REFORM IS THE STORY OF BANKING BESTSELLER February 1, 2012 EVER WONDERED how former BP and Lehman Brothers spinner Andrew Gowers ended up as a strategic consultant to the Association for Financial Markets in Europe? The appointment of the one-time FT editor last November was a “seamless transition”, says AFME’s CEO Simon Lewis, from Gowers editing the body’s collection of essays on reforming Europe’s financial [...]
EPISODE 40: BEER, BUSINESS AND BIRCH-THEM-ALL December 12, 2011 Birchenall only looked about 70. That means he can’t have been more than – what?” Quickly I do the maths. Surely not. “That means he can’t have been more than about 45 when we were at school,” I say to Nick, incredulously. “I know. Scary,” replies Nick. “I’m sure Birch-Them-All looked about a hundred back [...]
RIM’s 2011 has been a nightmare – and it better wake up soon January 4, 2012 At a time of year when success stories are being lauded in a frenzy of year-end round-ups, spare a thought for those standing in the shadows, solemnly planning their new year’s resolutions. Sony’s should be “must remember to lock the back door,” given its unfortunate hacking incident, adding to the woes of its TV department, [...]
Cebu & Boracay paradise with flair March 25, 2012 HAVING recently visited nearby Malaysia, I thought I had a fair idea of what to expect from the Philippines. A bustling Asian melting pot where a hotchpotch of cultures, religions and cuisines collide in the middle of the Indian ocean, right? But stepping off the plane at our first stop – Mactan Island in Cebu [...]
BANKER GETS MORE BANGS FOR HIS BUCKS AT MAYOR’S SHOW WEDDING November 13, 2011 NO NEWS is good news, says the City of London Corporation, which yesterday breathed a sigh of relief after the St Paul’s protesters decided to respect the fact the Lord Mayor’s Show is a “community event”. “There was no disruption, not even shouting,” said a City of London spokesperson on Saturday’s “walking, marching pageant of [...]
BANKER GETS MORE BANGS FOR HIS BUCKS AT MAYOR’S SHOW WEDDING November 13, 2011 NO NEWS is good news, says the City of London Corporation, which yesterday breathed a sigh of relief after the St Paul’s protesters decided to respect the fact the Lord Mayor’s Show is a “community event”. “There was no disruption, not even shouting,” said a City of London spokesperson on Saturday’s “walking, marching pageant of [...]
Bach, Goethe…and you: a weekend in Leipzig December 18, 2011 YES, Germany is well-known for its conference facilities and, yes, for weekenders, we British love the down and dirty vibe of the new Berlin and the madness of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but much of the country has lain forgotten by visitors in recent years, yet it’s only a 90-minute flight away. In the east, the fall [...]
Stringfellow speaks out on his naked ambition August 14, 2011 ARE you really 100 per cent libertarian?” Peter Stringfellow asks a room of Adam Smith Institute supporters. “I consider myself a libertarian but I do question myself occasionally. I want the freedom to compete, but I don’t necessarily want other people to have the freedom to compete with me.” The audience laughs. He is speaking [...]
Business as usual? Hardly, for anyone working in finance September 1, 2011 SINCE the financial crisis, business secretary Vince Cable has taken to the airways on a regular basis to criticise a supposed culture of business as usual in the City, suggesting that the government must get ever-tougher to counter the fact that hardly anything has changed for banks. Nothing could be further from the truth. HSBC [...]
Look East to the new destination for pilgrims who shop September 13, 2011 BORIS Johnson reached for the cultural high notes at the opening of Westfield Stratford City: boasting that the new shopping centre would trigger regeneration not seen in East London since the Middle Ages, he quoted Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in which Madam Eglantine the Prioress spoke French “after the school of Stratford-at-Bow, for French of Paris [...]