HISCOX SETS HIGH TARGET FOR HIS BRAINY BUNCH February 27, 2012 SMUG faces on the board of the insurance group Hiscox as chairman Robert Hiscox announces his retirement after 47 years: “I have always aimed to employ people brighter than I am… I am convinced that the current top executives prove that I have achieved my employment ambition.” So take a bow, directors Bronek Masojada, Stuart [...]
Cameron needs to refocus his efforts February 20, 2012 THE reformist credentials of this government are looking increasingly shaky. The only area where real change is taking place is education: Michael Gove, the secretary of state, and his uber-competent team, are pushing through a revolution, liberating state schools from local authority control, allowing new schools to be set up by outsiders, improving standards and [...]
Sleeping tight in NYC January 15, 2012 NOBODY needs an excuse to go to New York; the Big Apple is one of the few cities in the world to match London for sheer breadth of sights to see, entertainment to sample and scenes to explore. But the opening of a sprinkling of new high-class hotels that demand to be visited is as [...]
A weekend in Johannesburg November 20, 2011 THERE’S too much history in this town.” So says my tour guide Zac as we speed away from Johannesburg airport. He’s not wrong. Just 125 years old, South Africa’s largest city has developed as though on steroids. The often bloody events that mark its relatively short lifetime read like those of a much older city. [...]
Opening up a new vista in air travel October 23, 2011 THE Nina J is bobbing up and down in the clear sparkling Riviera water, flanked by other super yachts that occasionally eject bevies of python and white linen-clad babes ready to take Monaco by storm. Around the pier, portly perma-tanned sugar daddies squeeze the waists of their young Ivankas as they ponder how to blow [...]
World’s largest exporter suffering from contraction in global demand October 18, 2011 WHILE China’s 9.1 per cent growth recorded for the third quarter of the year may have disappointed analysts — with some still questioning the reliability of the government’s uber-fast estimates — it is little surprise that the world’s largest exporter is facing a hit from the global economic slowdown. The third quarter involved two months [...]
CONFERENCE WHISPERS October 4, 2011 The cat(s) that got the cream Cats abound at this year’s Tory conference. First Theresa May, the home secretary, used her speech to claim that a convicted Bolivian illegal immigrant had been allowed to stay in Britain because he owned a British pet cat. The delegates lapped up this tale of human rights madness, but [...]
Brisbane: still surfing, sun, and lots of fun October 2, 2011 NOT so long ago, Brisbane was little more than the country cousin to Sydney and Melbourne, and the gateway to Surfers Paradise and Noosa. However, this city, the third largest in Australia, and the capital of Queensland, is transforming into a fast-paced modern metropolis. Brisvegas, as it is affectionately known, is making a name for [...]
GOLD – IT’S NOT INDESTRUCTIBLE September 26, 2011 Q.DOESN’T GOLD RALLY DURING ECONOMIC TURMOIL? A.Not always. Investors often flee from all their positions, and in this case have largely turned to the US dollar as the most liquid option. Q.BUT WHY HAS IT BEEN HIT SO HARD? A.There are several possible factors, with gold likely being affected by a combination. Losses on equities [...]
Pocket watch: the next generation September 14, 2011 THOUGHT the pocket watch was a gadget relegated to history? Think again. Of late two of the most cutting edge Swiss watch companies have announced new pieces designed to be worn on a chain rather than on the wrist. The first, by Urwerk (www.urwerk.com), a brand that specialises in futuristic timepieces that bear only the [...]