BP’s Russian row may hit production July 24, 2008 The dogfight between BP and its four oligarch partners could hit Russian oil production next year after the quartet demanded a $900m cut in spending at joint venture TNK-BP. The development is the latest in a long-running battle at the 50-50 venture between the British oil giant and its billionaire partners – Mikhail Fridman, Viktor [...]
Flintoff gets the nod for Test return July 15, 2008 Andrew Flintoff is expected to make his England return at Headingley on Friday after being given the all-clear by medics. The all-rounder has not played a Test since the final Ashes match in Sydney in January 2007 after suffering an occurrence to his ankle injury. But the 30-year-old has performed well with both bat and [...]
It’s round one to England despite sleepy Lord’s opener July 15, 2008 Although the scoreboard will suggest the first Test petered out into a tame draw, I suspect England will be the team taking the more positives to Headingley for the start of the second Test on Friday. For the first time in quite a while we have seen England pile on almost 600 runs in their [...]
Fired-up Bell to chime again for Vaughan’s men July 18, 2008 With the second Test between England and South Africa about to get underway, there are no prizes for guessing where all the eyes at Headingley will be focused. England captain Michael Vaughan has already revealed returning hero Andrew Flintoff will play and will bat at No.7 – although he has been unable to announce his [...]
Have a Luke at 50/1 Donald for The Open July 11, 2008 One of the greatest sporting events in the British calendar tees off on Thursday, with Royal Birkdale playing host to the 137th Open Championship. And without world No.1 Tiger Woods in the field, we at the Punter are confidently predicting a European winner, nay, a British winner in fact, with Luke Donald, Justin Rose and [...]
Eight for 2008: The ones to watch as Team GB go for gold in Beijing July 31, 2008 With our Olympians set a target of winning 35 medals, with 10 golds, Jon Couch looks at our most likely successes It’s just over a week before the start of the Beijing Olympics, and already the pressure is building on Team GB as they go in search of the ultimate prize in sport. A total [...]
How the big channels are defying the odds to prosper July 25, 2008 Anyone who wants to understand something fundamental about the media just has to hold a single number in their head – 38,000. It’s a decent size for most football crowds or those willing to watch a Wagner opera the whole way through. But it doesn’t exactly pass muster as the ratings for a top US [...]
How wave power can help you to read the markets August 26, 2008 The markets are anything but random, say proponents of Elliott Waves. Understanding them will improve your trading. Most people are led to believe that the markets are completely random and that there is no way of forecasting the next move, either up or down. But others seem to make large amounts of profits catching the [...]
Counting on financials to outperform July 17, 2008 We are positive on the financials sector overall – valuations have dropped so far that we expect them to outperform in the long run. But we divide general financials into four different subcategories, and our views on each are quite different. The first is alternative investments. By far the biggest is Man Group – accounting [...]
Water world August 4, 2008 Piedmont is wet, but perfect for the outdoors enthusiast, discovers Katie Hope Every nation has its eccentric national pursuits. The Japanese play pachinko – an addictive cross between pinball and a fruit machine which pays out metal balls; the Dutch eat chips with mayonnaise; the Spanish fight bulls. And in Northern Italy, come the weekend [...]