England World Cup final worth £1bn to retailers June 3, 2014 AS FOOTBALL fans around the world prepare for the start of the biggest event in the sporting calendar next week, it won’t just be supporters who are hoping England make it to the final of the World Cup in Brazil. New research suggests retailers stand to make a Mexican-wave-worthy £1bn during the game if England make [...]
How to improve relations among your colleagues July 8, 2014 Worrying about being seen as a slacker is holding Londoners back. Many of us spend more time in the office than we do with our partners, housemates, or friends. So why are we so reluctant to invest time and energy in fostering genuine relationships with our co-workers? You might think you already [...]
Where to drink in the City: The changing face of Square Mile nightlife September 17, 2014 The City of London: engine-room for the country’s economy, working place of some of the most powerful decision-makers in the Western world. But the Square Mile is strangely anachronistic in terms of its watering holes. If you fancy a drink after work, the choice has tended to be between good old spit and sawdust boozers [...]
Why spurious financial precision may be killing our markets – and our fish September 14, 2014 The way we handle uncertainty determines our future. Many of mankind’s self-created problems, from financial crises to environmental devastation, arise from poor analysis of future risks and rewards. We lack confidence in our tools for handling uncertainty. Within the financial sector we’ve been partially burned by derivatives, mark-to-market, or value-at-risk. Scotland’s independence referendum may represent [...]
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 [...]
Consumer firms to spark next flotation frenzy October 6, 2013 BRITISH department store House of Fraser is on the cusp of appointing advisers to explore plans for a float of the chain, amid a resurgence in consumer–focused brands looking to list in London. The chain is thought to have held a beauty parade of investment banks, laying plans for a £300m float after the Christmas [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]