Spanish trades unions protest against cap on public spending September 6, 2011 THOUSANDS of trades union members marched in Madrid yesterday to protest against austerity measures and a swift constitutional reform to cap government spending, which they say threatens government-funded social programmes. The workers and members of the youth Indignados movement gathered in Puerta del Sol square — ground zero for anti-government protesters in Spain — in [...]
News International puts Wapping base up for sale September 5, 2011 RUPERT Murdoch’s News International will sell its historic Wapping complex after scrapping plans for a multi-million pound remodelling of the site. The East London base has been home to Murdoch’s stable of newspapers, including the Sun, the News of the World and the Times, since his famous battle with the print unions in the 1980s. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 29, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES WATCHDOG HITS OUT AT BANKS OVER GREEK DEBT Some European financial institutions should have taken bigger losses on their Greek government bond holdings in recent results announcements, according to the body that sets their accounting rules. the International Accounting Standards Board criticised the inconsistent way in which banks and insurers have been writing [...]
City Sup€rtax August 16, 2011 PLANS FOR EUROPE-WIDE LEVY WOULD HIT SQUARE MILE GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel rocked investors last night with a shock commitment to push for a EU-wide financial transactions tax, often known as a Tobin tax. The plans for a Europe-wide levy would knock the Square Mile, threatening to push even more jobs to lower-tax corners of [...]
Summer of riots to take over Greece July 21, 2011 GREECE’S opposition Left Coalition party expects public anger over government austerity measures to rise to new heights after the summer and force a snap parliamentary election, its leader said yesterday. Often blamed by the socialist government for inciting violent protests in May and June, the smallest of five parties in parliament opposes the European Union/International [...]
GREECE IN TURMOIL June 15, 2011 CROWDS in Athens exchanged firebombs and stones with police using teargas yesterday as protests in the Greek capital’s Syntagma Square turned violent. Street battles raged amid shattered storefronts as tens of thousands joined protests on the back of a 24-hour strike called by Greece’s civil service and public sector unions. The unrest played havoc with [...]
Zynga eyes market float May 25, 2011 SOCIAL games designer Zynga could file for a multi-billion dollar IPO as soon as next month. It is understood the firm is eager to cash in on the vociferous investor appetite for technology stocks following the bumper flotation of LinkedIn last week. The professional social network saw its shares surge 171 per cent during its [...]
Unions are right: United we stand, divided we fall May 18, 2011 TRADE unions might have adopted it as their rallying cry, but that doesn’t mean it is untrue. Indeed, it is applicable to much of life: united we stand, and divided we fall. It is the principle that underpins unions and countries and coalition governments, and failure to appreciate it drove swathes of the globe into [...]
Taxidermy and Victoriana at the hottest new hotel in town April 4, 2011 IN a candle-lit, antique-filled dining room, by a grand table decked out in gleaming china, fine glass, antique candelabras and an assembly of strange bronze figurines, stands a kangaroo. An old example of the taxidermist’s art, it stares out glassily at the ancient urns and other objets that cram the room. Round the corner, in [...]
EUROPE GETS ANOTHER SCROOGE: OSBORNE NOW JOINED BY MERKEL December 20, 2010 LAST time The Capitalist reported on the activities of Evolution Securities’ head of fixed income Gary Jenkins, he was fantasising about taking over ratings agencies and hiring Natalie Portman as his PA. He has been putting his wild imagination to other productive uses recently, it seems, churning out a re-imagining of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas [...]