The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from January 2007

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from January 2007

This month in Odyssey.(language skills)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It's considered good advice to "think before you speak." But did you ever consider whether you would even be able to think, if you didn't have language? Linguists (scientists who study the nature and structure of human speech) think about that...

Smell worm?(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... Can a worm smell drugs? Can insects detect explosives? Well, a $3-5 million cyber-nose project in Australia--a collaboration between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Australia's national science agency), Monash...

You SnooZZZe, you win!(research on sleep)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It's been known for some time that sleep can help you remember things, like a dance step or other sense-related activities. But Jeffrey Ellenbogen of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues now have evidence that getting a good night's sleep...

Just think!(paralytics)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... When you hear someone say, "Don't even think about it," think about this: A 25-year-old man, paralyzed in all four limbs, was able to move a cursor on a computer screen and control a robotic arm simply by thinking about performing the tasks....

Singing volcanoes.(Science Scoops)
January 1, 2007... All volcanoes shake and rattle when they erupt. Now Italian researchers are on a roll to convert the low-frequency seismic rumblings into musical scores. Why? In an effort to help predict eruptions. You see, volcanic eruptions are usually...

Spacecraft blows up!(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... It's not what you think. This spacecraft, called Genesis I, is an inflatable one! Last July, Bigelow Aerospace--a commercial venture with offices throughout the United States--successfully launched a 10-foot-long, 8-foot-wide, inflatable...

Every child is a genius!(language skills)
January 1, 2007... For most people, learning a foreign language is incredibly hard. Students study long hours and go through exhausting classes. And according to Dr. Benjamin Rifkin, a professor and textbook author of Russian, four years of one-hour classes every...

Magical mistakes!(Activity to Discover)
January 1, 2007... Kids may be language geniuses, but they don't learn everything overnight. In the meantime, they make plenty of mistakes. Here are some examples from child speech in Dr. Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct: * Don't giggle me! * Go me...

Why Howard doesn't talk: why do some children with autism never learn to speak?
January 1, 2007... I became a psychologist because my younger brother Howard never learned to talk. I was about five years old when his problems emerged, and, like everyone else in my family, I was both worried and confused. How could a child who was so clever in...

Speech: dances of the vocal tract.
January 1, 2007... When you talk on your cell phone, you might think about how amazing it is that words leave your mouth and reach a friend by traveling through the airwaves. But do you ever think about how amazing it is that you are able to say those words in...

How evolution cobbled together a talking ape.
January 1, 2007... In Planet of the Apes, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans all have the gift of speech; humans are just one talking species among many. In our world, however, humans are the only creatures with genuinely complex language. Other species...

Animal communications 101: lessons with Doctor Doolittle.
January 1, 2007... The world's most famous expert on animal communications is a veterinarian from the imaginary town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. Doctor John Dolittle began to "talk to the animals" after taking lessons from his parrot, Polynesia. Doctor Dolittle is...

Say what? ... Social order was basically the same regardless of what school she went to. Does how you talk reflect who your friends are? A Stanford University linguistics expert is trying to find out.
January 1, 2007... Samantha and Kayla's conversation is direct and lets us know what they are likely to be doing for the rest of the afternoon. Not so obvious in the exchange are the subtle clues that tell us where these girls fit into the larger school social...

Jocks, burnouts, & in betweens.(student teacher relations)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... You might know them as hoods, greasers, losers, or burnouts--the kids who don't get along with teachers, tend to get into trouble, or just plain don't care about school. Then there is the other extreme--the jocks or the preps--the kids who...

While you were out.(speech recognition)
January 1, 2007... Welcome home! I hope the whole family had a wonderful time backpacking in the wilderness. I enjoyed taking care of Fluffy and will bring her back Monday. I stopped in at the house often so that I could feed the fish, water the plants, and check...

Language wheels.
January 1, 2007... Hint: This is something you eat, and the word is plural. Hint: You might use this word to describe your smart friend. Hint: This is a subject in which you might major in college. Professor Pickwick is a big fan of language...

Going, going, gone! Saving the world's languages.
January 1, 2007... Around 1930, the Chimariko became extinct, and in 1905, the same thing happened to the Tasmanian. The Chimariko was felled by the greed of the 1850s Gold Rush in northwestern California; the Tasmanian died with Fanny Cochrane Smith. As a matter...

Scrabble to the rescue.(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The Dakota Sioux have come upon an ingenious way to preserve their endangered language: Dakota Scrabble! The vocabulary board game has been adopted for the Dakota language, and young people are playing whenever they can. Why focus on the...

Do we need a world language? To find out, complete the following field report--then decide for yourself.(Activity to Discover)
January 1, 2007... THIS IZ WON FONETIK YLFUBET FOR INGLISH Can you read that? It's a sentence written in Simplified Phonetic English--just one attempt to overcome the communications barriers inherent in our world's many different languages. Here's the...

A ring of truth.(J.R.R. Tolkien's command on ancient languages)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... The magical dialogue in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is really a set of complex, invented languages. Tolkien was actually a scholar of ancient languages, and his novels (The Hobbit and The Silmarillion) were inspired as a way of...

More than just talk.(english)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... * Simplified English uses a special dictionary to avoid double meanings that might confuse non-native speakers (for example, "close the door" vs. "close to the door"), it's often used in international radio broadcasts (such as on the Voice of...

Star chart.
January 1, 2007... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 6 p.m. on Jan. 15. Useful all month (except for planet positions), the chart is also accurate for 7 p.m. on Jan. 1 and 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. To use the All-Sky Chart,...

Fasten your seatbelts--Earth is closest to the sun and speeding!(Stargazing Comic)(Cartoon)
January 1, 2007... WE OFTEN SAY THAT OUR EARTH IS 93 MILLION MILES AWAY FROM THE SUN. DO YOU KNOW THE EARTH IS 93 MILLION MILES FROM THE SUN? HOW FASCINATING! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SO EARTH CAN MOVE AS FAR AWAY FROM THE SUN AS 94 1/2 MILLION...

Sheep, mutton, ovine: the three tiers of English vocabulary.(Kids Can ... Do Amazing Science)
January 1, 2007... For three years, I was a participant in the National Spelling Bee. I was thrilled to place as high as seventh out of approximately ten million kids who started at the local level. More important, preparing for the competition taught me an...

Winners of the CAMO contest.
January 1, 2007... In last September's "Smart Clothes" issue, we asked readers to toss an Animal Angle back to us in the form of a "Where's Waldo"--like drawing of animals (such as twig insects or flat fish) whose camouflage "clothing" helps to keep them safe....

Think syrinx.(bird songs)(Brief article)
January 1, 2007... One way to coax a shell parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) into "talking" is to say a simple phrase such as "Good bird!" while tickling the bird's head. Who knew? Crows, jays, macaws, magpies, mynahs, parrots, and others can also be taught...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 2, 2007... Jan. 2--The new legislation against age discrimination seems to be having an impact on the stock market. Wealth manager Hansard Global came to market last month, making a near-[pounds sterling]100 million for executive chairman Leonard...

[pounds sterling]400m bonanza for Wharf's big backers.
January 2, 2007... Byline: James Rossiter Jan. 2--Canary Wharf's new owners have shared in a [pounds sterling]400 million dividend bonanza since the Docklands developer was taken private two-and-a-half years ago for [pounds sterling]1.7 billion. The...

Plumber turns on FSA after deal leak.
January 2, 2007... Byline: Jim Armitage Jan. 2--Paul Davidson, the tycoon known in the City as The Plumber, has torn up his settlement with the Financial Services Authority in the latest twist to his bitter dispute with the City regulator. Davidson won...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 2, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 2--Tom Bower's biography of Lord (Conrad) Black, the former proprietor of the Daily and Sunday Telegraph, mentions on several occasions how the Canadian businessman almost never had a majority shareholding in...

Rival pair line up the cash for [pounds sterling]9.2bn Indian mobiles battle.
January 2, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jan. 2--The $18 billion ([pounds sterling]9.2 billion) battle for India's fourth-largest mobile phone company hotted up today as the two main rivals lined up finance for their bids. Shares in Hutchison Telecoms...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 2, 2007... Jan. 2--KINGFISHER SELL-OFF SOUR NOTE AT NEW YEAR PARTY: B&Q retailer Kingfisher has not enjoyed the start to 2007 it had been hoping for, with one of its biggest shareholders choosing to slash its holding. While other blue-chips were...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jan. 3--Martin Broughton is one of those figures who crowd the top of British business. When lists are drawn up of names of people who hold serial positions of power and influence, inevitably, his will be among...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 3, 2007... Jan. 3--HALF of all bingo players smoke -- twice the rate in the overall population. So a smoking ban on the way is bad news for the likes of Rank's Mecca bingo operation. The unlikely solution dreamt up by the industry? Providing bingo players...

Banks to hit brakes on City jobs boom.
January 3, 2007... Byline: James Rossiter Jan. 3--Big American investment banks are still hiring staff but the City jobs market will be more patchy in 2007. That is the message from recruitment firms, who believe the job-swapping inspired by the City...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 3--One of the great unknowns as the world swims in an ever-deeper ocean of debt is how the system will cope when a major company finds it can no longer meet the interest bills. In the past, such events would...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 3--Another year of impressive growth is in prospect for Britain's high-flying grocers in 2007 and that, in turn, should be good news for stock market investors. That appears to be the conclusion of the latest...

Music Zone goes bust after lender pulls plug.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 3--Music Zone is the first major High Street victim of this year's tough Christmas retailing season as the UK's self-proclaimed largest discount retailer of CDs and DVDs was today put into administration. ...

Offshore bonanza after US ban on online gaming.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Peter John Jan. 3--Internet betting companies that have flouted last year's move to halt internet gambling in America are reaping a bonanza. Groups such as Sportingbet and PartyGaming had to cease trading in the US immediately...

Last-ditch deal saves Little Chef's bacon.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Peter John Jan. 3--Little Chef, the struggling roadside restaurants chain, was poised to unveil a last-minute rescue deal this afternoon. Entrepreneurs Lawrence Wosskow and Simon Heath, who bought the chain for [pounds...

UBS probed over hedge fund conflicts of interest.
January 3, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jan. 3--UBS is under investigation in the US for allegedly running a "hedge fund hotel" that created major conflicts of interest. Investigators are probing a deal in which the bank leased space at its offices in...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 4, 2007... Jan. 4--TREASURY high-ups complain about being asked by MPs how many energy-efficient lightbulbs the department uses. They ask if the MPs are really expect "taxpayers' money to be spent counting all the lightbulbs?" Well, why not? Other...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Neil Collins Jan. 4--Happy 60th birthday, Dame Marjorie Scardino, for 25 January. Not so happy 10th anniversary of her shooting to fame as the first female executive of an FTSE 100 company. Her elevation to the top job at...

Ford could still sell off Jaguar and Land Rover.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jan. 4--Struggling US carmaker Ford will decide the fate of luxury marque Aston Martin this year, and is still not ruling out the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover. Ford has been drawing up a shortlist of bidders for...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 4--Talking about the growth of its business this week, BSkyB published research showing that 12.2 percent of the television viewing among its Sky Plus customers is time-shifted -- in other words, recorded and...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 4--AKZO OF HOLLAND SEEN AS SHAPING UP FOR TILT AT ICI: The odds on Dulux paint maker ICI remaining independent by the end of this year lengthened considerably today as speculative buying pushed the price up 7p to...

Loch Fyne franchising sparks talk of [pounds sterling]70 million bid.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Jim Armitage Jan. 4--The Loch Fyne restaurant company is close to signing a multi-million-pound franchising deal with catering giant Sodexho, heightening speculation it will soon be snapped up by a big-fish venture capitalist for...

Next and Alexon Pile on the retail gloom.
January 4, 2007... Byline: Peter John Jan. 4--The worst fears about Christmas trading were confirmed today as big High Street retailers Next and Alexon posted grim trading statements. Next said second-half like-for-like sales, stripping out takings from...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 5, 2007... Jan. 5--The Adam Smith Institute has accused the major accountancy firms of promoting regulation of their industry in order to feather their own luxurious nests. In a call for deregulation, the Institute's Eamonn Butler says: "Regulation costs....

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 5, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 5--CHANCING IT ON COMMODITIES: People talk as if there is still a commodities boom going on, but the price of copper fell through $6000 a tonne this week, which means it is now down 30 percent from the peak it...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 5, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 5--Shares in ICI were changing hands at their highest in more than five years today as the City braced itself for a [pounds sterling]7 billion bid for the Dulux paint maker. ICI helped lead blue-chips higher...

Insider probe focus on Indian printers.
January 5, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 5--City printers and the Indian firms they use to process key price-sensitive information, are to come under the spotlight of a major City investigation into the epidemic of insider dealing in the shares of...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Value investor Harris Associates has sold more stock in UK food equipment maker Enodis. Harris, which runs around [pounds sterling]33.4 billion in assets, has ditched 675,239 shares in the firm, cutting its stake from 6.6 percent to...

Foods on course to beat forecasts: Cake-maker Finsbury.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Healthy eaters who occasionally indulge themselves with the finest chocolate cakes are what Finsbury Foods, the baker chaired and 22 percent owned by Lord Saatchi, really like. For not only does it make posh bread for Waitrose and...

A shortage of stock spoils Jessops picture.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Britain's largest chain of specialist camera shops, Jessops, was left cursing a worldwide shortage of stock from Nokia and Canon as it warned on sales and profits. Only three months into its new financial year, Jessops chief...

Indians open the books for Vodafone scrutiny.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jan. 8--Vodafone will today begin exclusive scrutiny of the books of Hutchison Essar, India's fourth-largest mobile phone operator, for which the British company is prepared to pay almost [pounds sterling]10 billion to...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--AS pundits try to make sense of conflicting Christmas retail sales reports, Deutsche Bank's economics team reminds City Spy of Bank of England Governor Mervyn King's observation: "The true meaning of the Christmas story will not be...

We'll beat Sony in the games game, says Microsoft.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says its Xbox 360 games console will overtake market leader Sony, which has shipped a million PlayStation 3s in the US. Gates, speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said Microsoft...

Polar Capital bosses set to launch [pounds sterling]100m.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--AIM flotation Investment gurus Brian Ashford-Russell and Tim Woolley, along with the former European head of Morgan Stanley's wealth management arm Mark Kary, will see their personal wealth valued at around [pounds sterling]45 million...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 8--RIGHT MOVE AT COUNTRYWIDE: There was a time when estate agents were hugely fashionable. In the late 1980s virtually every agent was snapped up by a big financial firm -- a building society, an insurance...

Small mortgage brokers 'break rules on advice'.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Many small mortgage brokers and financial advisers break the rules when it comes to advising clients, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said today. A third of firms it targeted via visits, questionnaires and mystery shopping...

Nasdaq scorns LSE takeover defence.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jan. 8--Nasdaq today poured scorn on the London Stock Exchange's initial defence of its [pounds sterling]2.7 billion hostile takeover bid, and tried to spike chief executive Clara Furse's guns by deriding its...

Bonuses pave the way to a new front at Marshalls.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Front-garden makeovers costing up to [pounds sterling]20,000 are the latest must-haves for wealthy City types looking to spend their bonuses. That is the conclusion of paving stones maker Marshalls, as demand for its garden...

ndal-hit Siemens tries to clean up its act.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Allan Hall Jan. 8--Top management of embattled German engineering conglomerate Siemens met today to form a task force to root out corruption as prosecutors close in. Six employees of the company -- Europe's biggest engineering...

LSE performance under attack by bidder Nasdaq.
January 8, 2007... Jan. 8--Nasdaq today poured scorn on the London Stock Exchange's initial defence of its [pounds sterling]2.7 million hostile takeover bid and tried to spike chief executive Clara Furse's guns by deriding its forthcoming results. It also...

Fashion makeover that spells death for the own label.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jan. 8--What's the big surprise in the Christmas tales so far? For my money, it's the 7.3 percent hike in like-for-like sales at House of Fraser. I must be honest, I'd given up the department store chain as all but...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 8--BA TAKES OFF AFTER DEAL OVER PENSIONS GAP: At last, some positive news for British Airways, which has resolved a potentially damaging dispute with the trade unions and seen its share price celebrate by climbing...

It may look tasty -- but it's still just spam.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jan. 8--On 24 January 2004, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Bill Gates predicted that email spamming would soon be over: "Two years from now, spam will be solved." Well, Bill, judging by the amount of...

House of Hinduja can dash Vodafone dreams.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Jan. 8--The entry of the Hinduja brothers into the bidding war for Hutchison Essar has been greeted in some quarters as though they are staging a triumphal comeback. Having met them several times, I never...

Another environmental disaster threatens BP.
January 8, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Jan. 8--Embattled oil giant BP was plunged into another environmental crisis today, amid claims that a crucial 1100-mile pipeline linking the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean had a flaw that could trigger disastrous...

Fog keeps BAA growth in passengers grounded.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Heathrow operator BAA admitted the extent of its ruined fogbound Christmas today as the loss of 175,000 passengers over the festive season saw its expected growth levels cut in half. The Spanish-owned airports group, which also runs...

Watchdogs set to probe banks' loans to hedge funds.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--US and European regulators have reopened discussions about regulation of hedge funds and will conduct a joint probe into whether banks and securities firms set strict enough limits on loans to the funds. The US Securities and...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--MARGINS SHRINK AS BP'S PRODUCTION WOES PILE UP: Beleaguered oil supermajor BP has missed by a mile its 2006 production targets and profit margins have fallen too. BP said today it produced an average of 3.82 million barrels of oil...

BP shares go diving as its production woes bite.
January 9, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 9--Shares in beleaguered BP plunged further today after the oil giant admitted it has missed by a mile its 2006 production targets and profit margins are falling too. Analysts immediately slashed their...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--WHAT will 2007 bring for Sir Philip and Lady Tina Green ? As they return home refreshed and replenished from their seasonal sojourn at Sandy Lane, the Greens may want to catch up on the New Year predictions. Among those gazing into the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 9, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 9--STATISTICS BILL SHOULD SHUT THE BOOK ON ALL SPINNING: Ten years ago no one would have thought to suggest that official statistics might be biased, distorted or used selectively for political ends. Today such...

Crazy house prices make for crazy gains.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Sales of multi-million-pound London homes have being going through the roof over the past three years as the world's super-rich have vied with City types for the very smartest properties. But while ordinary Londoners may have...

Cairn India suffers debut drop on oil-output delay fears.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Shares of Cairn India, the South Asian unit of the London-listed energy company, opened 7 percent below the initial public offering price on their trading debut in Mumbai and promptly fell 19 percent on fears of delayed output from the...

LSE is lifted in Nasdaq fight with 50 percent leap.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Clara Furse, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, fired another broadside at hostile American raider Nasdaq today as she revealed the stock market's operating profits jumped by 50 percent in the past three months. "This...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 9, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 9--Satellite broadcaster BSkyB, 40 percent owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, may be looking for a change of fortune in 2007 after being awarded a positive rating by Morgan Stanley for the first time in four...

Festive boost puts fizz in M&S recovery.
January 9, 2007... Byline: Peter John Jan. 9--Marks & Spencer's turnaround king Stuart Rose today finally conceded that Britain's biggest clothes retailer is in full recovery mode as it unveiled strong Christmas trading figures that left rivals standing. ...

Savills and Rightmove are cashing in as houses leap.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Property agency Savills and homes search website Rightmove told City brokers today to mark up their profit forecasts thanks to the boom in Britain's real estate industry. This year's bonus pool for Savills' 3500 staff is worth...

Brent price at low despite Russia oil embargo fears.
January 9, 2007... Jan. 9--Fears over a Russian embargo on oil to Germany and eastern Europe failed to spook oil markets as the price of Brent crude fell by as much as a dollar a barrel today on low demand during the mild winter weather in the US and Europe. ...

Vodafone's Sarin to use charm in mobile battle.
January 9, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Jan. 9--Arun Sarin, chief executive of Vodafone, will fly to India tomorrow to press home the British group's advantage in the $18 billion ([pounds sterling]9.3 billion) takeover battle for India's fourth-largest...