Rapid responses November 5, 2012 Green shoots I took it as a sure sign that we were in the grip of a severe bear market when your regular Monday feature “Bill of the Week” was quietly canned. So it was with interest that I saw a “green shoot” in yesterday’s edition, with the Capitalist reporting on a thundering bill chalked [...]
Christian Louboutin wins right to protect distinctive red soles September 5, 2012 THE bright red soles on French footwear designer Christian Louboutin’s high-heeled shoes are so distinctive they deserve trademark protection, a US appeals court has ruled. A three judge panel at the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York yesterday reversed a lower court’s finding that a single colour could not be trademarked in [...]
Consumer spending expands at the fastest rate since 2009 October 4, 2012 YEARLY consumer spending growth returned in September, according to data that Visa collects from use of its cards. Spending jumped at its fastest rate since May 2009, growing three per cent between August and September. And this upturn, after August’s 1.2 per cent monthly growth, pushed consumption into positive territory for the year as a [...]
AVB tribute to new dad Bale after Spurs win October 28, 2012 SOUTHAMPTON 1 vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 SPURS boss Andre Villas-Boas hailed new dad Gareth Bale after the winger returned to the side yesterday following the birth of his first child and scored Tottenham’s opening goal of a narrow victory at St Mary’s. Bale’s header gave the visitors the lead after a quarter an hour, with [...]
AVB tribute to new dad Bale after Spurs win October 28, 2012 SOUTHAMPTON 1 vs TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 2 SPURS boss Andre Villas-Boas hailed new dad Gareth Bale after the winger returned to the side yesterday following the birth of his first child and scored Tottenham’s opening goal of a narrow victory at St Mary’s. Bale’s header gave the visitors the lead after a quarter an hour, with [...]
Carney is a great choice – but he didn’t save Canada November 26, 2012 IN hiring Mark Carney, George Osborne has ensured that Britain will stay at the forefront of global financial market regulation. The new governor will be a game-changing counterweight to European banking reform and a man certain to keep the UK’s financial services sector at the centre of its economic recovery. His chairmanship of the Financial [...]
Channel your inner James Bond with help from Apsley December 12, 2012 For CHRISTMAS this year, I want to look like James Bond. And I don’t mean Timothy Dalton or Pierce Brosnan – I want to look like Daniel Craig. Can Santa make that happen? The answer is: yes, kind of. You can, at least, dress like him. The most memorable sartorial choice in the latest 007 [...]
There is room for two on the US’s east coast November 18, 2012 Hopping over a grate steaming with hot air from the metro system below, I stroll past the gleaming plate glass wrapped around the ground floor of the towering skyscrapers of downtown. As I swing open the door of the city’s chicest fashion boutique, the rooftop bar next door breaks through the traffic noise with an [...]
Michael Gove is courageously recovering our ancient tradition of learning November 15, 2012 IN 75 BC, when the great Roman politician and champion of liberal learning Cicero was quaestor in Sicily, he led an expedition to a neglected, overgrown jumble of funerary monuments just outside the city of Syracuse. Directing men with scythes to cut away the briars, he uncovered the tomb of Archimedes, lost for more than [...]
Nike results marred by slowdown in its key Chinese market September 27, 2012 NIKE last night reported first quarter earnings 12 per cent lower than the same period last year as the higher cost of raw materials took its toll on the sportswear giant. For the three months to the end of August, Nike’s net income fell to $567m (£349.2m), or $1.23 per share. That compares with net [...]