Sun, sea and Arabian Delights November 1, 2009 THERE are many parts of the world about which I am pessimistic but Dubai, despite its recent economic woes, is not one of them. Nobody else in the Middle East has pulled off what Dubai has achieved: a peaceful, capitalist, multi-ethnic state based on commerce, property, finance, entertainment and tourism. While it has been engulfed [...]
The amateur economist who finds the truth in the freakiest places November 16, 2009 FOR someone who has spent much of the last decade successfully writing about economics, Stephen Dubner is surprisingly keen to point out that he is not an economist. Following his co-authorship of Freakonomics, one of the publishing phenomena of recent years, and a sequel called Superfreakonomics, however, surely he has picked up some knowledge. Well [...]
A Tudor folly with five floors, a great local and superlative views September 20, 2009 FRESTON Tower is located on the River Orwell near Ipswich – from its rooftop you can see the cargo ships approaching from miles off, making their leisurely way to and from the dramatic Orwell Bridge. The tower was built in 1578 by a wealthy Ipswich merchant called Thomas Gooding, though the exact reason for its [...]
A Tudor folly with five floors, a great local and superlative views September 20, 2009 FRESTON Tower is located on the River Orwell near Ipswich – from its rooftop you can see the cargo ships approaching from miles off, making their leisurely way to and from the dramatic Orwell Bridge. The tower was built in 1578 by a wealthy Ipswich merchant called Thomas Gooding, though the exact reason for its [...]
Cameron’s real agenda is truly radical October 8, 2009 LET us hope that David Cameron truly believes in rolling back the failed culture of big government he so aptly described in his keynote address in Manchester yesterday; if he does, a Tory government could yet turn out to be far more revolutionary than most of us have been predicting. It was a good, though [...]
Poor sales in Europe drag Kesa down September 10, 2009 KESA, the group which owns Comet, said yesterday its first quarter sales had slumped 3.9 per cent year on year, as the downturn in Europe outweighed a slight UK recovery. Sales at Comet went up 0.3 per cent, compared to the same period last year, but the company’s French unit Darty saw sales drop by [...]
London retail sales drop by 5.9 per cent September 13, 2009 LONDON retail sales fell in August, the British Retail Consortium revealed today. Last month’s sales were 5.9 per cent lower on a like-for-like basis than a year ago, when sales were up by 8.6 per cent on the previous year. The figures, which show the lowest sales growth for four years, come ahead of department [...]
Look to small oil explorers for big profits April 5, 2010 AFTER a 20-year ban, President Obama has given the go-ahead to oil drilling off the Virginian Coast. It would appear that the US hasn’t lost its appetite for hydrocarbons. The green energy revolution hasn’t lost steam, but governments have started to realise that it will take many years before green technology can fulfil the world’s [...]
This is where we see if the galacticos are worth the cash September 20, 2009 WELL, the football season is now in full swing, with bloodshed, controversies over “simulation” and Sir Alex Ferguson laying into his rivals. It’s like it never went away, isn’t it? The big boys get into action this week with the start of the Champions League, and football fans will be eager to see if Real [...]
Upbeat economic sentiment boosts FTSE to above 5,000 October 5, 2009 THE FTSE 100 closed higher yesterday after US Institute for Supply Management non-manufacturing data came in better than forecast, with miners and banks the best performing sectors. The index closed up 35.63 points, or 0.7 per cent, at 5,024.33, after tumbling nearly 60 points on Friday to a near three-week closing low below the 5,000 [...]