PROPERTY NEWS February 23, 2012 LONDON OFFICE TAKE-UP POSITIVE Central London office take-up has seen a positive start to 2012 despite figures being below December levels. With some 840,000 sq ft transacted in January, take-up was 38 per cent higher than the same time last year, according to research by global property adviser CBRE. Docklands saw the largest increase, with [...]
Blood, sand and oil in Arabia February 23, 2012 Film BLACK GOLD Cert: 12A *** A battle has finished and dead bodies litter the sand, rotting in the unforgiving sun. The victor, Sultan Nesib (Antonio Banderas) demands the sons of the loser, Sultan Amar (Mark Strong), as hostages. Amar agrees, as insurance against future war. Finally, both agree that the wasteland on which they [...]
GOING OUT February 23, 2012 The big launch this week takes place on the site of recently closed Merah on Wells Street, Fitzrovia, an area getting livelier by the week. Project aims to offer the consummate VIP experience for House Music aficionados. Following a multi-million pound refurbishment and with Luca Maggiora (previously of Luxx) at the helm, this 400 capacity [...]
Jacobean tale of incest is a 21st century triumph February 23, 2012 Theatre ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE Barbican **** by Steve Dinneen JOHN Ford’s Jacobean tale of incest and revenge is dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century in this highly stylised and deliciously sinister production. The forbidden love between Giovanni and his sister Annabella is portrayed as a tender but doomed affair – similar [...]
How to find the next crop of cyber security experts February 22, 2012 Hacking group Anonymous rose from obscurity last year to become a household name. Earlier this month it intercepted a phone call between the FBI and UK police discussing, ironically, the fight against cyber crime. The audacious hack was the latest in a string of high profile attacks targeting governments, police forces and corporations across the [...]
Catherine is tantalisingly close to being a great game February 22, 2012 Tantalus made a pretty bad mistake: he pissed off Zeus. To make amends, he chopped up his son Pelops, boiled him in a pot and served him as a sacrificial aperitif. Now, as you might have predicted, this only made things worse and Zeus, not the most forgiving of gods at the best of times, [...]
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS February 22, 2012 NOKIA TO UNVEIL CHEAPER LUMIA Nokia is poised to unveil a new, cheaper smartphone using Microsoft’s Windows Phone software at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona next week. The struggling Finnish giant wants to target a wider market for its new range of smartphones, with its flagship Lumia 800 failing to make the desired [...]
Segro asset value hit by write-downs February 21, 2012 SEGRO, the industrial property developer, said that it was hit by a 9.6 per cent decline in its net asset value (NAV) last year after bigger-than-forecast write-downs on its portfolio. The real estate investment trust said its NAV per share fell to 340p after the group wrote down the value of its non-core assets by [...]
Strong profits at BNP Paribas Real Estate February 21, 2012 BNP PARIBAS Real Estate enjoyed a strong performance in 2011 despite tougher market conditions, posting an 11 per cent rise in operating profits to €156m (£130.8m). The real estate advisory arm of France’s biggest listed bank – which posted full-year profits of £6bn last week – said turnover increased by six per cent to €658m [...]
Panamera GTS and BMW’s new-gen 3-series both score February 21, 2012 Porsche’s new Panamera shows that two more seats can still be sporty PORSCHE’s four-seat Panamera has sold surprisingly well. Though it’s pretty agile for such a large, heavy motor it’s never felt as sporty as it could have with a character that’s more luxury limousine than dynamic sportscar, even in its range-topping Turbo iteration. It’s [...]