Rivers, Buddhas and temples: SE Asia minus the beaches July 31, 2011 SOUTH East Asia is intimidatingly rich in temptations, fascinations and possibilities. As someone who had never been, and had ten days for the inaugural journey, I had to make some tough decisions. The first one was to steer clear of the beaches and focus on culture and rivers. This may sound a bit unsexy. But [...]
Meet the man behind the wheel at Addison Lee July 17, 2011 RECESSIONS are colonic irrigation for the economy,” John Griffin tells me, “all the crap gets washed out.” He smirks at me. “When things started going down the pan, I employed more staff. 150 drivers, 35 in the central office. I put my foot to the floor because everyone else started scaling back.” Griffin is a [...]
Meet the man behind the wheel at Addison Lee July 17, 2011 RECESSIONS are colonic irrigation for the economy,” John Griffin tells me, “all the crap gets washed out.” He smirks at me. “When things started going down the pan, I employed more staff. 150 drivers, 35 in the central office. I put my foot to the floor because everyone else started scaling back.” Griffin is a [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 30, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHRISTIAN CANDY TO RESELL GOLD SHARES Christian Candy, the property developer, is to sell shares back to minority investors in a gold mining company after his attempt to take the mine owner private was thwarted. The agreement is part of a deal that could strengthen the rights of small investors. It is set [...]
Black cab maker Manganese Bronze narrows losses March 18, 2011 Manganese Bronze, maker of London’s traditional black cabs, reported a narrower loss for 2010, and said it was well placed to post a profit this year. The company, which is 20 per cent owned by China’s largest private automaker Geely Automobile said it made a pretax loss of £6.3m, compared to £7.3m in 2009. The [...]
Do as we say, not as we do, says the Mirror January 12, 2011 EDITORS at the Daily Mirror could barely contain their excitement at the coming of bonus season yesterday, splashing their front page on the beleaguered chief executive of RBS, Stephen Hester under the headline “Do the right thing: give up your obscene £3m bonus”. “The Mirror calls on Mr Hester and all the other fatcat bankers [...]
Your car, sir January 11, 2011 HAVING a baby has turned me into a chauffeur. As my wife embeds in the back in a pre-emptive strike against impending infant in-car seat boredom meltdowns, I invariably sit alone in the front like a sort of North London Jeeves, taking radio station requests and having to grudgingly take sole responsibility for figuring out [...]
Your car, sir January 11, 2011 HAVING a baby has turned me into a chauffeur. As my wife embeds in the back in a pre-emptive strike against impending infant in-car seat boredom meltdowns, I invariably sit alone in the front like a sort of North London Jeeves, taking radio station requests and having to grudgingly take sole responsibility for figuring out [...]
Far from the Medina crowd November 14, 2010 MARRAKECH might not immediately spring to mind when choosing somewhere to unwind. And to be sure, its main square Jemaa el Fna delivers noise, commotion, smoke and crowds, with tourists tripping over dancing monkeys and baskets of cobras to get to their next tagine. But there’s another side to the pink city, away from the [...]
Far from the Medina crowd November 14, 2010 MARRAKECH might not immediately spring to mind when choosing somewhere to unwind. And to be sure, its main square Jemaa el Fna delivers noise, commotion, smoke and crowds, with tourists tripping over dancing monkeys and baskets of cobras to get to their next tagine. But there’s another side to the pink city, away from the [...]