Banks to take £7bn hit from Vickers reforms September 12, 2011 Britain’s banks should shield their retail operations from riskier investment banking units and boost capital levels to protect taxpayers from future crises, according to far-reaching proposals that could cost the industry £7bn a year. The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) also said banks must hold core capital of at least 10 per cent in their [...]
theatre HIGHLIGHTS THIS AUTUMN eight of the best September 1, 2011 THE TEMPEST Theatre Royal, Haymarket Ralph Fiennes, soon to be starring in his own film version of Shakespeare’s play Coriolanus, takes on the iconic role of Prospero in this must-see production (see right). It’s the first major London staging of the Bard’s mysterious final play in years, and also happens to offer the prospect of [...]
Hamlet has a brand new Sheen November 10, 2011 Theatre HAMLET YOUNG VIC No play can bore or tire the viewer more if produced unoriginally or acted weakly, and none can engage, emote nor enthral more if done well, than Hamlet. This Hamlet, starring Michael Sheen and directed by Ian Rickson (director of smash hit Jerusalem, playing across town), is the enthralling kind. Every [...]
Cameron pal found dead June 26, 2011 PRIME minister David Cameron led tributes yesterday for Conservative Party official and friend Christopher Shale, who was found dead at the Glastonbury music festival. Shale, 56, who was chairman of the Conservative Association in Cameron’s own West Oxfordshire constituency, was found in a portable toilet in a VIP backstage area, close to the main press [...]
END OF AN ERA AS CITY SAYS FAREWELL TO TOP LINKLATERS PARTNER September 22, 2011 IT WAS “hangover central” in the City yesterday, said one mole, thanks to some enthusiastic networking at the City A.M. awards that continued into the early hours of Thursday morning in the basement nightclub in the Grange Hotel at St Paul’s. However, the retirement party for Linklaters senior partner David Cheyne on the same evening [...]
My shock at seeing oil tanker plough into tiny yacht August 7, 2011 Olympic Champion sailor shares her Cowes Week diary with City A.M. IT’S only the third morning of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week and our household must be getting old, because we have already had a slightly earlier night last night. We have picked up a few waifs and strays. Pippa Wilson, who I sailed with [...]
China’s answer to Vegas is Eastern gambling paradise September 4, 2011 OF all the improbable consequences of China’s headlong rush into beating capitalism at its own game, Macau is the weirdest.In common with nearby Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony returned to Chinese ownership in 1999, but remains largely self-determining. As a result, gambling is legal. And not just legal: Macau is known as the Vegas [...]
Sun, flowers and history in Corsica August 14, 2011 THE blue Corsican sky rained men as we breakfasted on warm baguettes and chestnut flavoured honey on the terrace of our villa overlooking the bay of Calvi on the island’s north-west coast. As they leapt from their plane the parachutists from the nearby Foreign Legion base distracted us from another arresting sight – Calvi’s ancient [...]
Praia da Rocha June 20, 2011 BEACH HEAVEN Praia da Rocha (Rock Beach) is one of the most popular beaches in the Algarve. With an area of sand stretching over one kilometre, holidaymakers are assured plenty of space, even in peak times. The name “Rock Beach” comes from the beautiful, warm-coloured cliffs that surround the beach. High viewing points can be [...]
THREE OTHER PRIVATE CLUB RESTAURANTS May 16, 2011 THE IVY CLUB The West End’s legendary centre of luvviedom and fabulous English cooking opened its members’ club, The Club at the Ivy, in 2008, covering three floors of the building above the restaurant. The Ivy, 1-5 West Street. WC2H 9NQ www.the-ivy.co.uk BEAUFORT HOUSE CHELSEA At the cosier end of the King’s Road, Beaufort House [...]