A Very Expensive Poison at the Old Vic review: A rare breed of play from the creator of Enron September 13, 2019 Part love story, part police procedural, part political satire, A Very Expensive Poison gleefully defies categorisation. Recounting the final days of Russian dissident Alexander Litvenenko, it takes a dark and complex subject and turns it into an utterly engrossing, formally experimental romp that wears its close to three hour run-time with surprising alacrity. Loosely based [...]
Rugby World Cup to give Georgia the chance to earn their seat at rugby’s top table September 12, 2019 Georgia have spent the better part of a decade stuck in European Rugby’s no man’s land, wedged under the glass ceiling that separates them from the continent’s elite. Currently, their primary competition is the Rugby Europe Championship, the second tier beneath the far more prestigious Six Nations. Georgia have won nine of the last 11 [...]
UK electoral system vulnerable to foreign hacking, say officials September 11, 2019 On the brink of an election, The UK does not have time to bring forward measures to resist the sort of social media and misinformation campaigns carried out by hostile states that have affected some Western nations, officials say. Following the 2016 Brexit referendum, some defeated remain campaigners alleged that a misleading social meda campaign [...]
City Moves for 11 September – Who’s switching jobs at Ovo Energy, RPC and Axiom Stone? September 11, 2019 Today’s City Moves includes Ovo Energy, RPC and Axiom Stone. Ovo Energy Independent energy provider Ovo Energy has appointed David Allison (pictured) and Rich Jones as technology director and product director, respectively. David joins following nine years at Hotels.com, where he was the senior director, technology. In his new role at Ovo, David will lead [...]
Liberty Media face logistical nightmare as swelling Formula One calendar puts squeeze on teams September 10, 2019 Next season Formula One will race out of the blocks with back-to-back grands prix in Australia and Bahrain in an attempt to fit a record 22-race season into the 37 weeks currently spanning the calendar. It is a significant amendment to the season as F1 owners Liberty Media press on with plans to expand into [...]
Petropavlovsk swings into profit as processing plant comes online September 10, 2019 Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk put a bruising boardroom battle aside to swing into profitability in the first half of the year. The company said today that profit before tax hit $16.8m (£13.6m) in the first six months of the year, versus a loss of $33.1m over the same period in 2018. Read more: Petropavlovsk investor [...]
How does geopolitics impact investment returns and what can you do about it? September 10, 2019 Geopolitics can significantly impact investment returns; whether it’s trade wars, actual wars, populist politicians or terrorist attacks. And as we discussed earlier this year in our “Inescapable investment truths for the decade ahead”, geopolitical risks are on the rise and will play a major role in the years to come. So, what does this mean [...]
Pro-Kremlin party United Russia loses third of seats in Moscow elections September 9, 2019 Russia’s ruling party lost a third of its seats in a Moscow election over the weekend, suffering at the polls following mass public protests. United Russia, which supports President Vladmir Putin, suffered a string of defeats in the Moscow vote, although it remains on course to retain a majority. Read more: Russia threatens retaliation against [...]
Ukraine and Russia complete prisoner swap in bid to improve ties September 7, 2019 Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners in a long-awaited deal that is widely hoped will reduce tensions between the pair. Among the 70 prisoners freed were the 24 Ukrainian sailors, a “person of interest” regarding the crash of flight MH17 that took the lives of 298 people, and Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov. Read more: [...]
Home affairs: All five British Isles teams can still reach Euro 2020 and lend tournament a distinctly British flavour September 5, 2019 For a tournament that is supposed to be pan-continental there is already a distinctly British flavour to next summer’s European Championship. Of 51 matches, 10 will be staged in London or Glasgow, with Wembley hosting both semi-finals and the final. But the Britishness could yet go up several notches, with all five British Isles teams [...]