Spending spike as UK economy bounces back September 8, 2013 AS SURVEYS indicate a bumper month for business this September, new figures suggest that the increased activity is driven mainly by consumer spending, with credit and debit card use on the up. Barclaycard said yesterday there had been a strong upswing in spending through August, backing up figures from Visa Europe, which recorded its strongest [...]
A rural idyll a stone’s throw from London November 3, 2013 Under an hour from the capital, the Four Seasons Hampshire is the perfect place to recharge your batteries THREE years ago, during my first ever stay at a Four Seasons Hotel, my friend and I invented a game. In order to win all you had to do was walk from our room to the bar [...]
Beware the unintended consequences of making a Living Wage mandatory November 4, 2013 IT’S LIVING Wage week, and many are endorsing the principle of raising low pay, whether by boosting the minimum wage, or by forcing local authorities and pressuring other private employers to pay the Living Wage. It’s an attractive proposition, advocated by politicians as varied as Ed Miliband and Boris Johnson. But it is worth pausing [...]
Saluting all those who served the country October 20, 2013 ALMOST 400 guests flocked to the Guildhall on Friday for the third Square Mile Salute banquet, hosted by Michelin-starred chefs Albert and Michel Roux Jr. With support from leading players in business and politics, including Lord Ashcroft and the spread-betting group CMC Markets, the event has grown into a hotly anticipated culinary masterpiece and a [...]
We can thank Britain’s services industries for powering the recovery October 27, 2013 AS EXPECTED, the latest GDP figures show that the UK economy grew healthily in the third quarter of this year. All the main sectors – services, manufacturing and construction – contributed to growth for the second quarter in a row. This provides some reassurance that the recovery is broad-based, and that the momentum will continue [...]
Labour pledges to raise UK corporation tax September 23, 2013 IN BRIGHTON ED MILIBAND will today announce a raid on the profits of large UK businesses, as he commits to reversing the coalition’s planned corporation tax cut. The Labour leader will tell his party’s annual conference in Brighton that his government would scrap plans to reduce corporation tax – the charge levied on companies’ profits [...]
Focus on Fulham: South west hotspot is the real Ful monty September 12, 2013 FULHAM is one of the most desirable locations in london – it has the bustle of the city combined with a small-town sense of community. It’s only a few minutes from the heart of London but it has a leafy, laid-back atmosphere that belies its location. It may be seen as the less auspicious neighbour [...]
Walkie Scorchie sets carpet on fire, cracks tiles and melts paint | City A.M. September 6, 2013 THE GREAT Fire of London began on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. And yesterday – exactly 347 years later – there was once again smoke in the vicinity, as the Walkie Talkie’s beam of hot light set the carpet of a nearby barber shop on fire. “We want the developer to fix it somehow,” Ali Akay of [...]
Walkie Scorchie sets carpet on fire, cracks tiles and melts paint | City A.M. September 6, 2013 THE GREAT Fire of London began on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. And yesterday – exactly 347 years later – there was once again smoke in the vicinity, as the Walkie Talkie’s beam of hot light set the carpet of a nearby barber shop on fire. “We want the developer to fix it somehow,” Ali Akay of [...]
Walkie Scorchie sets carpet on fire, cracks tiles and melts paint | City A.M. September 6, 2013 THE GREAT Fire of London began on Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666. And yesterday – exactly 347 years later – there was once again smoke in the vicinity, as the Walkie Talkie’s beam of hot light set the carpet of a nearby barber shop on fire. “We want the developer to fix it somehow,” Ali Akay of [...]