Church of Nonsense May 14, 2009 ANGELS & DEMONSCert: 12ATHIS tediously dull follow up to the tediously dull Da Vinci Code was the highest-profile victim of the Hollywood writers’ strike last year, becoming substantially delayed as a result. However, it gives the impression of not having been written by professionals at all. Instead, the dialogue consists almost entirely of lumbering exposition. [...]
NOW SHOWING FIVE OF THE BEST May 14, 2009 FILM: Let the Right One In: Swedish film-maker Tomas Alfredson weaves friendship, rejection and loyalty into a disturbing vampire movie that’s one of the stand-out movies of 2009. OPERA: Peter Grimes at the ENO: Premiered in 1945, Britten’s masterpiece concerns an anti-hero outsider in a fishing village. An eagerly awaited new production by David Alden. [...]
OUT THIS WEEKEND PREVIEWS May 14, 2009 FILMFIGHTING Tough as old boots movie about bare-knuckle boxing in New York. VIVA Peculiarly kitsch drama about suburban sexual-awakening in 50s America. FRENCH FILM Incompetent Brit rom-com, with a bizarre cameo from Eric Cantona. DVDFROST/NIXON Michael Sheen and Frank Langella star in the adaptation of Peter Morgan’s play. DEFIANCE World War II drama with Daniel Craig [...]
Froth and love in a wonderful, light romance May 14, 2009 OperaL’ELISIR D’AMORERoyal Opera HouseA PERFECT springtime opera, L’Elisir D’Amore is pure Italian frivolity. Played out to the tune of Donizetti’s jaunty but sporadically beautiful score, the opera – revived here at Covent Garden for the first time, with Laurent Pelly’s spritely production setting the action set in contemporary rural Italy – revolves around a dopey village boy [...]
Froth and love in a wonderful, light romance May 14, 2009 TheatreDUET FOR ONEVaudeville TheatreDUET for One provides us with what must be one of the West End’s most poignant performances in recent times, in the shape of Juliet Stevenson’s musician whose career has been curtailed by multiple sclerosis. It is a masterclass in control, nuance and subtle physicality, without ever seeming anything other than entirely [...]
MPS: CITY STILL DOESN’T GET IT May 14, 2009 THE CITY launched a counter-offensive against MPs yesterday, after the Treasury select committee criticised Lord Adair Turner’s review of regulatory reform and cast doubt on Sir David Walker’s suitability to lead a review of corporate governance in the banking sector. The influential group of MPs concluded in its report on the role of remuneration in the [...]
Barclays in talks to sell its BGI unit May 14, 2009 BARCLAYS has entered preliminary talks with US money manager BlackRock as well as other potential buyers for its prized asset management arm Barclays Global Investors (BGI). Any sell-off could generate at least $10bn (£6.6bn) for the bank but the ongoing talks could easily lead to nothing. The Barclays board is understood only to want to [...]
A Barclays sell-off would be a mistake May 14, 2009 IF Barclays does end up selling its Barclays Global Investors division to a rival such as BlackRock, it will be faced with two major problems. The first would be one of credibility: how can Barclays continue to operate as a universal bank if it lacks an asset manager? Selling iShares makes some sense; the business was [...]
Amec board’s pay too much May 14, 2009 THE furore over City pay hit another company last night, as over half of investors at engineering group Amec refused to back the company’s remuneration report. Around 40 per cent of its shareholders opposed the report on directors salaries and bonus plans, while 13 per cent abstained. Amec wanted to give its chief executive Samir Brikho [...]
MP expenses hit a high May 14, 2009 JUSTICE minister Shahid Malik ran up the highest expenses claim among his MP peers, it emerged yesterday. He has claimed the maximum amount allowed for a second home – £66,827, over three years. During 2008, he claimed £443 a week for a London town house, or £23,083 over the whole year. Meanwhile, on his constituency [...]