Getting it done: How to conquer ineffectiveness April 7, 2014 A new book finds that making progress is about more than to-do lists WHEN asked how to write a novel, Ernest Hemingway responded, “First, you defrost the refrigerator.” And today – when we can be pulled away from important tasks by the ring of our newest gadget – few are immune from the temptation to [...]
Smart Josses Hill can go one better in today’s opener April 3, 2014 BILL ESDAILE PREVIEWS THE BEST OF THE ACTION AT AINTREE TODAY AND TOMORROW TIME will probably tell that JOSSES HILL bumped into an absolute monster in Vautour at the Cheltenham Festival last month. Willie Mullins’ powerhouse smashed the track record, held by none other than the mighty three-time Champion Hurdle hero Istabraq, that day and [...]
London 2030: An optimist’s vision of the next urban renaissance April 1, 2014 LONDON faces acute problems of growth. We are building barely a third as many new homes as we need. Yet there is no credible plan for the other two-thirds. In 17 boroughs, the average rent is more than half the average wage, and the typical first time buyer is 32. Peak congestion is unbearable across [...]
Bottom Line: Royal Mail proves markets trump politics March 31, 2014 ON ITS first day as a listed company in February, shares in AO.com rose by 33 per cent. Three weeks later, Poundland followed suit; jumping 23 per cent on its debut and making millionaires of several of its senior managers. Other players in London’s recent initial public offering (IPO) boom haven’t fared so well; Just [...]
Corporate leadership: What an EMBA can teach you March 26, 2014 Business schools are finding innovative new ways to respond to growing demand for these skills HARVARD Business School professor John Kotter famously wrote in 1990 that “most US corporations today are over-managed and underled”. He stressed the urgent need for organisations to exercise leadership, to seek out people with leadership potential, and to “expose them [...]
Reactions to the chancellor’s statement March 19, 2014 THINK TANK’S TAKE Director at the Adam Smith InstituteEamonn Butler The libertarian think tank applauded the freedom granted to pensioners. “At last Britain's private pension savers will be treated like responsible adults. As lifetimes have lengthened and financial uncertainty has abounded, annuity rates have fallen, leaving savers much worse off then they expected. The rule [...]
Letters to the Editor – 20/03 – Energy market, Best of Twitter March 19, 2014 Energy market [Re: Blame the regulator, yesterday] Stephen Littlechild’s article is full of inaccuracies and poorly substantiated claims. None of the discounts he claims we regard as “harmful complexities” are prevented under our reforms for a simpler, clearer fairer market. Nor would our rules prevent British Gas providing free electricity on Saturdays as he suggests. [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 14 March 2014 March 13, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Zuckerberg attacks US surveillance Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, has strongly criticised the US government for dragging its heels on plans to reform its mass surveillance programme. In a post on the social network, Zuckerberg said he had called President Barack Obama to express his “frustration” over the damage the government [...]
Consolidate: Don’t let your Isas go to waste March 11, 2014 But be very careful to avoid committing the cardinal sin of losing the tax wrapper on your existing investment With the end of the tax year fast approaching (5 April), the clock is ticking to make the most of your full Isa allowance (currently £11,520, up to half of which can be held in cash). [...]
The McDonald’s doctrine is dead: Ukraine shows why March 11, 2014 A GREAT event took place in Pushkin Square, Moscow on 31 January 1990: a branch of McDonald’s was opened. There was similar excitement in Kiev on 24 May 1997, when the McDonald’s franchise was extended to Ukraine. The US author Thomas Friedman wrote in 1999 that no two countries with such a franchise had ever [...]