What is the Higgs Boson? China’s collider to study particle in unprecedented detail August 26, 2014 Large Hadron Collider, eat your heart out. China is planning to build a bigger, better particle collider that will be able to study the elusive Higgs Boson particle in unprecedented detail. With a circumference of 52km, the “Higgs Factory” would be almost twice the size of Europe's equivalent, and significantly more powerful. The Chinese [...]
Virgin Money eats up mortgage market share as lending rises May 1, 2015 The figures Virgin Money delivered a rise in mortgage lending and ate up a larger chunk of market share during the first quarter, cementing its position as one of the UK's fastest growing challenger banks. The lender said it enjoyed a 34 per cent rise in gross mortgage lending to £1.6bn at a time when [...]
The elder statesman: Lord Young talks motorways and tear gas September 21, 2014 If the Conservatives win next year’s general election, Lord Young will be the oldest person to work in Number 10 ever, beating William Gladstone, who was Prime Minister until he was 83. “Margaret Thatcher asked me to go into Cabinet 30 years ago. Now David Cameron tells everybody that he and I are the only [...]
IMF Admits: The UK is on top of the world July 24, 2014 BRITAIN is set to outstrip global growth this year, with figures out today expected to confirm that the economy has bounced back from the recession and is now larger than it ever has been before. British GDP will have grown by 3.4 per cent between the fourth quarter of last year and the end of [...]
Intelligent design: Oliver Bonas founder talks Hong Kong, princes and the art of letting go August 17, 2014 After a tough period during the recession, the fashion industry has bounced back with a vengeance. In the last five years, it’s grown by 22 per cent, and is now worth £26bn to our economy, according to figures out earlier this year from the British Fashion Council. Oliver Tress, founder of high street favourite Oliver [...]
Beer of the realm: Cobra founder Lord Bilimoria talks creativity, GM crops and cracking pubs August 31, 2014 If you haven’t enjoyed a Cobra beer yourself, you’ve probably had a curry with someone who has. Karan Bilimoria founded Cobra Beer in 1989. It’s a well-documented story by now: the entrepreneur and life peer saw the need for a beer that was less gassy than lager but not as heavy as ale. Cobra claims [...]
In a field of his own: FarmDrop’s Ben Pugh talks crowdfunding and the future of our food July 27, 2014 In the time it’s taken FarmDrop founder Ben Pugh to discuss his company with me, it crowdfunded £13,000. After just eight days on crowdfunding platform Crowdcube, FarmDrop raised more than its £400,000 investment target. A new way of doing food is, it seems, quite popular. The FarmDrop concept is simple: it streamlines the food [...]
Merlin gets set for stock market rollercoaster October 20, 2013 ALTON Towers owner Merlin Entertainments is closing in on plans to launch its long-awaited stock market debut after the roaring success of the Royal Mail float and temporary fixing of the US debt ceiling cleared its path to a listing. Merlin, which is co-owned by private equity titans Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners, is due [...]
I know what you’ll like next summer: How trend forecasting keeps the biggest brands on top September 23, 2014 Will you be gripped by a desire to own a pair of Birkenstocks at some point over the next 12 months? Need a mindfulness holiday retreat in 2016? What about a fridge that connects to the internet, maybe some time in the 2020s? Who knows, right? Well, someone probably does. An entire industry has grown [...]
Fitness challenge: the results after 10 weeks June 16, 2014 Everything I thought I knew about getting fit was wrong. Go running, avoid fat. Wrong, wrong, according to my trainer. And after my 10 week programme (eleven and a half factoring in holidays), I’m not inclined to argue. The results of my “total body transformation” were more impressive than I’d thought possible three months ago. [...]