The Shanghai’s the limit in this city that never stops March 29, 2015 Londoners are obsessed with christening skyscrapers. From the Walkie Talkie to the Cheesegrater, new buildings are barely granted planning permission before they are slapped with a nickname, reducing years of meticulous planning to a childish slogan. If the residents of Shanghai had a similar habit, they’d have little time to do anything else. The skyline [...]
General Election 2015: David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg on how they’re going to solve the housing crisis (and which is their favourite room) April 23, 2015 House prices are too high and there aren't enough homes on the market, a new – not altogether surprising – study has suggested. But with an election just days away, property search giant Rightmove, which conducted the research, decided to take it to the leaders of each party to see what they're going to do [...]
Inside Track: The new issues market drifts into ever choppier waters April 10, 2014 THIS was the week when a sudden reality check intervened in the new issues market. It came after a blissful start to the year that has seen share prices popping, books covered multiple times and investors cashing out most profitably. The big losers earlier this week were the technology stocks, with shares in AO World, [...]
LiteBulb Group’s Simon McGivern and James Phillips talk Mary Berry, cashpoint encounters and woodwork January 18, 2015 It's not every day that you bump into an old friend at a cash machine in Fulham and end up hatching a business – but then Simon McGivern and James Phillips, the founders of LiteBulb Group, are not your average pair. They went to school together (although they didn’t know each other very well) and [...]
Penta-graphene: Scientists simulate what could be the strongest super-material yet February 4, 2015 It is incredibly strong, mechanically stable and capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures. Penta-graphene is the latest super-material to be simulated by scientists, and it could prove to be even more useful than graphene – the carbon-based super-conductor whose strength and flexibility have caused a stir ever since it was discovered in 2004. [...]
Film review: Cake – the one where Jennifer Aniston feels sorry for herself February 19, 2015 Cert 15 | ★☆☆☆☆ Since Friends, Jennifer Aniston has gone on to build a successful, if not groundbreaking, career as a commercially bankable but critically patronised American sweetheart. But she wants more. She wants respect. She wants awards. She wants – whisper it – to do a McConaughey. Cake isn’t Aniston politely asking to [...]
Restaurant review: Typing Room is a local with verve March 10, 2015 On the ever-spinning carousel that is the London restaurant scene, there are inevitably winners and losers. When Nuno Mendes packed up Viajante to help create London’s most papped eatery, Chiltern Firehouse, it seemed Bethnal Green would be one of the losers. But the space he vacated – the old town hall off Cambridge Heath road, [...]
An Isa revolution: Why the savings and investment vehicle is now more powerful than ever before April 23, 2015 Nearly 14m new Isas were opened in 2013-14. According to the recent BlackRock Investor Pulse Survey, the 16 year-old savings vehicle is used by over a quarter of Britons to build up their longterm wealth, and by nearly 40 per cent to provide a rainy day fund for life events. And the government’s revolution in [...]
Deflation spiral: Who would be the winners and losers? January 8, 2015 Yesterday it was finally confirmed the embattled eurozone slipped into deflation in the final month of 2014. Consumer prices slid into negative territory with a -0.2 per cent year-on-year inflation rate. This marked a significant fall from November when prices rose by 0.3 per cent according to Eurostat. This has fuelled concern the eurozone could [...]
Matomy raises £40m after IPO plan resurrected July 8, 2014 Israel tech firm Matomy yesterday became only the second firm to list on London’s new high-growth segment after resurrecting a listing plan from earlier this year. The advertising technology company, which shelved plans in March, priced shares at 227p and immediately saw a pop in informal trading, pushing shares up to 237p. [...]