Focus on Blackfriars: The rise and rise of City towers on the South Bank January 15, 2015 Of all the makeovers the City of London has undergone in the ancient heart of the capital, Blackfriars is set to be one of the most breathtaking. The opening of Blackfriars South in 2013 marked the first new train station to open on the south bank of the Thames in 120 years. Commuters will no [...]
More Tube chaos with delays and cancellations on the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines October 1, 2014 More chaos for London's Tube users this morning, after a broken-down train at Tottenham Court Road caused Transport for London (TfL) to suspend the line between Liverpool Street and Marble Arch. To make matters worse, the Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Circle lines were hit with severe delays while TfL fixed a signal failure at [...]
Henry IV Parts 1 and 2: An RSC hit at the Barbican December 18, 2014 Barbican | ★★★★☆ The Henry IV plays occupy an odd place in Shakespeare’s canon. They have the dimensions of a soap opera, spanning the breadth of society for the entire duration of a reign. They’re tonally inconsistent, flashing from palace to pub, and sparse of incident. Tense battles conclude with the blackest of comedy, [...]
Gordon Castle: Let us whisky you away to Scotland March 8, 2015 It was here atop the snow-spattered hills of Speyside in the Scottish Highlands that King Macbeth was said to have met his violent end. According to legend, it was the future King Malcolm III who stabbed him in 1057 (he died several weeks later). Life in the valleys rising up either side of the river [...]
In praise of solitude: What does time alone mean to you? April 2, 2015 Our phones never stop ringing. Emails flood our inboxes. Meetings are an integral part of our working lives (not to mention pre-meetings and de-briefings). Smartphones keep us connected with our friends and family during the day and our bosses when we’re at home at night. In 2015, most of us can quite honestly say they [...]
Labour calls for change to rules to create a statutory code to govern pub companies January 20, 2014 LABOUR’S shadow minister for pubs has called a debate in the House of Commons today in a bid to create a new statutory code for pub companies. In a move supported by Labour leader Ed Miliband and shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, Toby Perkins will call for a pubs bill to introduce rent reviews, a [...]
Crisis at the FCA as top regulator Clive Adamson departs December 4, 2014 Some of the City’s most senior insurance executives last night expressed their dismay at the departure of Clive Adamson from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Adamson was widely respected within the industry for being a tough but fair regulator. The news that he is to step down comes days ahead of the publication of a [...]
Magners owner defends Spirit bid as profits fall October 29, 2014 DUBLIN-BASED C&C Group continued to see its share price tumble yesterday as it defended its bid to buy Spirit Pubs. The company argued that it needs greater scale to battle competition in England as its profits dropped sharply. Shares fell 7.8 per cent to €3.39, down nearly 15 per cent since C&C confirmed it had [...]
Fenwick boosts board with Alastair Kerr and Christine Cross October 19, 2014 Fenwick, the family-owned department store chain, has bolstered its board by hiring two retail heavyweights, Alastair Kerr and Christine Cross, as non-executive directors. Cross spent the biggest part of her career at Tesco, where she held a string of senior non-food retailing roles between 1989 and 2003 under Lord MacLaurin and Sir Terry Leahy. She [...]
Crowdfunding: A brief history March 26, 2015 It’s transforming the prospects of small businesses, but it’s still early days for crowdfunding in the UK. By the middle of this month, the Scottish National Party had raised nearly £35,000 on crowdfunding website Crowdfunder. It’s not the only party to turn to crowdfunding to bankroll its General Election campaign – over the past three [...]