Film review: Dumb and Dumber To December 19, 2014 Cert 15 | ★½ I like to think there’s a knowing subtext to Dumb and Dumber To. It reintroduces central characters Harry and Lloyd – Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey – at a psychiatric care home, where Lloyd has been in a catatonic state since the end of the last movie. Harry visits him once a [...]
Is 65 too young? London professionals retire later than those in the rest of the UK December 18, 2014 Professionals in London are increasingly likely to believe that a retirement age of 65 or below is too young, according to an Investec Private Bank study published yesterday. Across the country, 72 per cent of professionals think it is appropriate to retire between 60 and 65. By contrast in London, only 51 per cent [...]
Henry IV Parts 1 and 2: An RSC hit at the Barbican December 18, 2014 Barbican | ★★★★☆ The Henry IV plays occupy an odd place in Shakespeare’s canon. They have the dimensions of a soap opera, spanning the breadth of society for the entire duration of a reign. They’re tonally inconsistent, flashing from palace to pub, and sparse of incident. Tense battles conclude with the blackest of comedy, [...]
Launchbury out of Six Nations as Wasps lock sent for neck op December 18, 2014 WASPS and England lock Joe Launchbury’s World Cup hopes have suffered a setback after he was ruled out of the Six Nations while he recovers from surgery on a nerve problem in his neck. Launchbury had hoped to resume playing this month, having missed England’s entire autumn campaign, but has now been told he needs [...]
Dan to be Ladbroke man again with Shelford December 18, 2014 Bill Esdaile offers his best bets this weekend at Ascot and over the festive season THE LADBROKE (3.30pm), with a total prize fund of £150,000, is one of the richest handicap hurdles of the season and tomorrow’s race at Ascot promises to be fascinating. The ground will be soft, which has resulted in the absence [...]
Giving: The City’s secret hobby December 18, 2014 With hundreds of millions given away each year, the financial services industry is one of the most charitable around. On the day they call the Notting Hill Carnival of the City, employees of leading brokerage firm ICAP come into work in fancy dress for an afternoon of trading, with all revenues raised going to charity. [...]
The Funding Network: Welcome to the Dragon’s Den of charity December 18, 2014 This philanthropic gameshow comes with a serious message for the thousands of people it helps. ‘Linda 100”, “Michael 200”, “Fred 500”, the shouts echo across the room as more and more people put their hands in the air. As the cries die down, the pledge leader urges them on: “Was that another hand at the [...]
City of London Lord Mayor Alan Yarrow reveals his charity plans December 18, 2014 New Lord Mayor of the City of London Alan Yarrow has set his sights on raising funds for Mencap and Scope – two charities close to his heart. I am honoured to be The Lord Mayor of the City of London. Amongst a raft of business and civic duties, my wife Gilly and I are [...]
La Caixa Foundation – No.4 December 18, 2014 Spain – £309m La Caixa Foundation’s chairman Isidro Faine likes to quote the words of assassinated senator Robert Kennedy to describe the Spanish bank’s attitude to charity. “Senator, Robert F. Kennedy, once said ‘the future is not a gift; it’s an achievement'. These words remind us that our efforts in the present will determine [...]
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – No.6 December 18, 2014 USA – £230.9m When General Johnson spoke everybody listened. I think there's a direct translation from the kind of standards the general had at the company to what you see in the Robert Johnson foundation,” says Johnson & Johnson's former chief financial officer Robert Campbell, now a trustee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. [...]