Alex Salmond is taking refuge in scare stories about the NHS Down in the Salmond-bunker things are getting desperate. Assailed on all sides by, in no particular order, falling opinion poll ratings, senior colleagues who’ve lost confidence in him, a hammering at Alistair Darling’s hands in last week’s TV debate, the man in charge of the campaign to break up Britain is struggling to keep his head […]
London-based Gatehouse Bank is developing new business lines and widening its investor base as the Islamic wholesale lender looks to build a more stable revenue stream, its chief executive said. Gatehouse, one of Britain’s six full-fledged Islamic banks, is joining several of its peers in broadening its scope, after the country’s Islamic finance sector got a boost from the government’s first issue of an Islamic bond in […]
Royal Bank of Scotland confirmed it was considering selling the international arm of its private bank, a deal one source said could net it as much as $1 billion, as the British government leans on it to focus more on domestic lending. The move means that Coutts, founded in the 18th century and best known as banker to Queen Elizabeth, could be split into two businesses – […]
Leader of the Labour Party Ed Miliband Photo: PA To win in 2015, Ed Miliband not only has to set out a credible governing prospectus; he must demonstrate he fully understands Labour’s past mistakes. Mr Miliband has been coy about admissions of error on economic management, naturally preferring to castigate Britain’s Coalition government for overzealous austerity driving harsh cuts in the social fabric. Yet voters will only listen […]
President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. air strikes had destroyed arms that Islamic State militants could have used against Iraqi Kurds, but he warned there was no quick fix to a crisis that threatens to tear Iraq apart. Speaking before U.S. warplanes struck militant targets for the second straight day, Obama said it would take more than bombs to restore stability, and criticized Prime Minister Nuri […]
‘The disease took away my future and my children lost the mother they had had,’ says Elaine Reynolds Photo: JOHN LAWRENCE When Stephanie Reynolds hunches over her smartphone, she looks like any self-absorbed twentysomething, whiling away a carefree moment or two socialising online. In fact, the 24-year-old is using social media for a reason very close to her heart: she has launched a Facebook page to find her […]
‘When Harry Potter Met Sally’: Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan in ‘What If Photo: Entertainment One Casting a spell over cinemagoers is a piece of wizardry even Harry Potter would be hard-pushed to pull off – yet that is precisely the challenge his alter ego, Daniel Radcliffe, has set himself. Later this month, Radcliffe, the diminutive actor seared into the national psyche as a bespectacled schoolboy from Hogwarts, […]
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, announces that he will stand for Parliament in 2015 Photo: Getty Images “We need someone widely seen as a prime minister in waiting. Oh boy, have you kept me waiting.” Ken Clarke used this line to appeal – in vain – to the Conservative conference in 2005 as he ran for the leadership. But, oh boy, has another possible prime minister in […]
Photo: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/PA As they head for their holidays, senior Conservatives are beginning to worry that they are failing to benefit fully from Britain’s economic recovery. Recent months have seen a succession of good news stories, with growth well established, living standards no longer falling and predictions of future performance regularly upgraded. Yet the Tories seem unable to overturn Labour’s narrow lead. The table below illustrates what […]
Britain declared war 100 years ago tonight , but some other countries had already begun. On July 29, a Hungarian painter, Béla Zombory-Moldován, was on holiday at the seaside resort of Novi, on the Croatian coast, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Suffering from a hangover, he had slipped out in the early morning for a swim from the spit. The bathing attendant approached, and told him, […]
Thousands of Irish volunteers fought with the British Army in the First World War Photo: PA By Daniel Mulhall 7:30AM BST 01 Aug 2014 At Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery yesterday, a significant event took place: the unveiling of a Cross of Sacrifice erected in conjunction with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. In a cemetery associated with Ireland’s patriot dead, this new monument represents an important symbolic reflection of changed […]
A Toyota Prius modified to be a Google self-driving car Photo: EPA Driverless cars have been knocking around for decades. Newsweek magazine carried a wonderful advert featuring a self-driven bubble-top back in 1956. The occupants, a wholesome all-American family of mom, pop, boy and girl, were shown playing a board game around a table while their car followed a central painted line down the highway, with the tag […]
The European Commission has already said it will investigate the new policy statement from the Prime Minister to see if it complies with European law Photo: REUTERS The Prime Minister has scored a brilliant summer hit with the headline writers. “EU migrant benefit curbs fast-tracked”; “Government announces limits on EU migrants’ benefits access”; “New rules on migrant benefits to be announced as UK makes system more robust against […]
By DAVID E. SANGER July 29, 2014 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration officials engaged in nuclear negotiations with Iran ran into a wall of skepticism at two congressional hearings on Tuesday, with members of both parties insisting on a vote on any final agreement with the Tehran government and administration officials strongly hinting that they have little intention of complying. The disagreements surfaced after Wendy R. Sherman, the under secretary […]
World Briefing By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS July 29, 2014 Insurgents fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad detonated bomb-packed tunnels under buildings in the contested northern city of Aleppo on Tuesday, killing at least 13 soldiers and pro-government militiamen, said opposition activists at the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain. The explosives were in two tunnels dug under the city’s ancient quarter, they said. This entry passed through the […]
Op-Ed Contributors Overblown Fears of Foreign Fighters By CHAMS EDDINE ZAOUGUI and PIETER VAN OSTAEYEN July 29, 2014 BRUSSELS — Since the start of the Syrian civil war, the phenomenon of foreign fighters has been watched warily by Western governments. This is no surprise: Syria is the No. 1 destination for jihadists. Over the last few months, the fear that foreign fighters will return to the West and carry out terrorist attacks has […]
The success of this nation was built by millions of hands, many from overseas – doctors, teachers, inventors, academics, businesspeople – and succeeding in the decades to come means staying open to those who can really contribute Photo: REUTERS This Government has a long-term economic plan to secure a better future for Britain – and controlling immigration is a vital part of it. Under Labour, 2.5 million more […]
By MATT APUZZO July 27, 2014 WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has gone to court to protect the files of an influential anti-Iran advocacy group, saying they likely contain information the government does not want disclosed. The highly unusual move by the Justice Department raises questions about the connections between the American government and the group, United Against Nuclear Iran, a hard-line voice seeking to prevent Iran from obtaining […]
Slide Show | Surveying the Damage in Gaza Families returned to their homes during a 12-hour cease-fire on Saturday. By BEN HUBBARD July 26, 2014 BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip — Families across the Gaza Strip emerged from shelters and returned to their homes during a 12-hour cease-fire on Saturday to survey the damage to their neighborhoods, collect belongings and help dig bodies from the rubble. As the cease-fire expired […]
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has so far not agreed to a broader cease-fire plan. By JODI RUDOREN July 26, 2014 JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is stuck between mounting international outcry over civilian casualties from his assault on the Gaza Strip and intensifying calls at home to finish the job he started. Several of his top ministers are pushing for a full takeover of […]
Regulators in Jordan have introduced a set of long-awaited rules for the issuance of sukuk, or Islamic bonds, paving the way for both the public and private sectors to tap into growing demand for sharia-compliant investments. Jordan is one of several Muslim-majority countries keen to develop their domestic Islamic finance sector and the government is studying a proposal to issue a sovereign sukuk, mirroring efforts by Egypt […]
By removing the boost to people who stay in work, the government will now be penalising those who it should be rewarding Photo: Alamy Britain’s state pension has never been known for its generosity. But one of the lesser known perks of the system is that it’s possible to get a very generous bonus if you decide to carry on working and take your state pension later. As […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s president-elect Petro Poroshenko have discussed a ceasefire and other possible steps to de-escalate the crisis between their countries in a brief meeting in France, French officials said. The meeting hosted by French President Francois Hollande, before D-Day celebrations on Friday, took place as clashes continued in eastern Ukraine near a border crossing with Russia, killing at least 15 pro-Russian separatists overnight. Putin and […]
The worst Qatar stock rout in nine months is creating a buying opportunity for some of the biggest Middle East investors, who say they’re undaunted by speculation the country will lose the right to host the 2022 World Cup. Emirates NBD PJSC, whose wealth management division oversaw about $2.1 billion at the end of 2013, says it’s looking to add stocks because any impact on corporate earnings […]
