Are you a Mary Poppins, a Mr Hyde or an Ernest Hemingway? Four drinking personality types revealed July 15, 2015 When you're having a couple of well-earned drinks after work, do you find yourself getting more chatty and confident? Or do you resolutely stay the same, pint afte pint? Maybe you get yourself into arguments – even fights – as the drink gremlins surface? Well it turns out there's a definite pattern to our [...]
Father’s Day gift ideas: From Armani sunglasses to special edition Lagavulin whisky June 18, 2015 Whether your old man likes to relax with a scotch or impress the office with his stylish new fashion accessories, these items are sure to make him happy this Sunday Ted Baker shoe polishing kit £40, tedbaker.com It's an axiomatic truth of the universe: dads love a pair of well-polished shoes. Now [...]
Something for the weekend April 30, 2015 SING! BILLY ELLIOT One of the best loved musicals of recent times celebrates its tenth birthday this May – as good a reason as any to book a ticket if you’re yet to see it. Tickets £20.70 – £68.70, call the box office on 0844 248 5000 CHEER! BRENTFORD VS WIGAN Head to west London [...]
Pernod lifted by rebound in Chinese market April 23, 2015 STRONG demand from China helped lift like-for-like sales by seven per cent at French beverage firm Pernod Ricard’s third quarter results revealed yesterday. Despite a recent crackdown on the conspicuous consumption of alcohol in China, the company – which derives 15 per cent of its profits from the country – saw sales surge 38 per [...]
Mix it up: Why the lazy cocktail drinker should consider pre-mixed April 14, 2015 @philip_salter The words “pre-mixed cocktail” are anathema to many self-respecting cocktail aficionados. The experience of consuming these fine, upstanding drinks goes far beyond simple taste – it’s about the knowledge that a great deal of work, expertise and even love has gone into making each and every one. The slogan “good things come to those [...]
Mix it up: The basics every cocktail aficionado needs to own April 7, 2015 After the Second World War, London’s population fell off a cliff, plummeting from 8m to 6.6m. But like a phoenix from the flames, our numbers have multiplied in the last 25 years. The downside to this is that space is at a premium: alas and alack, where oh where are we going to store all [...]
In praise of solitude: What does time alone mean to you? April 2, 2015 Our phones never stop ringing. Emails flood our inboxes. Meetings are an integral part of our working lives (not to mention pre-meetings and de-briefings). Smartphones keep us connected with our friends and family during the day and our bosses when we’re at home at night. In 2015, most of us can quite honestly say they [...]
Budget 2015: Gordon Brown beats George Osborne on job approval rating March 20, 2015 Now the dust has settled; the pollsters are digesting the public's reaction to Osborne's Budget and how they rate the chancellor. The good news for Osborne is that YouGov found for the first time since 2010 that more people approve if his job performance than disapprove. However, the chancellor of five years still failed to [...]
Gordon Castle: Let us whisky you away to Scotland March 8, 2015 It was here atop the snow-spattered hills of Speyside in the Scottish Highlands that King Macbeth was said to have met his violent end. According to legend, it was the future King Malcolm III who stabbed him in 1057 (he died several weeks later). Life in the valleys rising up either side of the river [...]
Seven things you didn’t know about the UK’s Whisky industry January 28, 2015 "By diligent effort, I learnt to like it," is what former prime minister and Scotch whisky drinker Winston Churchill said on the so-called "liquid sunshine." The gentleman's drink – which once counted the Scot who invented penicillin Alexander Fleming as fan – is increasingly making a very likeable contriubtion to the UK economy. It added [...]