London food scene says farewell to Richard Vines at Quaglino’s June 18, 2025 On Tuesday evening the great and good of the London restaurant world gathered at Quaglino’s to celebrate the life of food writer Richard Vines, who died earlier this year. Vines was the restaurant critic for Bloomberg for 26 years until his retirement in 2021. Known for his natty sense of style – paisley shirts and [...]
Six Nations look to lure Sky by bundling TV rights with Lions June 18, 2025 The Six Nations unions are in talks with the British and Irish Lions about bundling their TV rights for the next four-year cycle. European unions have already sold TV rights for the Six Nations between 2026 and 2029 in a joint deal with ITV and BBC, but have yet to go to market with their [...]
Nationwide to Greggs: King’s honours list champions UK business leaders June 14, 2025 Entrepreneurs and company chiefs in tech, recruitment and banking have been recognised for their contributions to UK business in the King’s birthday honours. Microsoft UK boss Clare Barclay and ceramics founder Emma Bridgewater, dubbed the “queen of pottery”, received damehoods for services to business. Nationwide chief executive Debbie Crosbie, who led a £2.3bn takeover of [...]
Iran retaliates after Israeli strikes target nuclear programme and military June 14, 2025 Iran has launched retaliatory missile and drone strikes on Israel, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, after a series of Israeli attacks on the heart of Tehran’s nuclear programme and armed forces. Israel’s assault used planes as well as drones smuggled into the country in advance, according to officials, to assault key facilities [...]
Talking Finance: Five tips to have a healthier pension June 2, 2025 The reality is that the earlier you engage with your pensions, the better your chances are of having the kind of retirement you want.
Starmer’s defence spending will mean ‘chunky’ tax rises, warns IFS June 2, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to boost defence spending will require “chunky” tax rises, according to the chief of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Paul Johnson told Times Radio: “…if we’re really going to spend another £10-15 billion a year on defence, whilst inevitably we’re going to spend more and more on health and pensions [...]
Tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s ‘unsinkable’ yacht sank due to design flaw, report finds May 15, 2025 A British investigation has found that fatal design flaws left tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch’s £32m super yacht Bayesian dangerously vulnerable to capsizing – contradicting builder claims that the vessel was “unsinkable”. Lynch, often dubbed “Britain’s Bill Gates”, for his role in founding software giant Autonomy, was among seven people who died last August when the [...]
Lord Mayor to pay tribute to Winston Churchill and war heroes in VE Day speech May 8, 2025 The Lord Mayor of London will give a speech at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark the 80th anniversary VE Day, in Canada’s contribution to commemorations taking place around the UK. Alastair King is set to pay tribute to heroes of the Second World War and to Sir Winston Churchilll on behalf of [...]
In memory of Richard Vines, a sage and a gentleman May 6, 2025 My friend Richard Vines, chief restaurant critic of Bloomberg for 25 years, passed away this week. A champion of both genius chefs and restaurateurs, he was a wonderful man who I admired hugely. Over the last few days, I have been reminded of some magnificent City lunches with Richard; at Kym’s by Andrew Wong, after [...]
Week in Business: The billionaires backing Britain May 1, 2025 BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Virgin supremo Sir Richard Branson, businessman John Caudwell and JP Morgan top dog Jamie Dimon – quite the quartet – have all made some fascinating interventions this week. Let’s start with BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, running more than $11 trillion on behalf of pension funds, private clients and sovereign wealth [...]