Sport Comment: Unions must reject this Anglo-French plot October 20, 2013 HANDS up who really understands what’s going on at the moment in the seemingly never-ending power struggle that has been enveloping European club rugby since William Webb Ellis first picked up the Heineken Cup and drank from it. It’s a battle borne of a lack of leadership within the hierarchy of the sport and a [...]
Minimum booze prices miss benefits: Raising a glass can increase your pay May 14, 2012 THE Scottish government has confirmed that it will set a minimum price for alcohol of 50p per unit, while a 40p price is planned for England and Wales for later in the year. The basic idea is that consuming beer, wine and spirits is bad, and that basic economics can help deter it. If a [...]
QUAFFER’S CORNER October 3, 2011 HEAD SOMMELIER AND MANAGER OF LUTYENS RESTAURANT ICOOKED a curry on the weekend, which made me think about choosing wine to accompany spicy food. It’s easy to fall back on the old standby of beer, and I often do (Franziskaner Weissbier from Bavaria, usually) but there are some easy guidelines that will help make your [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD March 27, 2011 COMPANY NEWS • Travel company Thomas Cook group is going to announce its second quarter interim management statement on Tuesday. This will be followed by figures being released by TUI Travel on Thursday, where we may see indication of how the Middle East turmoil affected the performance of travel companies. • Housebuilder Bellway will be [...]
At a glance: All the crucial points from Osborne’s Budget for Growth March 23, 2011 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised its growth forecast for the economy, blaming higher-than-expected inflation as a result of recent global commodity price shocks and the weather-affected final quarter of 2010. GDP growth has been revised down to 1.7 per cent in 2011. Growth is expected to peak at 2.9 [...]
WHAT DOES THE CHANCELLOR’S BUDGET MEAN FOR YOU? March 23, 2011 CATHERINE GANNON, 48 MANAGING DIRECTOR OF CITY LAW FIRM GANNONS LAW LLP Catherine is single with two children, earns a gross income of over £100,000 a year and pays a mortgage on her family home. She has a share portfolio and also has mortgages on various investment properties. She does not drink or smoke. She [...]
A BUDGET FOR GROWTH | WHAT MEASURES COULD THE CHANCELLOR INTRODUCE THIS WEEK? March 20, 2011 ● National insurance to be merged with income tax The chancellor is expected to signal his intention to allow employers to pay national insurance and income tax in a single combined payment. ● Apprenticeships In a bid to tackle the high number of young “NEETS” (not in employment, education or training) 50,000 apprenticeships could be [...]
TITANS OF BUSINESS SET TO CLASH AT GOODWOOD REVIVAL FESTIVAL September 16, 2010 THE LOVE affair between businessmen and their fast cars is certainly alive and kicking. This weekend marks the Goodwood Revival historic motorsport and aviation festival, as over 132,000 attendees prepare to head down to Sussex for two days of immersion in classic cars and planes. And The Capitalist hears that among those competing on the [...]
ECONOMICS GURU MAGNUS WOWS THE CROWDS ON SPEAKER CIRCUIT November 15, 2009 GEORGE Magnus, senior economic adviser to investment bank UBS, has a fair few accolades to his name – not least the dubious honour of having predicted the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression in an uncannily prophetic research paper. But I hear the dapper 60-year-old has recently earned himself a new title, that [...]