Rise and fall of London-born brothers over seven decades is the untold story of post-war Britain told through the lives of the two men who helped shape it: Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay who pioneered their use of debt other people’s money in raising funds from banks and finding ways to manage loan structures and tax losses to their advantage. When they faced political opposition to the highly leveraged £750m takeover of the Imperial Continental Gas Association in 1986, they also learnt a lesson that friends in Whitehall are useful.  Their close relations with senior Conservatives  and a … Continue reading Other People’s money

The Identity Trap provides truth and clarity where they are needed most. Yascha Mounk, a leading public intellectual traces the origin of a set of ideas about identity and social justice that is rapidly transforming America–and explains why it will fail to accomplish its noble goals. The West has become uncomfortable place for liberals as populist right entrenched themselves as champion of the majority against the self-interest liberal elite. For much of history, societies have violently oppressed ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. It is no surprise that many who passionately believe in social justice came to believe that members of marginalized … Continue reading Culture Wars

George Harrison hailed from a working-class family in Liverpool. When he was 14, an amiable Paul McCartney invited him to join a loosely congregated skiffle group called the Quarrymen, to which the groups’ acid -tongue 17-year-old leader John Lennon responded  “Who’s that bloody kid who’s always hanging around”. Despite being hailed as one of the best guitarists of his era, George Harrison, particularly in his early decades, battled feelings of inferiority. He was often the butt of jokes from his bandmates owing to his lower-class background and, typically, was allowed to contribute only one or two songs per Beatles album … Continue reading George Harrison struggled with fame

Philippa Gregory spent ten years researching 900 years of women making history with names of ordinary women featured in this book, Mathilda Penne, Skinner, Joanna de Boneye, Widow, Joan Hampcock and Isabella Brembole, agitators. Elena Couper, pin-maker, Katherine Cantilupe who claimed her husband had no genitals. Prone Joan, Prostitute. Edith Swanders, thief , Kate Slater, factory worker. Mary Davis gravedigger, Johanna Mason, nun accused of sleeping with another nun Anne Bonny, cross-dressing pirate. Elizabeth Wilkinson, Prizefighter. Using research skills honed in her work as one of our foremost historical novelists, Gregory trawled through court records to find ighway women, beggars … Continue reading Working women making past 900 years of history

Ian Fleming’s greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture.  Ian Fleming, a fantasist who peddled empire nostalgia to the sensation-hungry masses of the cold war era. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote. Award-winning biographer with unprecedent access Ian Fleming family papers reveals the deepening and reshaping previous versions of Fleming’s life, Shakespeare quotes a former head of MI6 who … Continue reading Secret lives of spy masters

Sam Bankman-Fried went on trial this week on charges of fraud and money laundering, in connection with his $32bn cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Digital asset mania has vaporised billions of investor dollars over the past five years. From the #1 bestselling author of The Big Short and Flash Boys, Michael Lewis’s Going Infinite, is a structured biography-cum-fly-on-the-wall tale, tracing 31-year-old Bankman-Fried’s journey from friendless nerd to unflappable Wall Street Trader, business tycoon  and finally accused felon and clearly explains the market failures and other complex ideas. The high-octane story of the enigmatic figure at the heart of one of the 21st century’s most spectacular … Continue reading Crazy Billion $ fall of FTX

Secrecy came naturally for John le Carré, and  there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep. The content of his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades. To keep these relationships secret, he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories, cut  outs, safe houses and dead letter boxes. Such affairs introduced both jeopardy and excitement into what was otherwise a quite, ordered life. Ot was the stimulus these affairs provided in order to write though this meant deceiving those closest to him, so betrayal became a … Continue reading “My infidelities became almost a necessary drug for my writing”

A group of Metro  bondholders contacted the lender’s board on Monday proposing  £600million capital injection, which the company has yet to accept. Last month the regulators had delayed the approval of a plan that would reduce the cost of its mortgage business, which resulted in its share price being halved in weeks following the disclosure. Metro Bank has approached its rivals  including Lloyds Banking, NatWest and HSBC, about buying a third of its mortgage book to help bolster its balance sheet,  to raise upto £ 600million. Shares in Metro,  which pledged to ignite completion on the high street after the … Continue reading Metro bank to raise £600m capital

Gone are the days of the Fleet Street media moguls. In the legal battle between Howard Barclay and his uncle Sir Frederick Barclay, and Sir Frederick’s ex-wife lady Hiroko following their divorce, Howard told the court that prospective buyers of the Telegraph Media Group regarded as “a distressed asset”  and was “not going to be an easy asset to sell”. Sir Frederick’s asset could not be accessed without the help of Howard and his brother Adrian sons of Sir Fredrick’s late twin brother. David included in those assets was Sir Frederick’s claim to part of the Telegraph group. The Telegraph … Continue reading Telegraph sale

George Weidenfeld, born into a Jewish family in Vienna, in 1919, fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazi regime, and then began a career in publishing that would make him one of the most influential figures in the industry. During his long and illustrious career he championed some of the most important voices of the twentieth century, from Vladimir Nabokov, Mary McCarthy and Saul Bellow to Harold Wilson, Isaiah Berlin and Henry Kissinger. Weidenfeld was the world’s best networker, the publisher’s publisher and a great intellectual. His lifelong effort to be the world’s most famous host a cover … Continue reading Titan of Culture