is about to happen in Milton Keynes, of all places. Starting in 18 months’ time, the Buckinghamshire town will host the first proper UK test of driverless cars. The trial will be modest by the standards of those happening elsewhere in the world – the hundred self-driving pods will use special lanes [...]
You don’t need snow to have fun in Haute Savoie October 6, 2013 Savoie Mont Blanc in France is famous for its winter sports but it’s worth checking out all year FOR winter skiing in Haute Savoie, it always pays to put in a little training. Off-season trips, it turns out, require some preparation too: increase wine consumption in the weeks preceding; swap to elasticated trousers to allow [...]
Morning, governor: Mark Carney takes charge at the Bank of England July 8, 2013 MARK Carney will today become the first foreign governor of the Bank of England in its 319-year history as he takes responsibility for turning Britain’s tepid economic growth into a fully fledged recovery. The Alberta-raised 48-year-old – dubbed “the outstanding central banker of his generation” by George Osborne – will celebrate Canada Day by starting [...]
All aboard the magnificent Orient Express August 19, 2012 ITALY’S in debt, you say? Well, I’m on the Orient Express headed straight to Venice – fiddling while Rome burns, you might say – and there’s no sign of the Italian economy crashing here. As if to prove my point, the flamboyant Massimo shows me another popular purchase from the train’s on-board shop. “These diamond [...]
No idyll this: Cairo Year One July 26, 2012 All day every day for a year, Nermine Hammam roved around Tahrir Square and Zamalek in Cairo. Armed only with her Nikon camera, she was snapping the Egyptian revolution – the initial 18-day uprising and its grisly aftermath. With 70,000 pictures to choose from by the close of the year, Hammam had to perform an [...]
The ace of clubs: Building an innovative legacy at Home House June 17, 2012 WHEN the offer went up by yet another £1m I had to say yes. My heart was heavy though because I was proud of what we had created from scratch, against the odds. I’d also had a lot of fun. The business was the now famous London club, Home House. Eight years earlier, Brian Clivaz [...]