Opinion: Post-Brexit Britain should be open to the world and a foreign buyer tax sends exactly the opposite message March 15, 2019 House price growth is at its lowest rate in five years, according to the latest ONS statistics. While Brexit is clearly a contributing factor, stamp duty is the main culprit in the London market. It is therefore highly alarming that the government has decided to press ahead with divvying out yet another stamp duty burden. [...]
New homes: Our pick of the new builds going on sale in London this weekend March 15, 2019 New developments on the market this week Boat Race House, Barnes From £485,000 Enjoy a prime view of the finishing line of the Boat Race in the comfort of your own home at this new riverside development. As well as a view of the Thames, buyers of these new homes will be guaranteed private outdoor [...]
Property Legal Q&A: We believe our new build flat should be ready in three months’ time and have just been advised our mortgage offer has expired. What should we do? March 15, 2019 There are a few issues for you to consider. You do not say whether you have received formal notification from the developer requiring you to complete in three months. Usually, a contract for the purchase of a property not-yet-built will contain a procedure stating that completion is on notice i.e. the developer will notify you [...]
Under the Silver Lake film review: It Follows director David Robert Mitchell’s follow-up is bonkers but brilliant March 14, 2019 David Robert Mitchell’s 2014 teen horror It Follows is up there with Jordan Peele’s Get Out as one of the best scary movies of the last decade. It was a lean, stripped back study of teenage anxiety and the perils of sexual awakening. For his new movie he takes a different tack, turning out a [...]
Betrayal at the Harold Pinter Theatre review: Tom Hiddleston is brilliant in this gut-wrenching play about infidelity March 14, 2019 It’s been a hell of a year for Harold Pinter fans. Over seven productions, director Jamie Lloyd resurrected dozens of the playwright’s one-act works, many of which hadn’t been performed in decades. That series ended last month, but Lloyd, now surely the world’s go-to Pinter guy, has lost none of his enthusiasm, following it up [...]
Alys, Always review: Bridge Theatre presents a crowd-pleasing, pulpy thriller March 14, 2019 Alys, Always is an unabashed crowd-pleaser, a gripping, pulpy thriller in the mould of Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train. I imagine the novel, written by Harriet Lane, was advertised on the Underground. It follows Frances, a sub-editor on the arts desk of a magazine called The Questioner. Her job is fixing the [...]
Focus On Stratford: Around 30,000 new homes are planned for the east London Olympic hub by 2030 March 13, 2019 The 2012 Olympic Games may feel like they happened last century, but their legacy lives on in Stratford. Though it resides in Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in the capital, the host neighbourhood of the Games has attracted a phenomenal amount of property investment in both commercial and residential sectors. There are currently [...]
These running tips will make you faster and help prevent injuries March 12, 2019 With the sun making a return and the London Marathon in just over a month, the City will soon be seeing more and more people out running. It’s a form of exercise most of us can do without needing to pay for a gym membership or forking out for fancy equipment. All you need is [...]
No more ties in the office? Suit yourself in a world beyond workplace dress codes March 12, 2019 “A man cannot dress, but his ideas get clothed at the same time,” wrote Lawrence Stern in Tristram Shandy in 1759. More recently, Caitlin Moran pointed out that when a woman says she has nothing to wear, what she means is “there’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today”. Clothes are text. From [...]
DEBATE: Even Goldman Sachs is relaxing its dress code – will City culture benefit from this trend? March 11, 2019 Even Goldman Sachs is relaxing its dress code – will City culture benefit from this trend? Beatrice Timpson, a political communications consultant, says YES. The days of the lounge suit are numbered. Its demise is not so much desirable as inevitable. Just as the French Revolution killed off foot-high wigs and knee breeches and the First [...]
