Most people aspire to a retirement that allows them to do things that they didn’t have chance to do while they were working. But this
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is worth about £1bn to Scotland — three times greater than had been thought — according to a fresh economic analysis
Forecasting Eye The last official estimate of the economic impact of the Edinburgh Festival in 2015 suggested that it contributed £312 million to Scottish
Sajid Javid will find his background in hedging emerging market government debt rather useful in his new job as Chancellor of the Exchequer. And also
Family spending power in the north remains the lowest in the UK, according to new figures. The latest data from the Asda Income Tracker
View the full article here. “This morning the Centre for Economics & Business Research’s (CEBR) “Forecasting Eye” will declare that “Britain could again become
Barring the biggest electoral upset in recent years, Boris Johnson will become Prime Minister on Wednesday 24 July. In the present unusual circumstances this change,
My brother Mike and I completed the Peking to Paris Endurance Rally in the Place Vendome last Sunday in our Bentley S1. Most of the participants
Britain’s productivity crisis was no closer to being solved today as it emerged large businesses are investing twice as much in their telecoms as boosting the productivity
Nearly two-fifths of large UK companies called their productivity levels “very concerning” but big firms are investing only 0.25 per cent of their annual turnover
At the end of June, the Office for National Statistics published its annual migration statistics for the year ending June 2018. A close examination of
The settlement after WW2 moved Stettin from Germany to Poland. But the border with Germany is close by and we spent much of the day
We had had just about a week with no mechanical problems and had started to presume that getting to Paris was just a matter of
…. The most important social event of the rally is the ‘sweeps party’. The sweeps are special people. Some of the top mechanics in the
It’s been a long rally and ralliers are starting to look tired. Someone had a birthday yesterday and was offering vodka shots en masse. I
Endless midsummer nights, stunning archipelagos and tasty meatballs, there are many reasons to go to Sweden for a holiday. In the summer of 2019, you
We skipped the two rallycross sections of the route carefully designed by the Finnish friends of the rally. We were sorry to let them down
Rally ‘rest days’ are not normally proper days off work – cars have to be fettled and problems dealt with. We found that one of
Another essentially transitory day though we had an interesting stop in Veliky Novgorod. This is one of the most important ancient cities in Russia. It
Nizhny is a fascinating town that I hope to revisit. It is clearly an economic growth centre in Russia. It was the first area to
As we move West everything becomes more Europeanised. Mosques are replaced by cathedrals. Squat loos disappear (great news for those with bad knees). A much
Savers are missing out on millions of pounds in interest, with £1.10 in every £10 held in deals paying nothing at all. The total
Public Transport The study, carried out by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), found that a one percentage point increase in public
Forecasting Eye Higher pay means higher disposable income, leaving consumers with more to spend – or so the logic goes. Following this line of
Today is a ‘rest’ day in the rally and we did actually get a chance to slow down a bit. Mike spent the morning at
Some have asked that I include a picture of the splendid bouncy castle that I mentioned yesterday. It really was spectacular so I have bowed
The Bank of England should keep interest rates on hold tomorrow due to uncertainty over Brexit, global trade tensions, and recent weak UK data, City A.M.’s
One of the elements of entertainment on the rally is the way that some of the participants unwittingly reinforce prejudices about national stereotypes. Some (important
Everyone on the rally has nothing but praise for most Kazakh people. Everywhere we have arrived here we have been met with crowds and local
We left Nur Sultan’s flesh pots and pottered along to a wonderful welcome in Balkashino where we camped. This is the last camping of
Sorry that we didn’t blog yesterday. The hotel in Pavlodar didn’t have working wifi, working air conditioning or indeed, at the time I went to
Forecasting Eye Since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016, there has been a great deal of attention on which country,
Mike had a pretty busy day yesterday, getting the car fixed. We met the mechanic whom Russian speaking sweep Nicolai had arranged for us at
Figure 1 The Marriott in Novosibirsk has attractive Art Deco features At last we have made it to Novosibirsk. Before the rally we were told
Fig 1 At least the colour of the duct tape matches… Oh bliss. The car is working properly for the first time on the rally
He ‘fixed’ the brakes last night, returning to the room around midnight. He and the poor sweeps who have lost a quarter of their complement
We have traversed much of the Gobi desert and against all expectations got to the Russian border. I gather that some of our organisers and
Forecasting Eye In keeping with recent trends of polls being misleading, the results of the Indian election last month saw Narendra Modi re-elected with
As you can see from the picture the word ‘Rest Day’ is a misnomer. Mike has spent the entire day under the car and then
There is nothing quite like rally driving in a classic car in the desert. Figure 1 Driving in the desert. In this case it is
Our start time had been brought forward from 9.37 to 7am but when we appeared at 7 most people had left. So we drove as
A new study by global economic consultants Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) in the U.K. estimates that the global economic impact of the
One of the advantages having a relatively late starting position is that we have plenty of time for breakfast (but not always – see the
At last the great day has arrived and Mike and I left the hotel at 5:30 am, with Rowena and Ianthe getting the supporters’ bus
Six months ago, we highlighted the uncertain state of the Chinese economy as one of the key determinants of whether the world economy will enter
To view the full article please click here. More than 200 motoring enthusiasts from across the globe went behind the wheels of their classic
Signing on was at 9 am at which point we were told when we should collect our cars. Mike and I got allocated to the
We had a leisurely breakfast today before chasing after our chores. First task was to buy food supplies for the rally in case we missed
I got a mini kicking from one of my colleagues a fortnight ago for making observations about the Spanish economy based mainly on what I
I have a reputation in my family for being the last to arrive or to get up and for keeping everyone else waiting so I