The crackdown on no win, no fee risks handing a victory to dodgy directors October 15, 2014 One of the hazards of policymaking is that many of the best-laid plans can have curiously unintended consequences. In implementing policy, meanwhile, government can often find its left hand undermined by its right. So it has been with the Ministry of Justice’s laudable bid to halt spurious and costly civil litigation, an initiative which now [...]
Victory for Fraud Office as British banker pleads guilty in Libor case October 7, 2014 THE BRITISH authorities have claimed victory in the first of at least 12 prosecutions against bankers and financiers accused of trying to manipulate the key inter-bank interest rate benchmark, Libor. One banker pleaded guilty on Friday, but cannot yet be named for legal reasons. The High Court believes that revealing the identity of the banker could affect [...]
Libya’s $1bn hangover after Goldman Sachs bankers paid for “lavish trip” to Morocco with “heavy drinking and girls involved” October 6, 2014 Goldman Sachs bankers took Libyan sovereign wealth fund bosses on a boozy weekend to Marrakesh – befriending them before selling them financial products the clients did not understand, the High Court heard yesterday. Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) said it lost $1bn (£622m) on the deals from January to April 2008, and told the court it [...]
City Moves for 06 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 5, 2014 Camarco The recently launched financial and corporate communications consultancy has announced the appointment of Ginny Pulbrook as partner and head of industrials and support services. She joins from Citigate Dewe Rogerson, where she has worked since co-founding the business in 1988. Pulbrook began her career in corporate finance at NM Rothschild and Bankers Trust. [...]
10 Soho Square: Bringing glamour back to London’s film land October 3, 2014 It has always been desirable to live off one of London’s garden squares. These traditionally fashionable addresses – such as Chester Square, Hanover Square and Eaton Square – are known in the popular imagination as the homes of the aristocracy and elder statesmen. Eaton Square is probably today’s most illustrious example, but back in the [...]
Crossrail will send London property prices soaring by 60 per cent October 1, 2014 Crossrail’s high-speed rail service will not only provide millions with increased connectivity into the capital, but it will send house-prices along its route skyrocketing, new figures show. The £15.8bn Crossrail project has already had a profound effect on properties in London, with the prices of those near the large-scale Tottenham Court Road development rising [...]
Economic warfare between the West and Russia only punishes the guiltless September 30, 2014 INCREASINGLY, I am receiving requests for legal support from Russian and Western individuals and businesses who are suffering from the economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, and from Russia’s counter-measures. The legality of these sanctions is dubious at best. They flagrantly violate the free trade principles enshrined in the World Trade Organisation treaty [...]
Gutsy Osborne was right to gamble on a promise of further spending cuts September 29, 2014 ED MILIBAND made a pitch for office that was so forgettable that he forgot it himself.” That line was the key message chancellor George Osborne wanted us to take away from his party conference speech yesterday. While the Conservatives have a plan to continue to eliminate the budget deficit and create the conditions for prosperous [...]
Theatre review: Teh Internet is Serious Business, The Royal Court September 26, 2014 IT’S HARD to know what the greying grandees of London theatre criticism would have made of Teh Internet is Serious Business, a play that revels in an online world of memes and trolls, cheeseburger-demanding cats, socially awkward penguins and condescending Willy Wonkas. But what appears as incomprehensible nonsense to most, makes perfect sense to a [...]
Mapped: Which Phones 4u stores are being shut down? September 23, 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers has revealed the addresses of the 360-plus Phones 4u stores that are being shut down, and the number of staff being made redundant as the business is wound down. At this stage 1,679 people will lose their jobs, with a further 720 people staying on to help with the wind down. Some [...]