Train strikes hit London July 30, 2009 RAIL strikes caused havoc for commuters travelling on the National Express East Anglia train services yesterday, as members of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) and Aslef unions took industrial action over a pay dispute. The 48-hour walk-out had “crippled” services, the unions said. Many commuters stayed at home as a limited peak-time service failed [...]
Kingman loss is a huge blow to Brown July 28, 2009 THERE is a great anecdote about John Kingman, the civil servant who yesterday shocked the City by announcing his resignation as CEO of UKFI, the holding company for state-owned banks. Back in 1994, the 25-year old Kingman, still fresh out of Westminster School and Oxford University, was working as private secretary to the financial secretary, [...]
Kingman loss is a huge blow to Brown July 28, 2009 THERE is a great anecdote about John Kingman, the civil servant who yesterday shocked the City by announcing his resignation as CEO of UKFI, the holding company for state-owned banks. Back in 1994, the 25-year old Kingman, still fresh out of Westminster School and Oxford University, was working as private secretary to the financial secretary, [...]
The cut-throat world of New York’s super-rich August 12, 2009 HEDGE FUND WIVESBY TATIANA BONCOMPAGNIHarper Collins, £6.99 IT may sound a little out of date – after all, we’re so over hedgies and their failed fortunes. Except the New York hedge fund world, including its cut-throat circle of wives, still holds more interest than you’d think. This is not the first tale of high finance [...]
Taking the gay out of Dorian Gray September 10, 2009 FilmDORIAN GRAYCert: 12 THE Portrait of Dorian Gray is a story about a man with a terrible secret about the state of his soul, something that Oscar Wilde was no doubt very familiar with. While Dorian has his painting in his attic, Oscar was firmly in his closet. Like Jekyll and Hyde, Dorian Gray is [...]
BT BOSS CAN’T GET BROADBAND AT HOME July 20, 2009 ARE YOU unable to get broadband access at home because of your postcode? Well, it turns out that you are in good company. Not even BT chairman Sir Michael Rake is able to access broadband in the usual way from his Hambledon Valley home, and is instead forced to be a guinea pig for the [...]
Labour faces disaster as voting looms May 31, 2009 THE LABOUR party’s European election hopes suffered another blow yesterday, as an opinion poll showed it lagging behind both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats for the first time in 22 years. According to the ICM poll, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s party is set to suffer a significant defeat in the European elections on Thursday [...]
Government debt rises by 20bn in May June 18, 2009 GOVERNMENT borrowing in May increased by the largest amount since monthly records began and could reach as high as £200bn this fiscal year if it continues at its current pace, official data showed yesterday. Figures from the Office of National Statistics revealed that public sector net borrowing was £19.9bn in May 2009 and the public [...]
Lloyds closes C&G outlets June 9, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group is to withdraw its Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) brand from the high street in a move that will see the bank wield the axe over up to 1,660 staff as it streamlines in the wake of its takeover of HBOS. The bank said it would close all 164 branches of C&G within [...]
FIRST WOMEN GATHER AT GALA TALENT SHOW June 11, 2009 THERE’S nothing a bunch of hard-working businesswomen like better than listening to one of their own knowing how to send herself up in style. So it should come as no surprise that the star of this year’s First Women Awards, held last night in the luxurious surroundings of the Marriott Grosvenor Square, was Deloitte veteran [...]