More than Voho, darling: Vauxhall is in for an overhaul September 23, 2010 SANDWICHED between the South Bank and the Battersea waterfront, it was never going to be long before Vauxhall took off. Until now Vauxhall has traded on two cards: “Voho” – Gayer Soho – and housing London’s politicos. However, this week’s launch of St George Wharf, more commonly known simply as The Tower, is a sign [...]
UK HOTEL REVIEW: THE GROVE September 19, 2010 IF ASKED, I wouldn’t list Watford in my top ten destinations for a romantic getaway. Yet after negotiating a swarm of roundabouts we were cruising through the breathtaking grounds of the Grove hotel, flanked by 300 acres of exquisitely-kept English gardens. This revamped 18th century mansion still throws up a sense of its lavish past, [...]
SABMiller to examine £7bn Foster’s deal August 22, 2010 SABMILLER, the acquisitive drinks company, will look at a £7bn takeover of Australian brewer Foster’s Group’s beer-making arm when it demerges its businesses next year. SABMiller would be likely to come up against competition for Carlton & United Breweries from Asahi, the Japanese beer manufacturer, and America’s Molson Coors. Carlton & United is seen as [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND August 12, 2010 FILM FIVE EASY PIECES Starring Jack Nicholson, one of the greatest films of the Seventies, on re-release. THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES Argentine thriller that won this year’s Best Foreign Language Oscar. LE REFUGE Perverse romantic drama by auteur director Francois Ozon. DVD THE BLIND SIDE Sugar-coated social drama with Sandra Bullock on Oscar-winning form. [...]
GOODHART: IF I WERE ON TODAY’S MPC, I’D WANT TO BE PUT TO SLEEP August 3, 2010 ATTENDEES at the London School of Economics’ (LSE) monetary policy conference yesterday morning were treated to an A-list talking heads line-up, with former members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Sir John Gieve and Charles Goodhart joining Fitch Ratings’ Brian Coulton to discuss interest rates. Unfortunately, the audience was not about to flatter its illustrious [...]
A gritty tale of love and intrigue in 1930s London March 17, 2010 AT THE CHIME OF A CITY CLOCK BY DJ TAYLOR Constable, £12.99 by Zoe Strimpel “If he had looked back, he would have seen her walk off not in the direction of the bus stop but away east towards Barnsbury. Only he didn’t look back. He hurried on, thinking of the office in Finsbury Pavement, [...]
HUMAN LIE DETECTOR BOOSTED BY CITY COMPANIES ON THE WARPATH December 20, 2009 WE ALL know businesses are rather jumpier than usual given the difficult ride they’ve had over the course of the recession, but I hear some are taking truly unprecedented steps to counter risky office behaviour. Darren Stanton, who calls himself a “human lie detector”, tells me he has seen a surge in requests from corporates [...]
US retail chains look to get a foothold in the British market November 8, 2009 VICTORIA’S Secret is crossing the Atlantic as part of a wave of US companies looking to establish a foothold in the UK and Europe. The US lingerie retailer is owned by Limited Brands, which has announced plans for international expansion. It follows news that Gap-owned Banana Republic, the smart-casual clothing chain which already has a [...]
Hunker down in a cosy bar this autumn October 19, 2009 WHEN temperatures drop – as they did rather suddenly at the weekend – it’s time for a change of tack when it comes to drinking venues. Those breezy summer cocktails in light-filled bars don’t seem quite the thing when it’s dark and blowing a freezing gale outside. What we need is intimacy and comfort – [...]
Brown is back, with silly plots, codes and terrible prose back September 16, 2009 THE LOST SYMBOLBY DAN BROWNBantam Press, £18.99 WITH AN initial print run of a million copies in the UK alone, and 6.5m worldwide, there is no doubt that Dan Brown’s latest – the follow-up, as you will know, to the Da Vinci Code – will be a publishing phenomenon. Robert Langdon, professor of symbology at [...]