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 [...]
Sloth-spotting in the heart of the Costa Rican rainforest is becoming a popular pastime with Brits July 25, 2016 The internet is responsible for reviving many things that should be extinct: men’s rights activism, the music career of Rick Astley and, less unpleasantly, everybody’s favourite endangered species, the sloth. Despite the fact they can barely drag themselves across a road, these smiley slow-coaches have somehow managed to take over the world wide web. Time [...]
A long weekend in Lucerne, Switzerland, a place of almost unimaginable beauty July 22, 2016 Where: Cradle of local hero William Tell, home of Wagner, Lucerne is a cobalt, lakeside idyll, ringed by mythical snow- capped mountains, a gorgeous Swiss City with a medieval Altstadt (Old Town), historic covered bridges, cobbled squares where perfectly conserved Gothic, Baroque and Renaissance houses, decorated with mosaics, jostle together inside towering city walls. First made [...]
Airbnb your house: Here’s how much Londoners could be making from the sharing economy July 13, 2016 The sharing economy is growing faster in Britain than anywhere else in Europe. As it has become more expensive to own cars, homes and even electrical equipment, more of us are seeing the advantages of monetising our idle assets. PwC estimates that transactions on platforms in the five biggest sharing economy sectors almost doubled in [...]
Burberry set to score a Brexit win on the weaker pound July 10, 2016 Luxury clothing brand Burberry is expected to announce better-than-expected results this week due to the fall of sterling since the Brexit vote. Analysts expect the FTSE 100 fashion brand to report a five per cent fall in like-for-like sales on Wednesday, but have adjusted profits estimates due to a weaker pound. On the day before the [...]