All Blogs articles – Page 17
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Blogs
No mud, but Cannes will be Glastonbury for all you suits
If you replaced the yachts with tents, champagne with magic mushrooms and lawyers with, erm, lawyers, then Mipim becomes Glastonbury. “I’ll meet you by the mixing desk,” you’d say, knowing that your mobile won’t work, only to discover a hundred thousand others all have the idea. Do you remember walking ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part 5
Hello, Given the difficulties of uploading photos and videos in Sudan, I haven't been able to do it on this blog. However, if you are interested, my other blog is much more complete and interesting so please click on this link to get the full picture ( http://www.cycletothecup.co.uk/blog/ ). The ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on personal guarantees
Have you ever given a personal guarantee on a deal, and if so, why? PGs, as they are known, were a big talking point at 'An Audience with Paul White', which I chaired last night. The Hilton London Metropole event was attended by 200 people and organised by the charity ...
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Blogs
Who’ll be in the Hurt Locker come Sunday?
Some performances are more important than others. When you’re Jeff Bridges or Sandra Bullock, you probably know if you’ve pulled it off by the time anyone else sees the result. When you’re one of the 30 men stepping onto the turf at Murrayfield come tea-time on Saturday, all ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on `Wild Cherry’ Leslau
I have a worldwide scoop – Nick Leslau is singing in this year’s Party Near the Park. Leading the `Prestburys’ with his new partner Mike Brown, Leslau will be belting out Wild Cherry’s `Play That Funky Music’ at London’s Old Billingsgate on June 3. The theme for this year is ...
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Blogs
‘Kitchen table’ rented sector needs licensing
The fragile state of the economy is leaving everyone guessing on whether we will get a double dip recession or whether there will be a slow steady rise back from the abyss. Whatever happens, every economist will be claiming they were right – because they always do! However this makes ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part Four
The Sudan Egypt border is bigger than simply the border between two nations, it represents the change from a mostly Arab and muslim Egypt to a country that is really an amalgamation of black Africa and the arab Middle East, both Muslim and Christian. The boat trip along Lake Nasa ...
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Blogs
Here’s some advice: sack your IFA!
So-called independent financial advisers have been given a roasting in the press this week – and most of my contacts in the property world are secretly rubbing their hands with glee. Why? They believe the ‘independent’ credentials of IFAs are compromised by the commission they receive when recommending certain investments. ...
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Blogs
It’s not what you’ve got, it’s what you do with it that counts
We’re all familiar with this theory, but, talking purely rugby, I can assure you it’s no theory – it’s fact. Possession counts for nothing. Territory, nothing. It’s points that win you matches and, to score points, its all about execution – making and taking your chances. The ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on Chelsea Barracks mediation
Come on Qataris and Candys – settle your differences today. I say today because Qatari Diar and Christian Candy’s CPC Group are going into a one-day mediation session this morning that could prevent their Chelsea Barracks dispute going to court. And about time, too. Last week’s Sunday Times revelations about ...
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Blogs
To raise or not to raise . . .
Early-rising listeners to The Today Programme this morning will have heard the segment looking ahead to today’s interest rate decision and what course of action would be best for UK Plc. Fathom Financial’s Danny Gabay made the case that not only had historically-low interest rates of 0.5% saved us all ...
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Blogs
Pitfalls and bear traps of homeownership
One can only imagine the huge shock to come home and find your beloved nest has been destroyed. This is what occurred in Camden last week and it really highlights the pitfalls and bear traps of homeownership. Two neighbours own flats in a converted Victorian semi-detached property where a ...
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Blogs
Barrie tells BBC to `grow up’
I find the BBC a complacent, arrogant and self-satisfied organisation affecting three big parts of my life. In media it is a self-serving, smug and over-staffed bureaucracy rammed by people who think they know best – but who could learn a lot from newspapers and magazines. In property the BBC ...
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Blogs
Hard men, tough business
Bullying, clunking fists, inflexibility and a relentless demand for the highest standards. Sound familiar? Yes. What’s alleged in Number 10 is, in a manner of speaking, par for the course in rugby. Gordo or Johnno, there’s not a great deal of difference in the approach. But ...
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Blogs
Barrie runs 920 steps up Tower 42
That was awful. Running up Tower 42 for today’s Vertical Rush was a lung-bursting, gruesome but ultimately rewarding experience. It is hard to explain how tough the 920-stair challenge is: you start by running and then by floor five the awful truth dawns: it is going to be much, much ...
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Blogs
Sparks Golf Classic & RESI
If anyone thought golf was dull Tiger Woods has managed to prove them wrong. Not only did he rewrite the way to play but he also managed to set new benchmarks on how to play away! Of course the void he has left is being filled by wonderful ...
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Blogs
The Green Mile
After more leaks than the Titanic and more false starts than a botched NASA mission, the Tories’ planning green paper is now out. It was with a thud as sloppy as a pair of Gordon Brown’s socks hitting a hapless aide in the face that the Conservatives’ planning green paper ...
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Blogs
Barrie blogs on Man City
My friends in the north tell me that plans for an Abu-Dhabi backed mixed use extravaganza adjacent to Manchester City’s ground are moving faster than Carlos Tevez on speed. Manchester sources tell me that City Council chief executive Howard Bernstein is leading the talks on one side. Manchester City chairman ...
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Blogs
Cycling 7,500 miles to the World Cup - Part Three
Life by Mantra 'Never look forward to anything until it is in your grasp' In other words, not until you are eating, sleeping or drinking your desire can you take it as a given that it will happen. Stating that you are looking forward to something is currently a deadly ...
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Blogs
Yellow is the colour, punishment is the game
What’s 10 minutes in the bin worth in international rugby? That’s the question testing many of us after six games and six yellow cards. Weekend One yellow = game over for the Welsh. Weekend Two and it’s grandstand finish and ‘Cymru am byth’ – that’s ‘Wales forever’ ...