Barclays loses bond issue as Libor hits deals July 12, 2012 BARCLAYS yesterday lost its first major business since the Libor-fixing scandal began, as a Japanese bank pulled out of a bond issue worth around $1bn. The state-backed Japan Bank for International Cooperation had included Barclays among three banks advising on a five-year bond offering but left it out of the final offering. “Barclays was dropped [...]
CRUEL FOR CATS | O’Neill watches as Sunderland crash at Wolves December 4, 2011 SUNDERLAND’S new manager Martin O’Neill (inset) received an unwelcome reminder of the scale of the task he will inherit when he officially takes over this morning when his side lost yesterday at Wolves. The Black Cats, including Nicklas Bendtner (pictured above) squandered a lead and missed a penalty before collapsing to two Steven Fletcher goals, [...]
The Manchester medal factory: Be grateful for this strange cluster of genius August 16, 2012 THE Manchester velodrome is a medal factory. It won as many golds in this summer’s Olympics as the whole of Australia. As well as a cause for national celebration, that’s a problem. Because the truth is, we don’t know enough about why. Genius clusters. Renaissance Florence. Elizabethan London. The Scottish Enlightenment. Extraordinary individual achievements, sporting [...]
I Against I is a formulaic, humourless crime flop August 2, 2012 FILM I AGAINST I Cert 15 | By Steve Dinneen ** THE British crime drama hasn’t fared very well since the glory days of The Long Good Friday; all Danny Dyer romps and hackneyed mockney geezers. I Against I does little to redress the balance. Co-directors Mark Cripps, David Ellison and James Marquand set out [...]
RAPID responses June 17, 2012 Broken spring [Re: Are shareholder revolts over executive pay a coherent response to poor performance?, Friday] The shareholder spring is another example of a public spurred on by a militant minority, and fuelled by a mixture of jealousy and ignorance. Anyone earning more than double the average wage has been branded a fat cat and [...]
The movies to look out for this Jubilee weekend May 31, 2012 FILM PROMETHEUS Cert 15 | By Steve Dinneen *** So Alien prequel Prometheus has finally landed, 30 years after Ridley Scott first directed the universe’s most terrifying life-form. That’s a lot of time to gestate, especially in a world where alien offspring take just a couple of hours to burst from your chest in a [...]
City cheers U-turn on charity tax May 31, 2012 CITY leaders yesterday welcomed the government’s decision to scrap the proposed charity tax, a policy that philanthropists say would have undermined giving at a time when charities are in desperate need of new funds. Announcing the Treasury’s third budget U-turn of the past week, chancellor George Osborne said the debate over capping tax relief from [...]
Visit Malaysia for the birds, the bees and the leeches October 7, 2012 MY HERO swoops down in the nick of time. I’m perched atop a bare rock, too petrified to move when she flies to my rescue. Barely seven inches tall, the blue-winged pitta flits to the ground and within moments, her beak is filled with what look like needle-thin worms. I’ve never been happier to see [...]
Osmond’s APR expects lift from Cat deal September 29, 2011 APR Energy, the temporary power business owned by entrepreneur Hugh Osmond, expects a surge in new business after it signed an emerging markets development deal with Caterpillar. The five-year contract will see APR work with Caterpillar and Florida agent Ring Power, with Caterpillar supplying mobile generator sets to APR Energy. APR will gain access to [...]
LIFE THROUGH A LENS April 11, 2012 Emporio Armani 9682 Aviator Men’s Sunglasses, £125, sunglassesshop.com Sporty but oh-so-fashionable, these classic aviator-style shades featured in the spring/summer 2012 runway shows. Super-comfortable and equally good for strolling Mayfair or hitting the beach. Ray-Ban Black Folding 4105 Men’s Wayfarers, £125, my-wardrobe.com If you’re tired of all the aviator cool out there, try a classic with [...]