There are still plenty of reasons to be sceptical about the recovery May 3, 2010 ALTHOUGH news of a €110bn bailout package for Greece failed to calm the market’s jitters, investors are generally increasingly confident. Standard Chartered’s Risk Appetite Index is edging higher in risk neutral territory while volatility has dropped – the Vix is back below 20 while the European VStoxx is down 22 per cent over the past [...]
Beat the blues with a slice of Caribbean sun March 25, 2010 WINTER is finally over, and the sun has been reminding us all of its existence in the past week or so. If you are already thinking ahead to next year and wondering how you will get through another few months of darkness and “snow days”, there’s a solution: buy a home in the Caribbean. Barbados [...]
The chicest way to buy and sell March 21, 2010 TARA Nash-King does something most women would find difficult at best, and impossible at worst. She lives in a showroom, and the cascades of bags, shoes and clothes that greet you on entering her mews house in Westbourne Park are not her own. They are the perfectly placed, impeccably hung and ubiquitously photographed desiger items she [...]
The Tipster January 19, 2010 STERLING has been having a storming week and traders are beginning to reconsider their uber-bearish view of the pound. Yesterday’s record inflation data – the annual consumer prices index leapt to 2.9 per cent – is likely to be followed by a period of high inflation. This is forecast to put pressure on the Monetary [...]
Stuck in London for Christmas? Hole up in a luxury hotel December 20, 2009 OH dear. A bit of snow, as we had on Thursday, and London goes into panic mode. Flights are delayed, cancelled and rearranged, and with the threat of a BA strike only tenuously averted, getting out of London over the Christmas period seems anything but a sure bet. But look on the bright side. It’s [...]
New bonus rules won’t achieve anything November 15, 2009 SPIN is an effective device to con the public but only in the short-term – eventually, the truth tends to prevail. Take the flagship economic component of Wednesday’s Queen’s Speech, which Her Majesty will have to read out to Parliament. As we report on page 1, the government will introduce its much-trailed law to formalise [...]
The best Christmas markets in Germany November 8, 2009 BerlinThe German capital is also very much the country’s Christmas market capital, with over 50 taking place – and there’ll be extra festivity this year as the city marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. The most popular market is the one in central west Berlin’s shopping district, next to the [...]
New Merc is in an (E) class of its own November 3, 2009 I HAD a nice massage today, while driving a Mercedes through the forests on the outskirts of Wiesbaden. We reviewed the new E Class Coupe recently and this wagon is from the same grown-up stable. It’s the workhorse of the family, and just the thing for taking the children back to prison after half term [...]
TRAVEL NOTES October 4, 2009 Bora Bora’s island havenSofitel Luxury Hotels has launched an enticing new resort that should be a serious draw for those on the lookout for a secluded tropical island. Sofitel Bora Bora Marara Beach and Private Island has luxurious bungalows on the white sandy beaches of Marara beach in Bora Bora, French Polynesia, or on the [...]
Oh I do like to be beside the seaside (with billionaires) July 19, 2009 IT’S mid-morning, and having got a crack-of-dawn BA flight from London City Airport, I am now in a helicopter flying from Nice to Monte Carlo. Out of the window, the warm sunshine and blue sea provide a stunning backdrop to the hotels and villas carved out of the white rocks. As a helicopter virgin I [...]