Articles: September, 2009

Chelsea v QPR: An Alternative Match Report with a PR Slant

September 24, 2009

One of Swordplay’s friends found herself at a football match last night. Specifically, she witnessed Chelsea prevail 1-0 over fellow West London club QPR in the third round of the Carling Cup. It was the first time she had ever seen a football match, and, by and large, she enjoyed the occasion. Stamford Bridge is [...]

They Used to Read the Papers

September 23, 2009

Blade has yet to read Harold Evans’ latest book, My Paper Chase, but he notes that reviewers tend to agree with Donald Trelford in lavishing much praise on the former Sunday Times editor’s memoir and yet also seeing it as a valediction for a dying industry.
Blade would be the first to lament the death of [...]

Those magical magic circle firms

September 22, 2009

The Lawyer’s splash this week is on the drop in hourly rates of magic circle partners. Apparently, in the last 12 months they’ve dipped from a heady £680 an hour to a mere £450.
So, is instructing a Magic Circle firm now a bargain? Er, perhaps not. You see, magic circle firms didn’t get where they [...]

Why is the law the most gay-friendly profession?

September 21, 2009

Law firms are the most gay-friendly employers of all. In the US, at least.
And yet lawyers are traditionally among the most conservative of individuals. Their disinclination to embrace anything smacking of enlightenment, still less the radical, has long been noted on both sides of the Atlantic.
So, is the law’s emergence as the most gay-friendly profession [...]

The FTSE small trader splurge: dotcom deja vu?

September 21, 2009

Blade is somewhat discombobulated by this story from the FT’s weekend edition. It reports on a surge in stock market trading by small investors who, “frustrated with the low interest rates on offer in cash savings accounts and wary of buying into property”, are turning to equities in a splurge unmatched since the dotcom boom.
Trouble [...]