HELL ON HIGH WATER January 3, 2010 Everyone’s favourite daredevil chief executive, Helical Bar boss Mike Slade, has been up to his old tricks again over the Christmas period in his ICAP Leopard super-maxi racing yacht. Slade, who’s broken a whole haul of records with the yacht since launching it on the race circuit, was unable to take line honours in the [...]
Eurostar train drivers set to strike on Friday over wages December 16, 2009 British train drivers on Eurostar services will strike on Friday and Saturday over pay, but the company yesterday said it expected no disruption for pre-Christmas travellers. Eurostar trains link London to Paris and Brussels and the coming few days are usually among the busiest of the year ahead of the Christmas holiday. A spokesman for [...]
BA SUES UNION OVER XMAS STRIKE CRISIS December 15, 2009 BELEAGUERED airline British Airways (BA) is taking legal action against the Unite union in a desperate bid to prevent cabin crew from striking over the peak Christmas period, it said yesterday. Thousands of cabin crew voted to walk out for 12 days from 22 December earlier this week, in the latest blow to an airline [...]
M&S sales rise but Waitrose wins day January 6, 2010 MARKS & Spencer yesterday reported a rise in sales for the three months to Christmas but warned of a tough year ahead. The retailer saw like-for-like sales rise by 0.8 per cent with record takings on food on 23 December. Food sales overall were 0.4 per cent up on the previous year with general merchandise [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 15, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph NIGERIA’S STATE OIL TO GO PRIVATE Nigeria’s state-owned National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has initiated talks with investment banks including Standard Chartered, JP Morgan, and Deutsche Bank to explore financing options as it changes into a fully privatised commercial company. GAMING GIANT TO SEEK LISTING Gala Coral, which is set to [...]
High street celebrates Xmas boost January 11, 2010 SNOWY weather and economic gloom could not deter British shoppers from hitting the high streets in their droves last month, giving retailers their best December performance in four years, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today. Total retail sales values increased by an astonishing six per cent last month on December 2008 and 5.4 [...]
EDF Powerlink workers to strike December 21, 2009 Members of the Unite union working for EDF Powerlink are set to go on strike for four days from today after last-minute talks with the company broke down. The strike could bring London Underground services to a halt over the Christmas period as the workers maintain its electrical systems. They rejected a two-year pay deal [...]
Shoppers defy cold to set Christmas record December 21, 2009 SHOPPERS are coming out in force in the run up to Christmas, setting records in the capital and throughout the country. The New West End Company, representing more than 600 traders in central London, declared sales have been even higher than expected. Jace Tyrrell, head of communications, said: “We have had a good weekend. We [...]
Osborne takes a break from the campaign trail to talk to the City April 26, 2010 LAST YEAR, the future looked very different for George Osborne. With the Tories enjoying a seemingly unassailable lead in the polls, few doubted he would become the next chancellor. Privately, Tory strategists even whispered the word “landslide”. Now nearly all the polls point at a hung parliament and Osborne, who is also the Tories’ election [...]
TRAVEL NOTES December 14, 2009 A winter wonderland break in Prague Try a visit to central Europe’s most beautiful city for New Year’s, where fairytale gothic spires, golden rooftops and plenty of beer are sure to delight when the clock strikes 12. Stay at the four-star Casa Marcello in the Josefov district for £696 per person for three nights over [...]