Julien Blanc to be barred from the UK after petition gathers over 150,000 signatures against pick-up artist November 19, 2014 "Dating coach" Julien Blanc will very likely be prevented from entering the UK by the Home Office, according to Sky News sources. Blanc had been due to tour the UK to give several of his notorious dating seminars, which critics claim are misogynistic. Blanc's company Real Social Dynamics describes itself as "the world's largest dating coaching [...]
CEO Carolyn McCall scoffs at easyJet being labelled as lazy November 18, 2014 A couple of weeks ago, somebody called easyJet lazy. This wasn’t an angry passenger or a disgruntled shareholder, but the chief executive of Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air, Jozsef Varadi. “Lazy low-cost airlines” will be undercut by ultra-low-cost brands like Wizz and Ryanair in Europe, he told punters at the World Travel Market conference at [...]
Ofcom kicks off Premier League TV rights probe in shake-up of English football broadcasting November 18, 2014 A radical shake-up of the way English football is shown on television and sold to broadcasters has moved a step closer after regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into the Premier League. The probe could result in an increase in the number of top-flight matches broadcast live and a reduction in the cost of subscribing [...]
Blue skies ahead for EasyJet? Profits rise 21.5 per cent November 18, 2014 EasyJet reported a 21 per cent lift in pre-tax profit for the full year, slightly ahead of its own market guidance. Profit before tax came in at £581m for the 12 months ended 30 September. The airline added it predicts more growth for the first six months of 2015. The profits are the highest reported [...]
Rob Terry departs Quindell: How Gotham City got its man November 17, 2014 Quindell, the London stock-market listed group targeted for months by a short-selling research group Gotham City, was yesterday forced to part company with its chairman in an effort to restore investor confidence. The decision that Rob Terry should leave came hours after it was announced that broker Canaccord Genuity had quit on 21 October, ahead [...]
Saudi Electric takes aim at stake in Hinkley Point nuclear power plant November 17, 2014 Saudi Arabian utility firm Saudi Electric is in talks to become one of the investors in the nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point. According to a report on Sky News, the firm is vying to buy a minority stake in the project, which got the go-ahead from the European Commission last month. As it stands, [...]
Bird flu in the UK: Could the disease lead to a shortage of Christmas turkeys? November 17, 2014 The re-emergence of bird flu in the UK is unlikely to pose a major threat to human health – but it could have a serious impact on your Christmas turkey. Although the East Yorkshire farm in which the case of avian flu has been confirmed breeds ducks, the local area has several turkey farms [...]
Nicko Milligan Golf Day raises £35,000 November 16, 2014 In May members of the business community who knew and loved Nicko Milligan, the Sky executive who was tragically killed in a speedboat accident along with his daughter Emily, took part in the inaugural Nicko Milligan Golf Day. It was organised by Nick Hurrell (left) from Enter, Nick Theakstone of GroupM (right), Lawson Muncaster of [...]
Thinking bigger: My Voucher Codes founder Mark Pearson talks Fern Britton and young tech entrepreneurs November 16, 2014 While we’re talking, it suddenly dawns on Mark Pearson that it’s his company’s eighth birthday. “It’s definitely around now,” he laughs, raising his empty plastic water cup in the air. In June of this year, Pearson sold My Voucher Codes, as part of his parent company Markco Media, to global mobile money technology provider [...]
Center Parcs Woburn Forest: For a weekend getaway with the kids, you can’t beat this November 16, 2014 It is 9.30am on a Saturday and the whole family is wobbling through a woodland assault course 25ft feet above ground, hooked into harnesses in case our schoolyard adventure playground skills fail us. Unexpectedly, my husband, who thinks nothing of hopping on sky-high ski lifts, says he is scared of heights, and threatens [...]