WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES ZURICH CHIEF BACKS EU SOLVENCY RULESThe head of Zurich Financial Services, one of the world’s biggest insurance companies, has broken ranks to criticise industry rivals for lobbying against European plans to increase insurers’ financial strength. James Schiro, Zurich chief executive, said the fierce industry “pushback” against proposed new solvency rules for insurers was [...]
Jargon’s unstoppable march into our language September 6, 2009 WHAT started as a light-hearted discussion of business buzzwords on CNBC television recently aroused such an outpouring of bile from our viewers I feel duty-bound to “on-pass the learnings.” Grammatical rules apply at all times, even to important businessmen. “Leverage” and “interface” are bad enough as nouns, but make intolerable verbs. Similarly, anyone paying attention [...]
Why holding its nerve has paid off for Britain’s top accountancy firm September 6, 2009 LOOKING out of the window of his Embankment office, Ian Powell points at the sky above the London Eye. “It’s a bit cloudy,” he says. “But there’s sun on the horizon.” The same could be said of the outlook for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the largest of the “big four” professional services firms, which Powell has chaired since [...]
Back hero Broad in ODI September 3, 2009 ENGLAND vs AUSTRALIA1ST ODI, TODAY 1PM, SKY SPORTS 1 THE JUBILATION of England’s Ashes victory soon gave way to the fiasco that was the aborted Twenty20 series. With those two games brushed under the proverbial carpet, the upcoming exhaustive seven-match one day series gives Australia the chance to return home with a little pride, even [...]
In an ecclesiastical home, heaven is a place on earth September 3, 2009 OKAY, so it might involve sleeping where an altar once was. Or perhaps a belltower, nave or vestry. It sounds ever so slightly scandalous, but ecclesiastic properties are recession-busting favourites, with architectural features that can’t be rivalled. In London, there’s a range of options – many of which are considered hip as well as high-end, [...]
Budget carrier SkyEurope falls into bankruptcy September 1, 2009 SLOVAKIAN budget airline SkyEurope has filed for bankruptcy and suspended all flights, the firm said yesterday, after collapsing under the pressure of dwindling revenues in the economic slump. SkyEurope, which was launched in 2001 and served mainly continental Europe, had obtained a three-month creditor protection in Slovakia in June and was trying to restructure and [...]
The best of both worlds: new builds take a historic turn August 20, 2009 EVERYONE from Kate Moss to Kylie Minogue to Roman Abramovich has one. Leonardo DiCaprio wants one. That’s because nothing says “I’ve made it” quite like a British country pile, preferably one with stables, guest cottages, tennis courts, carriage houses and swimming pools. Nowadays, if you don’t want the hassle of maintaining an old house, there [...]
NEW SUNDAY TELEGRAPH BUSINESS EDITOR ON STEEP LEARNING CURVE August 20, 2009 AS A replacement for Sky’s newest business recruit Mark Kleinman, a man with one of the fattest contact books in journalism, the appointment of Kamal Ahmed as Sunday Telegraph business editor was never going to sit well with his jilted rivals. Ahmed, currently head of comms at the Equality and Human Rights Commission and a [...]
Back Chelsea to win it the hard way again at 25/1 August 20, 2009 FULHAM vs CHELSEASUNDAY 4PM, SKY SPORTS 2 CARLO ANCELOTTI has made a pleasing start to life in the Premier League and his side were awesome in the second half against Sunderland on Tuesday night. They don’t have far to travel on Sunday when they make the short trip over to Craven Cottage to face local [...]
CITY ALARMED BY BANK SPLIT August 19, 2009 CITY economists expressed concern yesterday about the fragility of the UK economy after it emerged that Bank of England governor Mervyn King had pushed to extend quantitative easing (QE) by £75bn earlier this month. Economists were shocked to learn that the Bank’s policymakers had been divided over how much to extend QE. Minutes from the [...]