West End gets Brexit boost from overseas shoppers as sales to tip over £9bn for the first time September 21, 2016 Overseas shoppers are flocking to the West End to spend their cash since the fall in the value of the pound – and the Brexit boost is set to tip sales for the district over £9bn this year. Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of the West End lobby group New West End Company, says London's premiere shopping district [...]
Ugo Monye: I know how exhausting the 10 match Lions tour of New Zealand will be for players — but none will turn down the chance to go September 20, 2016 Former British and Irish Lions tourist Ugo Monye insists the pride will overwhelm the pain for players selected in Warren Gatland’s squad for next summer’s gruelling tour of New Zealand. Leading figures of the club game have warned that the month-long trip will take its toll on players’ bodies and lead to injuries in the [...]
Whisky galore: Scotch exports rise for first time since 2013, but Brexit concerns weigh heavy on industry September 16, 2016 Scotch was used to prop up bars a little more worldwide last year as global export volumes grew for the first time since 2013 – though the industry is still hesitant on the challenges of Brexit. Volumes of Scotch, which already adds £5bn to the UK's economy, shipped overseas grew by 3.1 per cent over the first [...]
If you enjoy eating lunch in very pointy buildings, floating high above ant-sized Londoners, well you really can’t go far wrong with Oblix August 23, 2016 A dazzle-swank brasserie and rotisserie on the 32nd floor of a very tall building, Oblix is a high-altitude restaurant serving grilled Western comforts, steaks and fine seafood with impressive panoramic views of London all around. Sit by a window and you’ll feel like an omniscient god in some top-down strategy video game. WHERE? Easily the [...]
The weaker pound sent Chinese and US tourists on a spending spree in the UK last month August 22, 2016 The UK's purse received a boost from tourist spending in the month following the referendum, as visitors from made the most of the weaker pound. International tax free shopping spending rose seven per cent overall in July, according to retail tourism experts Global Blue. Travellers from the US increased their tax free shopping by 22 per [...]
Forging closer ties with booming India will unlock vast opportunities for Britain August 15, 2016 On the eve of Indian independence on 15 August, 1947 (whose anniversary was celebrated yesterday), the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru said that “the achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us.” India’s independence was not even 70 years ago, yet the [...]
Explore the coastline of Cascais and channel your inner Dan Brown at a masonic Portuguese retreat August 5, 2016 Portugal’s national football team might have plodded to Euro victory in the most boring fashion imaginable, but the country’s Atlantic resorts of Estoril and Cascais more than compensate, providing the kind of spark and excitement their players were sadly lacking (not that we can talk). From the historic setting of Penha Longa Resort – Ritz-Carlton’s [...]
Why the economic picture tends to be rosier than the initial estimates suggest August 2, 2016 One of the surprises of last week was the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate of economic growth in the second quarter of 2016, the period from April to the end of June. In the run up to Brexit, the economy expanded by 0.6 per cent on the first quarter of the year. This was [...]
As French growth grinds to a halt, is the country’s economic model fundamentally broken? August 1, 2016 Tim Worstall, senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, says Yes. France’s economic model is irretrievably broken. Along one axis we have a spectrum of possible economic models. We can have low tax and redistribution market economies and high tax and redistribution ones. Non-market economies do not work. Further, the more we tax and redistribute, the [...]
Merlin Entertainment’s share price loses its magic despite revenues rising July 28, 2016 Merlin Entertainment's share price dipped today despite the world's second largest tourist attraction operator posting a rise in revenue. The figures Revenue at the Thorpe Park and Alton Towers operator grew 5.3 per cent to £573m in the 26 weeks ended 25 June, up from £544m in the same period of 2015. Visitor growth rose [...]