BSkyB to launch online TV service January 31, 2012 BSkyB is to launch an online TV offering to non-Sky customers following some signs of slowing growth at its main satellite base. Britain’s dominant pay-TV group said it would launch the new service to tap in to the 13M homes that do not currently pay for a television service. It made the announcement as it [...]
New Hockney work is pretty but lacking January 26, 2012 Art DAVID HOCKNEY Royal Academy *** by Zoe Strimpel David Hockney’s extensive new show at the Royal Academy had, predictably enough, attracted long snaking queues on Day one. Hour one, in fact. But is it worth the hype? The topic is East Yorkshire, Hockney’s home turf and the one to which he returned in the [...]
There is more to Rioja than wine (although that would be plenty) January 24, 2012 PRINCE Charles surely wouldn’t approve. In the dell of Villabuena de Alava, a sleepy, sloping village squatting among the vineyards of Spain’s Rioja Alavesa region, sits the jagged, unruly modernism of Hotel Viura. It is one of those “impossible” buildings, an optical illusion that seems to squeeze in more angles, surfaces and textures than logic [...]
Arsenal set to make amends for mauling in Manchester January 19, 2012 ARSENAL vs MANCHESTER UNITED SUNDAY – 4.00PM SKY SPORTS 1 ARSENAL’S title challenge was over before it started this season and if they aren’t careful the gap to the top four could soon be too big to bridge. Back-to-back defeats have left them trailing neighbours Chelsea by four points and, more worryingly for Emirates-goers, Tottenham [...]
Croydon is reaching for the sky with 55-storey tower January 18, 2012 CROYDON is setting its sights high after approving a 55-storey skyscraper which would rejuvenate the south London borough. The development, expected to cost in the region of £350m, would bring 397 residential units, 217 hotel rooms and over 23,000 square metres of office space to Croydon. The skyscraper would also boast its own restaurant, coffee [...]
The good, the bad and the ugly from Las Vegas January 18, 2012 The dust is settling after what turned out to be something of a damp squib at the Consumer Electronics Show. The ultrabook (read: thin laptop) was king, with most manufacturers launching rivals to Apple’s lauded MacBook Air. Mobile had a big presence but hero releases were thin on the ground – perhaps waiting for Mobile [...]
Prior sidesteps row over Ajmal action after England collapse January 17, 2012 ENGLAND wicketkeeper Matt Prior refused to become embroiled in a debate concerning the legitimacy of Saeed Ajmal’s action after the Pakistan spinner’s seven-wicket haul ensured the tourists face an uphill struggle to save the first Test following the first day’s play in Dubai. Familiar failings against spin were exposed by the 34-year-old Ajmal, who recorded [...]
I’m innocent, Pakistan spin star insists January 17, 2012 PAKISTAN spinner Saeed Ajmal deflected criticism of his bowling action by insisting England were the masters of their own downfall on day one of the first Test in Dubai. Not since last winter’s Perth Test against Australia, when they were twice bowled out for under 200, have England been in such a precarious position after [...]
BIRLEY CAPS NUMBERS AT HIS DELAYED £20M CLUB January 17, 2012 THE DEVELOPMENT of 5 Hertford Street is progressing “more or less” on track. That’s more or less as in originally scheduled for last November, before being pushed back to this month and now – final answer – March. “Except that’s Easter,” says a spokesman for Robin Birley, the leisure entrepreneur developing the £20m Shepherd Market [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS January 16, 2012 FEDERAL GRID COMPANY (GDR) Goldman Sachs transfers its coverage of Russia’s largest electricity transmission company grid from the local stock exchange to its global depositary receipt listing in London, rating it as a “buy” with a target price of $7.50. The broker says news flow on Russian power utilities reached its most negative in autumn [...]