Inside Track: Behind the scenes of the Pfizer and Astrazeneca talks April 23, 2014 IT WAS ever thus: investment bankers kick off the year talking up a economic environment ripe for throwing up industry-defining mergers and acquisitions. By Easter, they’re conjuring up myriad reasons why said deluge of deals has failed to materialise. To date, 2014 has done little to disabuse that idea. There are exceptions, of course, one [...]
City Matters: Britain’s seafaring past is still shaping the City’s culture and economy today September 15, 2013 WHEN people talk about the “City”, they often do so solely in terms of its banks – and financial services. These are a central element of what the City does, but this leaves out a whole side of the Square Mile that is just as important: the second thing we sum up in the handy [...]
Why remote working may be dying April 8, 2014 Homeworkers can be just as productive but risk missing out on the corporate culture UNTIL recently, it looked like remote working was the future. Faster home broadband connections, new services like Skype, and nascent document-sharing technologies raised hopes that the daily office commute would soon be a preserve of the minority. The data backed this [...]
Where to drink May 8, 2014 When daylight saving time kicks in and the sun emerges from behind the clouds, the British mind often wanders to warmer climes, and, more specifically, the things that people drink there. One such area is the “Dirty South” of America. The Q Grill opened in a former petrol station in Camden last week and is [...]
Dish of the Day: Sabrina Ghayour’s lamb biryani June 10, 2014 Picture: Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton PERSIAN food is much lighter than people expect and it’s the least spiced food in the Middle East. It uses an abundance of fresh herbs, lemons, tomatoes and molasses and we tend to eat a lot of lamb, chicken and fish. It’s a really good place to start if you [...]
Dish of the Day: Sabrina Ghayour’s lamb biryani June 10, 2014 Picture: Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton PERSIAN food is much lighter than people expect and it’s the least spiced food in the Middle East. It uses an abundance of fresh herbs, lemons, tomatoes and molasses and we tend to [...]
ACCA Comment: Corporation tax is due for a revamp March 18, 2014 Company taxation in its current form is looking out of date BUDGET fever has truly taken hold when even global super-group One Direction starts calling on the chancellor to do something about corporation tax. Last week, the boy band asked its millions of fans to “bombard” George Osborne with emails, urging him to crack down [...]
City Moves for 21 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 20, 2014 Baker & McKenzie The law firm has announced the appointment of Steven Francis as a partner in its financial services group. He specialises in Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) enforcement work, non-contentious FCA compliance advice, financial crime, and corporate compliance issues. Francis was most recently at RPC, where he was a partner and head of its financial services and [...]
The New York power breakfast: A world of billion-dollar deals and $23 bowls of cereal July 29, 2014 Every morning, Leigh Wynn, the maitre d’ of the most expensive and exclusive breakfast spot in New York, wakes up at 4.30am. From 7am to 10am, her job is to find a table for some of the biggest and most demanding names in business, media and politics, and personally cater to their every whim, while [...]
City Matters: Why the City’s buildings must adapt to suit a vibrant and commercial future September 8, 2013 THE STORY of the “Walkie-Scorchie” has taken the world by storm – following City A.M.’s revelation last week that a Jaguar had “melted” in the heat on Eastcheap. This brought global attention to the new buildings that are nosing skywards in the east of our Square Mile. It also highlighted the difficult and delicate process [...]