French left backs DSK for shock return July 3, 2011 A NEW poll suggests former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn could stage a remarkable political come-back should the rapidly unravelling sex case against him finally collapse. As the credibility of the maid at the centre of the scandal comes under increasing doubt, a poll shows 60 per cent of left-leaning French voters want the man known [...]
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NEWS OF THE WORLD: UNDER RUPERT MURDOCH July 7, 2011 2 January 1969 Rupert Murdoch at the auction to bid for the control of the News of the World newspaper group. Murdoch beat off a rival £34m bid from Robert Maxwell’s Pergamon Press, winning a controlling stake and becoming new managing director of his first Fleet Street newspaper at the age of just 38. November [...]
BP’s Russian partners plot to block dividends January 31, 2011 BP’s RUSSIAN partners are attempting to derail the payment of the firm’s final dividend payment of last year in a row over exploration contracts. AAR, a vehicle for the billionaires who own half of Russian venture TNK-BP, said at an extraordinary board meeting yesterday that it plans to block TNK-BP interim dividends amounting to $1.8bn [...]
Crisis shows risk can’t be abolished July 27, 2011 IT is going to be a hot summer – and I’m not even talking about the weather. After a brief and irrational lull after last week’s pseudo-deal in the Eurozone, the global sovereign debt crisis is accelerating again, with the row over extending America’s debt ceiling becoming ever more farcical. Gold hit close to $1,630, [...]
CRUNCH TIME FOR THE HIGH STREET June 26, 2011 FASHION retailer Jane Norman was on the brink of collapse this weekend, after all of its stores across the UK were closed for business, signalling imminent insolvency. Zolfo Cooper, the US accounting firm, has been lined up to put the distressed fashion retailer into a pre-pack administration, which could be approved in court as soon [...]
She Stoops stands up very, very high indeed February 2, 2012 Theatre SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER Olivier Theatre at The National **** OLIVER Goldsmith’s famous play is a good old-fashioned romp. Cases of mistaken identity abound, incriminating snippets of conversation are overheard, priceless jewels are misplaced. Summarising the labyrinthine plot, which twists and writhes for two and a half hours, would take pages. Suffice it to [...]
Crisis for government migration cap December 22, 2010 NET migration will not fall by much next year despite the Conservatives’ pledge to reduce it to “tens of thousands,” the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said today. And the government’s measures to restrict immigration face legal challenges from opponents and attacks from business groups. Entrepreneurs and investors will no longer be able to [...]
GLENCORE’S GLASENBERG SHOWS HIS SOLIDARITY July 3, 2011 GLENCORE boss Ivan Glasenberg is notoriously elusive – but one event that persuaded the commodities billionaire to make a rare public appearance was a high-level mining industry dinner at Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood. Glasenberg was no doubt drawn to the fifth London event of The Melbourne Mining Club last week by the [...]
Successful entrepreneurs’ advice on how to ride out the three-year glitch September 25, 2011 STARTING a business is not easy. It’s a monumental decision like getting married, buying a house or having children. So much energy goes into getting it off the ground in the first year that it seems odd to focus on the third. But the third year really does matter. It’s a decisive year when most [...]
Successful entrepreneurs’ advice on how to ride out the three-year glitch September 25, 2011 STARTING a business is not easy. It’s a monumental decision like getting married, buying a house or having children. So much energy goes into getting it off the ground in the first year that it seems odd to focus on the third. But the third year really does matter. It’s a decisive year when most [...]