The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from November 2006

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from November 2006

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
November 1, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Nov. 1--THE REFEREE WHO WANTS FEWER RULES: Last Saturday at Fulham versus Wigan, the referee Graham Poll came in for some fearful stick. From the moment he came on the pitch with the teams, the crowd was on his...

Change at top as BP battles Alaska woes.
November 1, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Nov. 1--Oil and gas giant BP is to replace its top executive in Alaska, where operations have been plagued by disasters that have severely damaged the company's image. BP has been slammed for the poor maintenance of...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
November 1, 2006... Nov. 1--JOHN HOOD, Oxford University's Vice-Chancellor, was at Reuters to thank them for backing the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. He said achieving consensus on management of the university's cash was a challenge. "We had a...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 1, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 1--Remember Easdaq, the Brussels-based stock exchange launched by Sir Ronald Cohen and others in those heady dot-com days, with the intention of it becoming a cradle for fast growing companies to rival America's...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 1, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Nov. 1--AMEC GAINS AS BID APPROACH COMES TO LIGHT: Amec was marked higher today as it emerged that the support services group had been the subject of an unsuccessful takeover approach earlier this year, but had said...

City bonus billions piled into pensions.
November 1, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Nov. 1--City high-fliers are building a multi-billion-pound wall of bonus money to put into their pensions. Billions of pounds have already flooded into personal pension plans after generous changes to the...

Hacking row casts cloud over Russia's UK listings.
November 1, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 1--Rusal, the Russian aluminium business in the throes of merging with rival Sual and taking over the aluminium interests of Switzerland's Glencore, faces court action in the UK over alleged computer hacking. ...

Margins headache as MyTravel bookings fall.
November 1, 2006... Byline: Sarah Marks Nov. 1--Troubled tour operator MyTravel today cast fresh doubts over its ability to hit its stated profit margin target for the UK as bookings continue to be adversely affected by the security fears that blighted...

This month in Odyssey.(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... It isn't easy to be logical and take a scientific approach when it comes to our emotions. Sadness or joy, anger, fear, and even love just seem to happen. Most of us would agree that it's good to know what makes us sad or afraid, so we can fix...

Chocolate power!(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... It's no secret. Chocolate can make you feel good. That's because it contains many substances that act as stimulants--like serotonin, a chemical that helps people feel calm and relaxed. But now a new study suggests that chomping on chocolate may...

What happens if you bully a mouse?(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Just ask psychiatrist Eric Nestler of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He and his coworkers have been spending their days intimidating little brown mice. While the myth is that little mice can frighten elephants, many are...

Liquid crystal vision.(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... You've heard of LCDs (liquid crystal displays). How about LCBs (liquid crystal bifocals)? Well, seeing is believing. Liquid crystals are substances that can exist in an odd state-one that is sort of like a liquid and sort of like a solid....

People-eating hamsters!(Science Scoops)
November 1, 2006... Watch out! Malaysian researchers are trying to turn a mild-mannered hamster into a man-eater! It's true! But don't worry, because while the hunting hamster is real, it's only a virtual man-eater. Welcome to Mice Arena, an augmented-reality...

It's a dinosaur, Turkey!(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... A new species of birdlike dinosaur has been found in southern Utah. While that news may sound somewhat ordinary, it's not, especially if you consider that this dinosaur was a real turkey! Yep. The new species, which is described in the...

That chemical reaction called love.
November 1, 2006... When I was 17, as part of a project for my Humanities class, I wrote to my grandfather, asking about my Scottish ancestry. His typed response arrived promptly--two pages of genealogy and four-and-a-half pages of how he had met and fallen in...

Ask a scientist.(Thomas Lewis)(Interview)
November 1, 2006... How do I love thee? Let me count the ways I love thee to the depth and breath and being My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet, by sun and...

Love across cultures.
November 1, 2006... That's the beginning of one of the most enduring and oft-repeated love poems ever written. It's by English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and if you haven't studied it yet in school, you probably will. "Love is based on commonality, and...

The uncontrollables: blushing, bawling, and (goose) bumping.
November 1, 2006... YOU'RE ON STAGE and everyone else in the chorus stops singing on cue... except you. By mistake, you sing the first three words of the next verse, and all eyes in the audience turn to focus on you. Your neck and cheeks heat up. There isn't a...

Magnet madness.(Brain Strain)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... Dr. Plex is testing both your emotions and your ability to solve problems. He places you in a room with a rectangular bar magnet and a piece of metal that looks identical to it but is not magnetized. You bring the two pieces of metal...

Afraid very afraid! The facts about phobias.
November 1, 2006... Do you scare easily? If not, have you ever been really afraid? If you answered "no" to the second question, you either are not being truthful, are someone who has led an exceptionally sheltered and trouble-free life, or are a good case for a...

Fire in his eyes.(Alex's fear factor)
November 1, 2006... Sloan's angry face haunted Alex's dreams. Alex bolted upright in his bed, breathing heavily as the echoes of Caitlyn's screams faded into the early morning darkness. Sweat plastered his pajamas to his skin. Alex climbed out of bed and...

Beyond the blues: depression: depression is more than the occasional blues.
November 1, 2006... As a high school student in Indiana, Meredith got straight As, belonged to the National Honor Society, and played trombone in her school's honors band. By senior year, however, Meredith had dropped out of her activities and was on the verge of...

More mood disorders: major depression is just one mental illness involving emotions. Here are a few others.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... BIPOLAR DISORDER (also called manic-depressive disorder) is an emotional roller-coaster ride that interferes with normal functioning. Patients experience bouts of deep depression. Other times, they have high-energy manic phases, with sudden...

Laugh! It's the best medicine.
November 1, 2006... It's 11 a.m., and Drs. Fidget and Meatloaf are on their rounds at Schneider Children's Hospital, a part of the Long Island Jewish Health Care System in New York. Under her white lab coat, Dr. Fidget wears a blue dress with bright yellow polka...

Emotions on cue: and interview with teen actor Jesse Phillips-March.(People to Discover)(Interview)
November 1, 2006... Acting might just be the most emotional profession of all. Performers must cry, blush, cringe, laugh wildly, or even explode with anger on command. To understand how players portray emotions, ODYSSEY talked with Jesse Phillips-March, a...

Unforgettable.(emotions and memory)
November 1, 2006... "I reached out and found a crack to slide my finger into. There was an edge for my left foot at about knee height; then I reached above the overhang and there was a solid hold just over the lip. I pulled the overhang and..." I listened in...

Making Mona Lisa smile.(Activity to Discover)(Thomas Huang' new software innovation)
November 1, 2006... She's 83 percent happy, 9 percent disgusted, 6 percent fearful, and 2 percent angry. No, that's not your science teacher, grading your latest lab assignment. It's the subject of Leonardo da Vinci's Renaissance painting, Mona Lisa--at least...

Can you get the feeling?(Activity to Discover)
November 1, 2006... Follow the instructions below. Then try to identify the emotion they code for. Emotional Algorithm #1: 1. Lower your eyebrows, then pull them together to wrinkle your forehead. (Anatomically speaking, the muscle you're using is called...

You've got mail.(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Dear ODYSSEY, I am a recent subscriber to the magazine. In the May edition there is an article called "The Mysterious Carnivore," which really caught my attention. I'd like to suggest a name for this mysterious creature: lecox (lee-kocks)....

Star chart.(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky as it appears at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate for 7 p.m. on Nov. 1 and 5 p.m. on Nov. 30. To use the All-Sky Chart, first use a...

The seven sinister sisters.(Stargazing Comic)(Cartoon)
November 1, 2006... ON NOVEMBER 1ST, FACE SOUTH AT MIDNIGHT AND LOOK ALMOST OVERHEAD FOR THE LEGENDARY STAR CLUSTER CALLED THE PLEIADES, THE SEVEN SISTERS! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, THE PLEIADES HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH TRADITIONAL...

Summer of Discovery.(Kid's Picks)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
November 1, 2006... Summer of Discovery by Melody Herr (University of Nebraska Press, 2006) This is a story about two young men living in the Midwest way back in 1939, who help an archaeologist make all sorts of interesting finds in the plains and caves...

Fauna & feelings.(animal emotions)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... My dog Guinny chases rabbits--big-time! One morning she and I wandered by azalea bushes. Guinny barked and lunged, typical get-that-bunny behavior. Suddenly, she stopped and gave me a look that I can best describe as a cross between confusion...

Carphone is targeting a Vodafone European tie.
November 2, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 2--After the shock loss of Vodafone from its stores last month Carphone Warehouse has been in detailed talks with the mobile giant to protect its pan-European business. Chief executive Charles Dunstone said:...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
November 2, 2006... Nov. 2--ANDREW STEWART WATCH. There was once a top footballer known to all and sundry as Andy Cole who woke up one day and decided that henceforth he would be called Andrew Cole. City Spy has noticed in the past few days repeated references in...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
November 2, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Nov. 2--Science, like economics, is a hit-and-miss affair. Both depend on trying to find a theory to fit the facts, and then trying to test the theory to destruction, usually by rigorous argument and experimentation....

Smith & Nephew set for [pounds sterling]10bn US tie-up.
November 2, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Nov. 2--Healthcare giant Smith & Nephew today looked poised to pull off the biggest transatlantic deal in the sector since the [pounds sterling]45 billion GlaxoSmithKline merger in 2000. Analysts welcomed news...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 2, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 2--Most people, obviously, find making a great deal of money very difficult. What is much less obvious is that those who have made a lot of money have great difficulty holding on to it. Hard as it is to create...

Picture still not clear on new ITV chief.
November 2, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 2--ITV today stressed that the hunt for a new chief executive remains wide open despite intense speculation the race had narrowed down to Channel 4 boss Andy Duncan heading a dream team with Greg Dyke as chairman...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 2, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Nov. 2--Vodafone has been quick to scotch reports that Russian conglomerate Alpha Group is interested in buying a 20 percent stake in the mobile phones giant. It had been claimed that Alpha, the Altimo mobile phone...

Wetherspoon sales light up in smoke-free pubs.
November 2, 2006... Byline: Sarah Marks Nov. 2--Pubs group Wetherspoon today shone some light on the future of the industry after next year's smoking ban by revealing that sales across its 95 non-smoking pubs in the UK rose in its first quarter. At the...

WPP and Hellman of US 'bid [pounds sterling]668m for Sportfive'.
November 2, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Nov. 2--Advertising giant WPP and US private-equity firm Hellman & Friedman have reportedly made a joint bid worth up to e1 billion ([pounds sterling]668 million) for sports rights marketing agency Sportfive. ...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--BHP BILLITON ADMITS BLOW TO CALIFORNIA GAS PLANT HOPES: Celebrities such as James Bond stars Halle Berry and Pierce Brosnan are causing a major headache for BHP Billiton's plans to build a natural gas terminal in California. The world's...

BA takes [pounds sterling]150m hit as it ditches Connect.
November 3, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Nov. 3--British Airways finally quit the ultra-competitive, Ryanair and easyJet-dominated domestic and European regional airline market today as it spent [pounds sterling]150 million offloading its BA Connect business to...

[pounds sterling]40m bill in 3 months for BSkyB in broadband battle.
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--Entering the cut-throat broadband battle in the UK has cost British Sky Broadcasting more than [pounds sterling]40 million in the last three months but produced just 74,000 customers taking its high-speed internet connection. Chief...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--The rest of the world may be PC, but bankers are not for changing. Answering a survey, no less than 83 percent of bankers reckon it is reasonable to bill their employers for strippers paid for while entertaining clients. Of the...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Fildes column.(Column)
November 3, 2006... Byline: Christopher Fildes Nov. 3--Coming shortly to a wallet near you: Adam Smith, the sage of Kirkcaldy. He will appear on the Bank of England's new [pounds sterling]20 note, along with a picture of a pin factory and a gnomic message...

Google seeking deal over YouTube TV and film clips.
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--YouTube's new owner Google is desperately trying to persuade media companies to supply content to the home movies website in the hope of warding off a flood of copyright lawsuits. YouTube users regularly put their favourite film and...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 3, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 3--The response by banks and building societies to the surge in house prices has been to offer even bigger mortgages to young people hoping to get on the housing ladder. Twenty years ago, when mortgages were...

Yale holds the key to investing.
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--In the City this week: the investment manager who looks after $18 billion ([pounds sterling]9.4 billion) and has seen his fund multiply tenfold in two decades. How can we benefit from his approach? Well, we'd have to go to Yale. ...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 3, 2006... Byline: Sarah Marks Nov. 3--Cigarette maker Gallaher was puffed higher today as investors caught wind of a 1150p-a-share approach for the Benson & Hedges maker. Bid rumours have been surfacing in the tobacco sector with increasing...

Maiden and founder quit Sanctuary.
November 3, 2006... Nov. 3--Rod Smallwood, one of the founders of Sanctuary, has quit the music group and is taking its first major band Iron Maiden with him. Smallwood founded Sanctuary in 1976 along with Andy Taylor and signed up the heavy metal band three...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
November 4, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Nov. 4--Do you sincerely want to get rich? I know, it's been used before. But what about if I add, "and be seen to save the planet at the same time"? Yes please, I hear you cry. Well, here's how you do it. Set up a...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 4, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 4--The publication today of a consultation paper on private equity by the Financial Services Authority could not have been better-timed. News came at the weekend that US private-equity house KKR held talks last...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
November 6, 2006... Nov. 6--THE FLYBE TAKEOVER of British Airways' regional airline business -- BA is actually paying FlyBe to take it off its hands -- is particularly delicious for Jim French, FlyBe's long-standing chief executive. FlyBe started life nearly 30...

Coup for Canary Wharf as KPMG plans new HQ.
November 6, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Nov. 6--Canary Wharf today sealed its status as London's new centre for the world's largest financial firms looking for extra space as accountancy giant KPMG forked out [pounds sterling]260 million for a new...

Four Seasons founder in big stake sale.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 6--The 75-year-old founder of the Four Seasons luxury hotels and resorts chain today agreed to sell the major part of his business to the world's wealthiest man, Bill Gates of Microsoft, and the world's...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Nov. 6--Shares of healthcare specialist Smith & Nephew dipped 1 3/4p to 503 3/4p today amid mounting speculation that it may turn to shareholders for more than [pounds sterling]1 billion should it choose to go ahead...

Secret fare rises lift Ryanair to [pounds sterling]220m.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Nov. 6--Ryanair has spent the summer secretly raising its ticket prices as the self-proclaimed low-fares airline claimed passengers are abandoning airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa over the controversial issue...

City bonuses fuel a riverside flats boom.
November 6, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Nov. 6--High-flying City bankers have pushed up prices of smart riverside flats by as much as 15 percent over the past two months as they house-hunt from Docklands to Battersea ahead of an expected record year for...

Soaraway Ryanair flies to [pounds sterling]220m high.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Nov. 6--Ryanair profits are soaring to new highs with the Irish budget airline claiming more and more passengers are deserting the major airlines over the levying of fuel surcharges. "Business is bloody booming,"...

UK suppliers facing the chop in Airbus cutback.
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--The future of scores of UK aerospace companies and thousands of British jobs was uncertain today after giant European airliner manufacturer Airbus said it is to axe more than 80 percent of its suppliers. Airbus, in crisis after it...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--AB FOODS TO TAKE [pounds sterling]34M HIT ON EU SUGAR REGIME CHANGE: Ryvita-to-Silver Spoon sugar giant Associated British Foods today said the change to the EU sugar regime, which forced producers to cut prices would hit profits by...

Plastic debt heads for first fall in 19 years.
November 7, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 7--Credit card borrowing could fall for the first time this year since the Bank of England started measuring spending on plastic 19 years ago, according to a leading High Street bank. Alliance & Leicester says...

Restructure better than liquidation, says head of Eurotunnel.
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--Eurotunnel executive chairman Jacques Gounon has once again stepped up the pressure on creditors of the Channel Tunnel operator by revealing that the company's asset value is a mere e890 million ([pounds sterling]596 million). ...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 7--Things do sometimes work in this country, even when they are set up by the Government. The first annual report of the Pension Protection Fund, presented to Parliament today, shows that it is currently...

Meltdown fear as ice cream maker Hill Station is halted.
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--The husband-and-wife team behind luxury ice cream maker Hill Station, owner also of the Loseley and Granelli brands, were today struggling for the company's survival as its finances threaten to go into meltdown. Trading in Hill...

Ballerina and a battle that put [pounds sterling]43m IT firm into red.
November 7, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Nov. 7--She was fated as one of the foremost female technology entrepreneurs. Mira Makar's out-of-court settlement yesterday with Triad Group, the company she ran for more than eight years, marks the closing...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 7, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Nov. 7--ENERGY STOCKS CLIMB AS GOLDMAN CALLS OIL AT $75: Motorists must brace themselves for dearer prices at the pumps in the run-up to Christmas, Goldman Sachs told clients today as it forecast the price of oil would...

Metal exchange's trading system out of action again.
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--A newly revamped electronic trading system at the London Metal Exchange was out of action today for the second day running. The LME, which is having to cope with unprecedented trading demand as metals markets hit new highs, admitted its...

Microsoft to take on Apple in movie war.
November 7, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Nov. 7--Software giant Microsoft has declared war on Apple with a plan to rent and sell downloaded movies and TV shows through its Xbox Live game service. The move comes as an explosion nears in downloaded video to...

UK tax system tops the lot -- as the most complicated.
November 7, 2006... Nov. 7--Britain has the most complicated tax system in the developed world -- and that's official. Days after the average Briton's spiralling tax burden was revealed, Chancellor Gordon Brown was today charged with more than doubling the...

Alarm over Big Four call for company accounts rethink.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--Companies have reacted with dismay to calls from the Big Four accounting firms for a radical overhaul of the way they produce and distribute their accounts. Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and KPMG want to kill off...

UK solution to Emirates' mobile call.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--Air travellers will be able to use their mobile phones on a commercial service for the first time from January after super-rich carrier Emirates signed up for a British firm's new technology. Emirates is to install inflight...

Rentokil chief 'is still on the track of a turnaround'.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--Rentokil chief executive Doug Flynn today said he is still on course to put the pest control-to-washroom services group back on track with modest profit growth in 2007. "This is a substantial aircraft carrier with some leaky holes...

BP shuts Georgia pipeline on worry over 'anomalies'.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--Accident-prone BP has closed down exports from Georgia after finding what it called "anomalies" on a pipeline to a Black Sea port. Just months after the partial shutdown of its Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska because of corrosion, the...

CORRECTION: FedEx cancels its [pounds sterling]1.2bn Airbus orders amid delay.
November 8, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Nov. 8--The Evening Standard has issued a corrected version of the story slugged EV-FEDEX-AIRBUS, moved by McClatchy-Tribune Business News for Nov. 8. Please delete or kill the previous version and use the corrected...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
November 8, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Nov. 8--The retail sales figures out this week were better than expected -- up 2.6 percent in October on a like-for-like basis -- reflecting the fact that, after a slight wobble in the summer, confidence has...

Rate rise looks a cert as MPC meeting gets under way.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--The Bank of England today started its two-day meeting to set interest rates, with economists unanimous in predicting the cost of borrowing will rise a quarter-point to 5 percent. Bank Governor Mervyn King leads the nine-member...

Standard Life reaps rewards of pension tax move.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--The boom in the number of people bolstering their pension provision since the April change in the tax regime has accelerated at Standard Life. Some pundits had feared that the impact of the change could start petering out but...

World-beating LSE in mystery bid talks.
November 8, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Nov. 8--London Stock Exchange chief executive Clara Furse today admitted she was "in some very interesting talks" but refused to reveal exactly what they were as the Exchange unveiled a 60 percent rise in first-half...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
November 8, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Nov. 8--The likelihood of another quarterpoint rise in interest rates tomorrow brings with it the possibility of an increase in bad-debt provisions, and that could spell bad news for the likes of Lloyds TSB, off 4p at...

Clear Channel buy would fit bill for Decaux.
November 8, 2006... Nov. 8--JC Decaux is looking at buying Clear Channel in a move that would see the world's top two poster advertising businesses combine in a deal worth about e10 billion ([pounds sterling]6.7 billion). Between them, the two have well over...

FirstGroup steams to [pounds sterling]44m as railways boom.
November 8, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Nov. 8--Boom times on the railways are boosting profits at Britain's largest train operator FirstGroup by nearly a third. The operator of the enlarged First Great Western services out of Paddington and the revamped...