Sarries staying upbeat despite double defeat June 1, 2014 SARACENS may be reeling from a double dose of final misery but director of rugby Mark McCall insists their season has still been one to remember. Saturday’s nail-biting 24-20 extra-time loss to Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership Rugby showpiece followed hot on the heels of the Heineken Cup final disappointment against Toulon a week [...]
Car review: The BMW i8 July 21, 2014 We'd stopped the BMW i8 alongside Loch a’ Chroisg to swap drivers and stretch our legs. A bunch of us had flown up from Farnborough that morning to Inverness, and we were heading around the top of Scotland in a crazy five-hour drive, before flying south again mid-afternoon. Minutes later, the Land Rover Discovery that [...]
What our politicians can learn from the Hunger Games rules of persuasion June 26, 2014 PANEM today, Panem tomorrow, Panem forever.” You need to watch the chilling new teaser for the next Hunger Games movie, Mockingjay. Its cool irony confirms the series’s remarkable journey from minor young adult diversion to cultural milestone. The series of thrillers is no cinematic masterpiece, but 30 years on from 1984 it is helping inoculate [...]
World Cup final to go right down to the wire July 10, 2014 BEN CLEMINSON PREVIEWS THE WORLD CUP FINAL AND BILL ESDAILE LOOKS AT NEWMARKET’S JULY MEETING AN ARGENTINA victory on Sunday night in the Maracana over Germany would be the final insult for a Brazilian nation left battered and bruised after the 7-1 drubbing they took at the hands of the Germans on Tuesday. Argentina were [...]
Trading the World Cup: Shrewd betters look to Argentina June 9, 2014 THE WORLD Cup kicks off in Brazil this Thursday, and some put the figure that is going to be wagered at a cool £1bn. It’s an extraordinary number, and quite what the bookmakers’ liabilities are on a win for the favourites Brazil is anyone’s guess. With raucous home support, and star names like Neymar, David [...]
Piña colada cocktail recipe June 17, 2014 NOW is the time to stand athwart history. Now is the time for a band of brothers to unite against the barbarian at the gates; now is the time to take up arms, to stand up (provided you’ve not drunk too much) against the skinny cocktail. There's something to the slippery slope theory of [...]
Any Other Business – 08/05 May 8, 2014 NOT TO be outdone by hedge fund boss Guy Hands (who has just announced he’s donating £2m towards the construction of Mansfield College, Oxford’s new Love Lane Building) Sir Michael Hintze, chief exec of hedge fund CQS, has announced he’s donating £5m to the Natural History Museum. Hintze (who received his sir-dom for services to the [...]
CNBC Comment: Don’t expect oil respite from Iran or Iraq June 16, 2014 IT’S A busy fortnight for oil traders. First, there was the Opec meeting in Vienna last week. Hot on its heels came the unexpected crisis in Iraq, the second largest Opec producer, which resulted in nine-month highs for West Texas Intermediate and Brent Crude prices on concerns over supply disruption. And there will be no [...]
Mid-market, middle of the road May 19, 2014 The new Jeep Cherokee arrives with plenty of fancy tech, but does it do enough to justify the price tag? The new Jeep Cherokee is stuck between a rock and a hard place – and that’s nothing to do with its off-road ability. The American brand is still something of an outsider in the UK, [...]
Borthwick: Saints should expect a Sarries backlash May 29, 2014 SARACENS captain Steve Borthwick is convinced his team-mates possess the strength of character to bounce back from their Heineken Cup heartbreak when they face Northampton Saints in tomorrow’s Aviva Premiership Rugby final. The Twickenham clash will bring the curtain down on Borthwick’s 16-year playing career. And as the 34-year-old bids to go out on an [...]