Why women’s jokes fall flat in the boardroom
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Women often try to use self-deprecating humour to get their colleagues on-side but it raises few laughs Humour is a staple part of any boardroom discussion, as viewers of the BBC’s The Apprentice will know. But research reveals that, while men benefit from the use of well-judged banter, the brand of humour used by leading businesswomen often leads to awkward silences and could be undermining their careers. The claim is made by linguistics expert Dr Judith Baxter, who undertook an Read more..
Hilary Devey: ‘Politics is probably my next career move’
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
The Dragons’ Den star talks about sexism at work, being raped as a teenager and her political ambitions You’ve written your autobiography. Your life was pretty eventful from early on, wasn’t it? It wasn’t the usual childhood. My dad was very spontaneous: it was: “Come on kids, we’re going on holiday.” “No, Arthur, you can’t, they’re at school tomorrow.” “Sod it, they’ll learn more with me.” Or, 11 at night, Read more..
Burtynsky: Oil – review
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Photographers’ Gallery, London In 1997 Edward Burtynsky had what he now calls his “oil epiphany”. Having just filled up his car at a petrol station, it came to him that, as he puts it, “the vast, human-altered landscapes that I pursued and photographed for over 20 years were only made possible by the discovery of oil and the mechanical advantage of the internal combustion engine”. His work ever since has been about oil: its production, transportation and myriad Read more..
The investors on the trail of a British Facebook
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
London has become the scene of a big-money race to find an internet firm with potential to be as profitable as the US social networking site Davor Hebel, a Croatian-born and US-educated partner at Fidelity Growth Partners Europe, a £100m fund, is explaining where venture capital (VC) investors fit into London’s technology ecosystem. It all boils down to the question of whether you back the jockey or the horse. Angel, “seed” or early-stage investors tend to back the jockey Read more..
The economy: a calamitous strategy, with no end in sight | Observer editorial
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
At heart is a complete failure to understand why the financial crisis took place The economic conditions through which Britain is living reflect a disgraceful abdication of responsibility by a government that has consigned millions of lives to unnecessary and avoidable hardship and great anxiety about their future prospects. It is simply wrong to blame this on the economic tsunami sweeping through Europe. Clearly a break-up of the euro would hit the UK hard and add greatly to the peril we Read more..
Easy to blame the Germans. Smarter to learn from them | Andrew Rawnsley
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Other leaders are being hypocritical when they shove all the responsibility for the euro crisis on to Angela Merkel As Noël Coward didn’t quite sing, do let’s be beastly to the Germans. This bitter tune is heard not just in Greece, but also in the corridors of Number 10, the Elysée Palace and the White House. Casting around for someone to blame for the crisis, the fingers of accusation point at Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel. The jabbing fingers are furiously angry Read more..
Facebook is going to need all the friends it can get | John Naughton
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Facebook still has a long way to go to make its value credible The interesting thing about the Facebook IPO (initial public offering) is that there was no first-day “pop”. In other words, the shares ended the day trading at just about the price at which they had started. Given the advance hype, this surprised many observers and led some to speculate that the underwriters (the banks that handled the flotation) were discreetly buying shares to prop the market up. So could it be Read more..
Europe’s new insurgents: rising rebels spurn the era of bling
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
From France to Greece and Italy, voters are turning their backs on the old guard and austerity politics in favour of a new generation They are arguing for a new political settlement across Europe and for the first time their views are getting a hearing. But for the new insurgents challenging a political consensus that has dominated Europe for 30 years, style is as important as substance, and personal demeanour is almost as vital as the fine detail of opposition to the policies of debt Read more..
Saving the euro won’t solve the crisis. Losing it won’t either
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
The vast imbalances in trade, and yawning gaps in competitiveness, between European states will continue to cause problems whether they share a single currency or not The governor of the Bank of England was closer to the basement of the Bank than the rooftops when he complained last week that “our biggest trading partner, the euro area, is tearing itself apart without any obvious solution“. The following day, David Cameron further endeared Britain to its partners across the Read more..
Former Farepak board lined up for punishment – but Glencore’s investors are free of their shackles
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
On this week’s agenda: disqualification proceedings relating to the collapsed Christmas savings company, and a commodity giant’s shares flood on to the market It’s either very early, or rather late, for a spot of panto, but the curtain goes up on Thursday on the tale of the posse accused of cancelling Christmas. Playing the roles of the pantomime villains will be seven out of nine former board members at failed hamper business Farepak (and its parent) who are charged with Read more..
Facebook investors hoping for a second bite of the Apple effect have arrived too late
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Zuckerberg’s company is going to have to end the internet’s free-love era in the way that Apple spurned “homebrew” computing in order to justify its valuation Mark Zuckerberg status update: richer than George Soros. When the closing bell rang at the end of Facebook’s first day on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange, its founder was worth $19.4bn (£12.2bn). The Wall Street analysts whose job it is to build logical arguments about why the online equivalent of Read more..
From M&S to whisky – China’s middle class snap up western goods
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
British food and drink producers and retailers are proving there really is a market for selling tea to China British favourites such as baked beans and cream of mushroom soup have proved an unlikely hit with Chinese shoppers at Marks & Spencer’s flagship store in downtown Shanghai. But it doesn’t stop there – shoppers are also stocking up on frozen salmon or cod fillets, ready-made frozen curries, chocolate-chip cookies and porridge oats. Everything is shipped in from Read more..
While Europe waits for Greece to choose, the flame of fear spreads
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
There are four weeks to go before the Greek elections – and, it seems, even longer to wait before a German change of heart on bailing out lenders. But fearful markets, and hard-pressed electorates, may not be patient much longer For battle weary euro politicians, four long, tough weeks lie ahead between now and the next round of Greek elections, which could see recession-hit voters restating their determination to reject the savage austerity measures that are the price of Greece’s Read more..
Financial crisis ‘will drive up debt repayments for poorer nations’
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
New report by the Jubilee Debt Campaign says payments will increase by an average of a third by 2014 Poor countries can expect to see their debt repayments to the rest of the world increase by an average of a third by 2014, as they battle with the consequences of the financial crisis in the west, according to a new report by the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Leaders of the G8 economies, including the US and Japan, have expressed their frustration at this weekend’s summit at Camp David that Read more..
A Tory at the BBC? It wouldn’t be the first time
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Boris Johnson was as outspoken as ever about political placement at the BBC. But rare is the chairman of board or trust who has not been affiliated to one of the main parties Boris, in full blond bulldozer mode, tells the BBC where to find its next director general: “We need a Tory, and no mucking around.” Watch lips purse, hear sharp intakes of breath. The people appointed to run British broadcasting must surely be “independent” – not party nominees. The gabby Read more..
Britain’s got talent, but the Daily Mail seems short of prescience
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
The Mail prophesied the end of Simon Cowell when Britain’s Got Talent was being outperformed by The Voice. So much for the power of the press to influence events The supposed power of the press? Here’s a chastening example from everyday life, one without a smidgen of politics on display. Begin at the end of March as Britain’s Got Talent and Simon Cowell are caught in the headlights of a supposedly omnipotent Daily Mail. Look back and see The Voice from the BBC Read more..
It’s not rocket science – maybe Sunday papers sell fewer because they cost more
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Roy Greenslade and other commentators may analyse the ABCs, but maybe sales disparities boil down to the change in our pockets Professor Roy Greenslade (like other academic commentators before him) broods over the disparity between Saturday and Sunday newspaper circulations, as revealed by new ABC sales audits. What’s so soggy about British Sunday sales? he asks, running through a gamut of changing social habits. But sometimes you don’t need rocket science at all. Sometimes Read more..
Why love trumps economics | Victoria Coren
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
The government harps on about ‘priorities’, the economy being its first. How very wrong There is a dangerous piece of rhetoric floating around, increasingly popular with politicians, which says the government should forget gay marriage and concentrate on “the things that really matter”. Defence secretary Philip Hammond is the latest to thump this tub, explaining: “Clearly [gay marriage] is not the number one priority. If you stop people in the street and ask Read more..
Fred Pearce: Land grabbing has more of an impact on the world’s poor than climate change
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
The science and environment author discusses a growing global threat• Read an extract from Fred Pearce’s new book The Land Grabbers What inspired you to write The Land Grabbers? Over the last few years, I became aware of this hidden revolution taking place around the world: the buying up of vast swaths of land by foreign entities from beneath its occupiers. Soaring grain prices in 2007/2008 led to countries such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea worrying about their national food Read more..
Waterstones boss poised to join the e-reader battle
Posted on | May 19, 2012 | Comments Off
Bookseller James Daunt remains upbeat about traditional books even as he plots a digital revolution When you consider the prospects for literature in the age of the ebook, just four names seem to dominate the digital future: Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft. These American west coast giants, founded respectively in 1994, 1976, 1998 and 1975, are locked in a battle for audiences whose outcome no sensible person could predict. The future looks digital, but traditional books and booksellers Read more..