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PERHAPS it is because I wasn’t invited, but the news coming out of the MIPIM international property exhibition and conference in Cannes this week appears to have been rather muted. It has long been derided as a champagne-fuelled jolly – mainly by those who don’t get to go – but it is fair to say […]

IT’S been 35 years since that memorable broadcast by an ecstatic Norwegian football commentator after his country shocked England with a 2-1 victory in a World Cup qualifier in Oslo. Many of those that weren’t even born in 1981 have heard, or even quote the pay-off line to Bjørge Lillelien’s radio coverage: “Your boys took

LAST night I enjoyed the hospitality of the Leeds Law Society at its historic dinner. Well it was actually the law firm Ward Hadaway whose table I was on for the black tie do at the Aspire venue in Leeds. My invitation came from past president Philip Jordan, a partner at Ward Hadaway, who had

THE two places where the most business seems to get done these days are coffee shops and beer festivals. Nothing surprising about the former – merchants, financiers and entrepreneurs have been meeting in coffee houses for centuries. Forget the recent proliferation of Starbucks and Costa, the real coffee revolution was in the late 1600s when

THERE are plenty of successful entrepreneurs with brass in Yorkshire…and then there are those with just brassneck. A press release was issued this week announcing that Yorkshire entrepreneur Matt Haycox has signed a publishing deal to co-author a new book revealing the secrets of success in life and business. Also involved in the book is

GOVERNMENT minister James Wharton was in Leeds last week to give a short speech on how the city’s financial services sector can be promoted as part of the Government’s much-vaunted Northern Powerhouse initiative. Apparently he was delayed arriving at the event because his train was late. You couldn’t make it up. If that doesn’t underline

IT was only when Yogi Bear and Booboo, two Andy Pandys and a woman dressed as Super Mario walked passed me that it really sank in that I was at one of the great British sporting occasions – the darts. The first direct Leeds Arena hosted the first stage of Premier League Darts last night

WHEN it comes to great British athletes, after Sebastian Coe (he’s a bit busy at the moment), they don’t come much bigger than Steve Cram. So I was delighted to get the news that the Olympic runner turner top TV commentator has agreed to take part in this year’s Lord’s Taverners Balloon Debate on the

THERE aren’t many corporate dinners in the business calendar that you look forward to going to. Getting an invite to the Leeds Law Society annual dinner or a do for members of the ICAEW (it’s for accountants, but these days it is terribly unfashionable for an organisation to explain what the initials stand for) is