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MARYLEBONE — This year is a big year of change. In technology, in the world economy, the world of sport, even in the way all our countries are run. There are elections in America, France, India… What is more significant in a country than a change of government? And that’s what is promised in India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Serbia, Kuwait, El Salvador, The [...] LONDON — It’s been hard not to think about Korea this week. But I have different things on my mind. Not the loss of a dictator. Not the worry that still has South Korean’s practicing evacuations like WWII Britain and Cold War America. I am thinking about Korea’s fertile business culture and the country’s uncanny ability to reinvent itself, rebuild and [...] CHELSEA — The problem with change is that you cannot always foresee what might happen next. So you create an anticipated direction of travel and risks, issues, dependencies etc. along the way. That’s how it’s done. In a nutshell. The problem with Britain’s big banks though is not that they don’t know what might happen next. They do, but they’re determined to [...] EATON CENTRE, TORONTO — It’s easy to be positive when you’re on holiday. But the 30C temperatures and happy crowds on Canadian streets don’t belong to recessionary times. HYDE PARK CORNER — I love Doha. I was thinking about that as I wrote a friend at QTel in Qatar. It’s a lovely place and I know some lovely people there. This week we have seen lots of poorly disguised derisive comments made about Qatar and it’s [...] VICTORIA STATION — I am seriously proud of our friends at Nissan. We have known for a while that they were working on something big. But today’s stories on the new Nissan Leaf are exciting. “100% emission-free” (excluding electricity generation emissions). How cool is that? Faced with petrol at £5+ a gallon [...] SOUTH KENSINGTON — Sox was my granddad (left, above). He died when I was about 6. He ran a business called Ingersoll-Rand out of an office in Montreal. I remember visiting the office. I walked by the building two weeks ago. It had long, dark halls, red carpets, a mail trolley and a [...] CAPE COD — I am in shock. I have just emerged from a food store. There is a whole row just dedicated to marinades and BBQ sauces. The shelves of food that I might buy in London is a few rows in the very centre of a football field of “family packs” and convenience meals. I have no [...] OVER THE OLD OTTOMAN EMPIRE — I said years ago that the airport lounge has become the Walden Pond of my generation. It is for me anyway. It’s a place for respite, relaxation and forced reflection. (The two big British fellows putting away a bottle of white a 7h30 this morning might not agree.) I recognise that [...] OLD CHURCH STREET — The front of my paper says that Woolworths will be no more in a few weeks. Lay-offs are being announced in 5-figures already. And deep down, we all know that the bad news has only just begun. But we just carry on about our business. Much the same way that Londoners [...] |
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