Labour deputy leader Tom Watson may be having the worst festival hangover of his life as he returns from Glastonbury early to address the party’s leadership crisis June 26, 2016 Deputy Labour leader and regular on the festival circuit Tom Watson picked the wrong weekend to let loose. As Labour's top ministers revolt against party leader Jeremy Corbyn following a vote of no confidence, Watson is en-route back to London after partying until 4am at Glastonbury festival. It was a boozy Saturday for the politician. Watson live-blogged his day at [...]
Focus On Harrow: Why this north west London suburb is popular with families and first time buyers June 24, 2016 The north west London suburb of Harrow is all too often synonymous with the prestigious boys’ boarding school with which it shares its name. Certainly, the school has influenced the growth of central Harrow through the centuries; following a big expansion of the school in the 19th century, housing was built for its staff resulting [...]
Thomas Cook suspends online currency sales after unprecedented demand overnight June 24, 2016 A surge in demand has forced travel firm Thomas Cook to suspend its online currency sales to avoid running out of cash. A vote for the UK to leave the European Union led to a sharp fall in the value of the pound, which had been rallying all week as markets bet the UK would vote to [...]
How the big banks are reacting to Brexit: Thousands of UK jobs feared to be at risk June 24, 2016 Thousands of banking jobs across London are at risk after the UK voted for Brexit yesterday. JP Morgan, HSBC, and Citibank have warned jobs would be moved in the event of a Leave vote. And other big banks are also understood to be considering shifting jobs from the UK depending on how Brexit negotiations pan out. [custom id="161"] [...]
War bunkers, pizza and lots of caffeine – how the City is preparing for referendum night June 23, 2016 Brexit "war bunkers" are being opened, extra staff brought in and sleep-deprived workers plied with pizzas, sweets and coffee to keep them going throughout the night as the City beds in for expected high levels of pre- and post-referendum trading. Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and JP Morgan will all have heightened [...]
Italian job: Law firm Fieldfisher agrees merger with Italy’s SASPI June 21, 2016 Fieldfisher has today agreed a merger with Italian law firm Studio Associato Servizi Professionali Integrati (SASPI). The merger, which will take the form of a Swiss verein style association, will take effect at the start of next month and SASPI will be adopting the Fieldfisher brand name. The two firms combined will have around 970 professionals and [...]
Which set of fans drank more during yesterday’s England vs. Wales clash? June 17, 2016 Do you drink more in commiseration or celebration? It's an age-old question. Is the desire to hit the bottle or go out on the town a bigger draw? And when do we feel best about splashing the cash – when half of it's getting spilt on the floor or being stewed over in a darkened corner? The answer [...]
Focus On Bloomsbury: House prices are blooming marvellous in this intellectual corner of central London June 16, 2016 Bloomsbury conjures up images of fusty intellectuals like former residents Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, EM Forster and John Maynard Keynes. Home to austere, prestigious institutions like the British Museum, the Royal Portrait Gallery and University College London, it isn’t necessarily somewhere you’d think of moving to. But the recent clamour for central London property has [...]
EU referendum: Ken Clarke reflects on a life spent pondering Europe June 15, 2016 Ken Clarke has not written the final chapter of his memoirs. It will be written, he says, after 23 June, so he can look back on the referendum on the European Union. After all, Europe is a thorny issue that has engulfed his political life, often put him at odds with his party and arguably [...]
Leaving the EU is a walk into the unknown that would put our prosperity at risk June 14, 2016 As arguments on either side of the EU referendum debate are increasingly cast as products of fear or fantasy, an objective assessment is becoming, for the many in the undecided camp, increasingly difficult. I appreciate that there are emotional and political considerations in this important debate. But I prefer to see it in purely business [...]