Spanish wine is enjoying an unprecedented period of quality and affordability – take advantage now March 2, 2016 It struck me as I was deciding where to invest my modest 2016 wine budget, that Spanish wine is an absolute bargain, at every level. We would all be mad not to take advantage of this phenomenon while it lasts. My brainwave was hardly original; none other than the great wine seer Robert Parker has [...]
Mix it up: Farewell to Dick Bradsell, Britain’s very own cocktail genius March 2, 2016 I never met Dick Bradsell. My brother-in-law worked for him at the now defunct Detroit bar, but I never took the chances I had to speak to the genius of mixology who, sadly, passed away at the weekend. By all accounts, Bradsell revolutionised Britain’s cocktail scene, putting London (alongside New York) at the frontline in [...]
Quarter of Britons would take a pay cut for fewer hours – but businesses are worried it will harm productivity and be a logistical nightmare March 2, 2016 Daily grind getting to you? You're not alone. Nearly a quarter of British workers would be willing to take a pay cut in return for fewer working hours. A new report from Scottish Widows’ think tank, the Centre for the Modern Family, found that 23 per cent of would be happy with a smaller pay packet if [...]
The craft behind the costumes at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House March 1, 2016 Bloodied disembodied arms hang from the walls of an otherwise pristine workroom in Essex, where students – their focused expressions lit up by as many Macbook Pros – largely ignore the gruesome debris in their midst. “Oh, that’s Napoleon Blown-apart,” the teacher says. “It’s a project we were working on where we got the students [...]
London’s housing market is failing the capital’s workers: We can’t make this crisis someone else’s problem March 1, 2016 With house prices a staggering 13 times the average London wage, and rents taking up on average 60 per cent of London tenants' incomes, the prospect of finding an affordable place to live is slipping further out of reach for many of the capital’s four million-strong workforce. As the housing crisis deepens, workers from across the [...]
Budget 2016: The AA pleads with chancellor George Osborne not to hit motorists by hiking insurance premium tax or fuel duty February 29, 2016 Motoring insurer and breakdown cover provider AA has today revealed that it has written to chancellor George Osborne to ask him not to hike insurance premium tax or fuel duty in next month's Budget. The company is concerned that the chancellor might be considering raising one or both as a quick win to boost the [...]
FTSE 100 effective tax rate falls to 22.6 per cent – the lowest level since the recession February 29, 2016 The average effective tax rate paid by FTSE 100 companies has fallen to 22.6 per cent, the lowest level since the recession, according to research published today by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young. The effective tax rate, which is the average percentage at which overall company profits are taxed, is down a quarter from 30.1 per cent [...]
CoalFace Capital’s Declan McEvoy on clichés, robo-advisers, and pink hair February 29, 2016 Plenty of people must have sat in their banking job thinking about what could be done better and wondering if they should just pack it all in and start their own business. Declan McEvoy, founder of innovative trading platform CoalFace Capital, first realised he wanted to be this person back in 1999, while doing his [...]
Tuilagi primed for England return as pivotal Wales tussle beckons February 28, 2016 Powerhouse centre Manu Tuilagi is set to train with England this week before potentially making his international comeback in the likely Six Nations title decider against Wales at Twickenham next month. Leicester director of rugby Richard Cockerill, who holds reservations about the 24-year-old’s quickfire return to the England fold after an injury-plagued campaign, confirmed Tuilagi’s [...]
Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King says the Eurozone is doomed to fail February 28, 2016 Mervyn King, the former governor of the Bank of England, has warned that the Eurozone is doomed to fail. Bailouts and other measures employed to keep the euro area intact "will lead to not only an economic but a political crisis", according to King's new book, The End of Alchemy, which is being serialised in [...]