WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES PRINCE ANDREW’S TRADE ROLE DEFENDED Buckingham Palace defended Prince Andrew’s globetrotting role promoting British business on Sunday after a newspaper sting appeared to show his former wife selling access to him for £500,000, offered by a reporter posing as a tycoon. Both the royal household and the government said the Duke of York’s [...]
Stylish, affordable new homes for a brave green world May 20, 2010 THE UK is committed to ensuring that all new homes meet an ambitious zero-carbon standard by 2016. And with only a smattering of them in the country to date, there’s a long way to go. Indeed, Barry Morgan, of Morgan Restoration, an ardent eco-developer who has just installed solar panels on The Boatyard development overlooking [...]
SuperGroup sales surge as youth spending stays strong May 11, 2010 YOUTH fashion retailer SuperGroup, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in March, saw sales soar by 83 per cent to £139m in the year to 2 May. The company, whose Superdry brand is sported by celebrities including David Beckham, said it expected to make a pre-tax profit of at least £25.7m. SuperGroup has 43 [...]
LONDON TURNS OUT IN FORCE TO WATCH FINAL ELECTION SHOWDOWN May 6, 2010 FITTINGLY for one of the most important elections in this country’s history, turnout smashed expectations yesterday – and we’re talking of the bars, pubs and restaurants of London, rather than of the polling stations. The City, eager to know what the next government will have in store for them, flocked to parties as the results [...]
Sports Direct keeps its eye on the ball with strong sales April 22, 2010 SPORTS Direct Britain’s biggest sporting goods retailer, is on track to meet its full-year earnings forecast after strong trading over the Easter holidays, it said yesterday. The group, controlled by Newcastle United soccer club boss Mike Ashley, said sales rose 2.9 per cent to £214m in the nine weeks ended 28 March, with gross profits [...]
Beauty and the Beast April 20, 2010 IN TODAY’S list of the “world’s most popular goals” by goal-setting website 43 things, 19,131 people said that their goal was to “go on a road trip with no predetermined destination”. The pure pleasure of driving minus a defined objective came in first, before losing weight, falling in love and ceasing to procrastinate. It’s imperfect [...]
Rickie’s return just misses the mark April 15, 2010 Film CEMETERY JUNCTION Cert: 15 HAVING proved he can make it in Hollywood, Ricky Gervais has brought a whole load of Tinseltown gloss back with him for this tale of small-town kids in the Seventies. Written and directed by Gervais and old mucker Stephen Merchant, the film is polished, conventional and formulaic to the degree [...]
Bankers must look hard at pay if they want to win back the public’s support April 14, 2010 JUDGING by public and media sentiment over the past couple of years, the fairground arcade staple of whack-a-mole will at some point be replaced by the sport of whack-a-banker. The credit crunch blame-game does not appear to be dissipating. A particular bone of contention between the banks, politicians and the public is the issue of [...]
The biggest Mad Man in the world still retains a close eye for detail April 7, 2010 This downturn is evidently really beginning to get on the nerves of WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell. He says: “People’s expectations have shifted. Company profits were down 30 per cent in 2008, now that they were only down, say, 13 per cent last year, they are calling that good. But if profits keep falling [...]
Sports Direct pulls bid for Blacks Leisure March 31, 2010 SPORTS Direct yesterday said it would not bid for Blacks Leisure because it couldn’t be sure that suppliers would support such a move, ending an increasingly hostile takeover battle. Sports Direct, controlled by Newcastle United soccer club boss Mike Ashley, said it was aware certain key suppliers would not support a takeover and said that [...]