2014 Christmas shows in London: From traditional pantomime to award-winning theatre December 11, 2014 Whether you’re a fan of cutting-edge theatre, a good old singalong or a traditional Christmas pantomime, London’s got you covered. Here are some of our favourites. MOTHER GOOSE Hackney Empire, from £10 Princess Priscilla has waddled into the life of Mother Goose and started laying priceless golden eggs. Now Mother can buy whatever [...]
Russia raises rates in struggle against crumbling oil prices December 11, 2014 Russia's central bank has raised the country's borrowing costs as part of its struggle against crippling economic sanctions and plummeting oil prices. The Bank of Russia raised its key interest rate by one percentage point to 10.5 per cent, a move which was in line with analysts' expectations. It also said there could be further [...]
UK housing crash, Draghi quitting the ECB or “A-choco-lypse”? Here are Saxo Bank’s bonkers predictions for 2015 December 10, 2014 Could there be a UK housing market meltdown? Could Nigel Farage become deputy prime minister? Or worst of all, will there be an "a-choco-lypse"? These could be some of the most outrageous predictions you'll hear this year – or the best warning you ever had. Saxo Bank has just released its 10 scenarios for 2015 [...]
London opens its first “Cereal Killer” cafe: Here are the capital’s most gimmicky cafes December 10, 2014 Forget the "weather bomb" – if you're in the capital and you're partial to grains, today's biggest story is the opening of Cereal Killer, the new London cafe that serves nothing but cereal. According to owners Gary and Alan Keery – identical, bearded twins – the Brick Lane venue is a "nostalgic cafe displaying hundreds [...]
EToro raises $27m from Chinese and Russian investment funds December 9, 2014 SOCIAL investment network EToro yesterday closed a $27m (£17.2m) funding round led by the venture capital arm of China’s largest financial services group Ping An Insurance and SBT Venture Capital which is partnered with Russia’s largest bank Sberbank. Israeli startup EToro, which has offices in Canary Wharf’s Level39, has 4m users across 140 countries who [...]
Pellegrini: City can reach last 16 without Aguero December 9, 2014 MANCHESTER City boss Manuel Pellegrini believes his squad has the depth in firepower to cope with the loss of Sergio Aguero after the Chilean last night confirmed his prolific marksman is set for between four and six weeks on the sidelines. City will have to contend without their 19-goal leading scorer, who suffered knee ligament [...]
Mansion tax fears and stamp duty changes send the world’s super-rich to London’s rental market December 7, 2014 Anxieties over the outcome of the 2015 general election and new stamp duty reforms are persuading the world’s super-rich to rent property in London rather than buy it outright, according to a new report. London’s lettings market has benefitted from a huge bump in prime rentals, with as much as 21 per cent of [...]
Film review: St Vincent December 5, 2014 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ It isn’t clear whether those rumours of Bill Murray turning up randomly at house parties are true. But on this evidence, you probably wouldn’t want him to crash yours. In St Vincent, Murray reconfigures his surly persona to play Vincent MacKenna, a feckless drunk and reckless gambler who’s struggling to keep [...]
Here is everything we know about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant accident in Ukraine December 3, 2014 Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has confirmed there has been an accident at one of the country’s major nuclear power plants today. The reactor affected is Zaporizhia NPP – the largest power plant in Europe, which is in the South East of the country. “I know that an accident has occurred at the Zaporizhia NPP,” Yatsenyuk said. Ukraine’s energy [...]
These five charts show why Russia is edging towards recession December 3, 2014 It's not been a good year for Russia. Yesterday the country revealed it had lowered its growth forecasts, and is now expected to enter recession in the first quarter of 2015 – the first time in five years. The deputy economic development minister Alexei Vedev announced the drop – from 1.2 per cent growth [...]