A quarter of women’s seeds fall but Sharapova lays down marker January 19, 2015 WORLD No2 Maria Sharapova bucked the trend on a disastrous first day for seeds in the women’s draw at the Australian Open yesterday by ruthlessly despatching Croatian Petra Martic. Sharapova, who can reclaim top spot in the WTA rankings by winning the year’s first grand slam, laid down a marker with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 [...]
Canary Wharf Group expands Level39 tech startup space for fintech, retail and smart city entrepreneurs January 19, 2015 Canary Wharf’s tech startup space, Level 39, is taking on additional space at One Canada Square to house entrepreneurs focused on developing technology in the fintech, retail and smart city sector. Accenture’s 2015 Fintech Innovation Lab is the first to be housed in the new space and will be joined by another 36 companies taking [...]
Centrica exec Colette Cohen takes top spot at The National College for onshore oil and gas January 18, 2015 The National College for onshore oil and gas has appointed Centrica’s Colette Cohen as its first chair. Cohen, who heads up Centrica’s UK oil and gas production business, will lead the college’s development board and help with business planning. She commented: “To build a successful shale gas industry it’s vital we attract young people to [...]
2015 World Economic Forum: As the global elite prepare to gather in Davos, is the annual meeting a waste of time? January 18, 2015 Philip Booth, professor at Cass Business School and editorial and programme director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, says Yes. The world’s great and good will meet in Davos this week. The meeting is dangerous and perpetuates a fallacy. It’s dangerous because it provides a forum for rent seekers (big business and regulators) to meet [...]
Ever wished you’d been a Formula One driver? You still can, today, by lunchtime January 18, 2015 The road to becoming a grand prix driver is lined with potholes big enough to swallow those lightweight, yet thunderous racing cars. There are 22 seats available on the Formula One grid and to earn one you need huge amounts of talent, money, luck, and quite often a blood relative who’s already been there before [...]
Long-term policies more than falling oil prices are needed for sustainable wage growth business groups tell Cameron January 17, 2015 Long-term solutions rather than the short-term gains from falling oil prices are needed to boost wages, business groups have said. David Cameron urged businesses to pass on the benefits of falling oil prices to staff through higher wages on his visit to Washington yesterday. Business groups have responded saying lower oil prices are already creating [...]
Film review: Whiplash is in need of a (script) doctor January 16, 2015 Cert 15 | ★★★☆☆ Whiplash opens with a shot of 19-year-old Andrew (Miles Teller) practising the drums in a room in the Julliard-like conservatory he attends, apparently alone. He soon notices he’s being watched by Fletcher (JK Simmons), the notorious conductor of the school’s jazz band. There ensues a tense exchange in which Fletcher barks [...]
Art review: Adventures of the Black at Whitechapel Gallery January 16, 2015 Whitechapel Gallery | ★★★★☆ In the final, shattering line of Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen writes of “a drawing down of blinds.” This returned to me when standing before Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square, painted exactly a century ago when hundreds of thousands of young soldiers were coming up against industrial killing machines for the [...]
Film review: Testament of Youth is visually arresting but emotionally flat January 16, 2015 Cert 12a | ★★★☆☆ Based on Vera Brittain’s best-selling memoir of events surrounding the First World War, Testament of Youth is well-acted and pretty, but lacks emotional impact. Testament of Youth has already been adapted for television and radio. But if you haven’t encountered the story before, it will still seem terribly familiar. Hovering [...]
Young, northern and burger-mad: This is the quintessential British lad January 16, 2015 Love it or hate it, "lad culture" is still very much a part of modern Britain's subculture. Arising in the 1990s, lads have been criticised as loutish and sexist. But according to the, er, lads over at The Lad Bible, the UK's 12th most-visited website, change is in the air for the subculture. Thanks to [...]