Tragic Marilyn memoir is flawed gem November 24, 2011 Film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Cert: 15 Marilyn Monroe returns to the big screen with a career-making performance from Michelle Williams, supported by an array of outstanding British talent. A true story, My Week With Marilyn combines two memoirs written by Colin Clark, a documentarian whose first job was as a production hand on the [...]
SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND November 24, 2011 MATILDA THE MUSICAL Surreal Australian musical comedian Tim Minchin provides some of the music for this ambitious take on the Roald Dahl classic. The production is set to be a smash hit, with the source material and acting talent ensuring Matilda the Musical will captivate adults as well as kids. GO DEEPER UNDERGROUND For just [...]
Invista sues Lloyds over fee dispute November 23, 2011 A FURIOUS row has broken out between Invista Real Estate Investment Management and its majority shareholder Lloyds Banking Group after the fund manager claimed the bank was refusing to make payments. Invista announced yesterday that it was suing the bank for failing to pay a £545,600 instalment it allegedly owes after cancelling a major contract [...]
The new generation of Xbox Kinect games taking over your living room November 23, 2011 THE Xbox Kinect smashed records on its release last Christmas, shipping an astonishing 10m units in less than six months. Its motion-sensing camera made it the first console to completely do away with the need for a control pad – hence its tagline “You are the controller”. A year later it is still the must-have [...]
POWER UP! | THREE OF THE BEST LAPTOPS FOR GAMING November 23, 2011 While the Xbox Kinect may have helped move gaming from the bedroom to the living room, the hardcore gamers, the guys (and they’re almost all guys) who spent their teenage years playing Counter Strike, still use PCs. Here is a look at three of the most powerful gaming laptops. Dell Alienware M11x, from £900 You [...]
Paragon eyes takeovers as earnings rise November 22, 2011 BUY to let mortgage specialist Paragon posted a surge in full-year profits yesterday and said it remained on the lookout for acquisition opportunities, having bought a portfolio off Royal Bank of Scotland last month. Paragon’s pre-tax profits for the year ending September rose 12.5 per cent from a year ago to £80.8m, helped by acquisitions [...]
Home ownership to slide says Bank’s David Miles November 22, 2011 FIRST-TIME buyers are taking longer to save for large deposits, and so the number of owner-occupiers is set to fall, David Miles from the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee said in a speech yesterday. The transition to a society with fewer homeowners will be painful, he warned, but could have long-term benefits to the [...]
Get your skates on this Xmas November 22, 2011 Dedicated runners say part of the reason they slog through the pain barrier, come rain or snow, is to recapture the feeling of being young: to feel the wind rushing through their hair and the ground rolling under their feet. I think running is too much like hard work but after ice skating for the [...]
OUT OF OFFICE November 22, 2011 HYDE PARK WINTER WONDERLAND The Hyde Park Christmas extravaganza is your one-stop-shop for everything festive. Get a few snaps of the kids bobbing on Santa’s knee, wander through snowy Christmas markets and check out a show in the circus tent. Take time out on the big wheel, where you can look down on everyone else [...]
Inside the astonishing new Porsche November 22, 2011 An all-new Porsche 911 is a rare thing. The new generation – codenamed 991 – is only the third completely new version since the iconic sportscar was first introduced in 1963. We’re driving the Carrera S model from Santa Barbara and into the Santa Ynez mountains in California via fast and twisting roads. At first [...]