Inside the rock: Gibraltar’s strategic and military importance is complemented by financial and gaming leadership November 12, 2015 Covering an area of just 6.8 square kilometres, the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar punches well above its weight. At the last count, despite a population of only 32,000 people, it was home to 67 insurers with £9.95bn in total assets, 13 banks, 72 trust and company service providers, 14 pension fund administrators, and [...]
With reform of Sunday trading laws put on hold, is England showing the world it’s closed for business? November 10, 2015 Adrian Pepper, managing director of Pepper Media and the founder of consumer group Open Sundays, says Yes You can now shop on the Champs-Elysees in Paris all day on a Sunday. But you can only spend six hours in the supermarkets and tourist emporiums of Knightsbridge, Oxford Street or Westfield. As things stand in the [...]
Hamleys poised to be sold to a relative of House of Fraser’s Chinese billionaire owner October 18, 2015 A Chinese investor is said to be closing in on a deal to buy the UK’s most famous toy store Hamleys in the coming weeks. Ludendo, the French family-owned toy group, is in advanced talks to sell the chain to a Hong Kong company run by a relative of Yuan Yafei, the billionaire owner House [...]
Catch some rays in Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay September 25, 2015 Annabelle Williams swims with stingrays in northern Antigua’s Mercers Creek Bay With their ethereal, otherworldly faces, stingrays could be from another planet. But here I am, standing waist deep in water, surrounded by dozens of these gray, pancake-like fish. In Mercers Creek Bay, northern Antigua, a breed of stingray known as the Southern [...]
Santa Claus is facing bankruptcy as back taxes pile up for Dianordia in Finnish Rovaniemi August 24, 2015 Father Christmas has just seven days to pay his back taxes – or he’ll be declared bankrupt. Finnish tax authorities are locking horns with Dianordia, the company that offers children and other starry-eyed Christmas lovers from across the world a chance to meet the real Santa in his workshop. The company owes €200,000 to the [...]
Blame complex tax rules and a lack of competition for the airport VAT debacle August 19, 2015 I arrived back from holiday at Heathrow last week. After I picked up my bags, I went through customs and I saw some stewardesses walking through a passageway that avoided the arrivals duty free shopping area. I had everything I needed, so I decided to skip the shops and go through the passageway to head [...]
Greece crisis: After six months in power Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza government has left the country with a veritable Mount Olympus to climb July 30, 2015 Alexis Tsipras’ six-month old left-wing Syriza government has put the country through a breath-taking roller-coaster of ideological hysteria, politico-economic gambles, and farcical constitutional experiments. Now it faces a rockier path ahead than the one it inherited. Perversely, at the time they lost power, the previous government was beginning to boast financial indicators pointing [...]
Why London must retain its lead as the world’s number one retail destination July 16, 2015 One thing underpins Britain’s economic recovery more than anything else: the resilience and potential of London’s economy. While the capital’s financial sector was first to feel the pain nearly a decade ago, London has also led the UK’s economic fightback – attracting global investment, growing employment and pushing up living standards. We are the world’s [...]
Camden undergoes digital revolution June 24, 2015 Camden Market’s shopping stalls are being hauled into the modern age Camden Market and its eclectic mix of stallholders sell everything from vintage clothing to lava lamps and general bric-a-brac. The shopping haven has remained the unchanged for years – its punks and goths mixing with the millions of tourists who flock to the neighbourhood [...]
Mayoral candidate Ivan Massow plans to raise £400m from a London tourist tax June 16, 2015 London could rein in almost half a billion pounds in public revenue with a tourist tax, a Conservative mayoral candidate has told City A.M.. Ivan Massow, who is in the running to take over from Boris Johnson as mayor of London, believes there should be a charge a rate of £1 per star per [...]