Navy could rescue travellers April 18, 2010 DRASTIC plans were hastily drawn up yesterday to help return at least 150,000 Britons stranded by the Icelandic volcano to the UK. Government ministers say the Navy could be recruited to ferry thousands of Britons who have been grounded by the fine cloud of ash belched over vast swathes of Europe. Some estimates place the [...]
Arriva close to receiving German bid April 18, 2010 DEUTSCHE BAHN, the German rail and bus operator, is one step closer to acquiring Arriva as the group puts the finishing touches on a takeover package that could see the British based transport company valued at £1.6bn. It is understood that the Deutsche Bahn board will meet this week to finalise a bid, which could [...]
He’s seen off his own PM, but now the chancellor must beat the Tories April 14, 2010 WHEN all politicians around him are losing their heads, Alistair Darling is intent on keeping his. Having seen off an attempt to replace him with Gordon Brown’s favourite apparatchik Ed Balls – who wanted to use Labour’s final Budget to make vote-winning spending promises – the famously low-key chancellor says the new enemies of prudence [...]
Say hello to the new lifestyle SUV April 13, 2010 ITS predecessor was undoubtedly ugly even for a 4×4, but there is no doubt about it: the first, most obvious element of the new Kia Sorento is how attractive it is. It’s one of the first Kia cars to be have been styled German design boss Peter Schreyer – the man who penned the Audi [...]
Lib Dems unveil plans to pump £3bn of new investment into Britain’s railways April 5, 2010 THE Liberal Democrats yesterday set out audacious plans to overhaul the UK’s rail network, unveiling plans for the biggest expansion of the railways since the Victorian era. The party said it would fund the revamp via swingeing cuts to spending on major roads, ploughing almost £3bn into a new Rail Expansion Fund from which councils [...]
Wave of strikes set to cause transport chaos March 30, 2010 BRITONS are facing a spring of strikes with a raft of airline, rail and tube walkouts hitting travellers. Major disruptions are likely as British Airways (BA), Network Rail and London Underground staff threaten to launch further walkouts. The news comes as Network Rail has taken legal action against rail union RMT over threats of a [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 30, 2010 Clifford Chance The law firm has elected Michael Bates and Robert Lee as the new joint practice area leaders for its London finance practice, effective for a four-year period starting tomorrow. Bates, pictured, has been a partner since 2001 and specialises in acquisition and leveraged financings in the infrastructure sector. Lee, a partner since 1997, [...]
HIP TO BE SQUARE March 30, 2010 IN recent years cubic cars have proved a hit with design-savvy car connoisseurs and have created something of a trend in car design. For a while Nissan’s Cube was the leader in boxy cool – a toy-like, distinctively Japanese design created to be an extension of your home first, your mode of transport second – [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 29, 2010 Bank of America Merrill Lynch The bank has appointed Carole Berndt and Wayne Scott to its corporate banking team as part of a global shake-up. Berndt, pictured, is head of EMEA global treasury services and joined from Citigroup. Scott is head of EMEA financial institutions treasury sales, also based in London. He was most recently [...]
What Westfield tells us about UK Plc March 28, 2010 IF you want to understand what is happening to the economy, you could do worse than to check out the Westfield shopping centre in West London on a weekend. The place was packed to the rafters on Saturday afternoon, with long queues in front of every single one of the dozens of restaurants and cafes; [...]