Alan Parker RSS feed

Whitbread chief executive warns on slump

2009-10-13T06:54:36Z

We aren�t out of recession yet and anyone who thinks we are should take a cheap weekend away to reconsider

Rudd in the money as Finsbury shrugs off recession

2009-10-06T07:02:25Z

City public relations supremo Roland Rudd earned �2.9 million last year as his Finsbury agency prospered despite the credit crunch

Fame is highly unlikely to live forever

2009-09-24T23:00:00Z

Quite why anyone decided to make another version of Christopher Gore and Alan Parker�s exhilarating 1980 film, Fame, is beyond understanding

Arsenal fan raises his voice in Russia

2009-09-23T07:43:04Z

Cuddly would-be Arsenal owner Alisher Usmanov is strenthening his grip on Russia�s media...

Premier feels the pinch

2009-09-07T07:12:58Z

Whitbread dismissed talk that the economy is recovering as it unveiled a slump in sales at its budget hotel chain Premier Inn

Dot to dot career of Britain's digital tsar Stephen Carter

2009-06-17T10:33:37Z

From law to advertising to Ofcom to No 10, few CVs could match that of Stephen Carter. But what will the communications minister do next?

City Spy: Beats having to work for a living

2009-06-17T11:33:49Z

Adam Posen is not the first American appointee to the Bank of England monetary policy committee � that was DeAnne Julius, between 1997 and 2001

Whitbread rocked by rude awakening at Premier Inn

2009-06-16T08:12:25Z

Sales have slumped at Premier Inn in the midst of the worst trading conditions in the hotel sector for 30 years

Whitbread takes on quality hotel market

2009-04-28T07:19:15Z

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is poised to ramp up its advertising aggressively to take on hotel chains of supposedly higher quality

Take the Forbes Rich List with a big dose of salt

2009-03-13T10:04:29Z

The annual Forbes list of the richest people in the world is published and it is treated as gospel. Yet closer examination reveals all manner of imperfections

Downturn hurts but Whitbread is upbeat

2009-03-02T09:45:56Z

Leisure: The recession must be serious - even Whitbread is feeling the pinch

Branagh and Leigh lead campaign to end illegal film downloads

2008-12-16T09:30:41Z

More than 100 award-winning producers, directors and writers called for action to tackle illegal downloads of films and TV shows which they say are threatening jobs

Property mogul Moore returns to fray as vulture

2008-12-16T11:34:03Z

Hard to believe that Jim Moore has the nerve to return, but the founder of bankrupt property seminar organiser Inside Track really is back

HSBC did well � by ignoring City�s rules

2008-12-15T12:30:58Z

Which of our High Street banks has for the most part ridden out the financial crisis? Yep, HSBC, the bank that rode roughshod all over corporate governance rules by successively appointing their chief executives to be chairman

Whitbread's a warm order in the crunch

2008-12-08T09:10:17Z

Leisure: Whitbread continues to be a credit-crunch winner as its Premier Inn budget hotels arm keeps luring tourists, and Costa Coffee stays frothy

Crunch values lift Whitbread

2008-10-14T08:31:51Z

Whitbread, the business priced for the credit crunch before the term was invented, showed that its cut-price offerings are still luring punters

Whitbread cheers market with strong first-half results

2008-09-04T07:55:18Z

Leisure: Whitbread cheered the market with a robust set of first half revenues showing that its value-for-money sales pitch is working strongly through the consumer downturn

Whitbread could do an asset swap with M&B

2008-06-17T09:52:26Z

Deal could be the first in the next wave of consolidation likely to hit the pubs and hotels sector

'No slowdown' as Whitbread rises to �210m

2008-04-28T11:45:16Z

Cheap hotel rooms-to-Costa Coffee group Whitbread could be the business best-placed to cope with the downturn.

One of a kind

2008-04-27T23:00:00Z

The slimmer, newly divorced Johnny Vegas was still the same savage tornado of shameless self-loathing, bitterness and regret at Stewart Lee's show.

UK's biggest host plays safe and still delivers - even at T5

2008-04-09T09:46:51Z

INTERVIEW Alan Parker's restaurants, hotels and Costa Coffee make �200m-plus

Whitbread hotel boost in London

2008-04-08T10:39:17Z

Whitbread reveals a huge expansion of its Premier Inn hotels chain in central London

Crime pays in a capable British caper directed with pace, panache and an eye for period

2008-03-04T09:28:13Z

Film: Anyone in search of cheerfully mindless entertainment this weekend could do much worse than The Bank Job, a British caper movie by Roger Donaldson, the Antipodean director who brought us such solidly competent fare as Thirteen Days and The World's Fastest Indian

Critic's choice: the best comedy shows

2007-07-19T08:43:51Z

It's the final weekend of the Ealing Comedy Festival, US mentalist Marc Salem continues to amaze with his mind-reading feats and Frank Sidebottom makes a welcome return.

Almost too much talent

2007-07-12T23:00:00Z

Simon Munnery's 80-minute nostalgic retrospective perfectly summed up his enduring style - sublime wit hampered by haphazard execution, says Bruce Dessau.

Critic's choice: top five comedy

2007-07-12T09:20:26Z

It's festival mania this weekend with Bill Bailey, Alan Carr, Stewart Lee, Reg Hunter, Michael McIntyre and Richard Blackwood all taking the stage at shows across London and the south.

A comic full of character

2007-07-10T08:23:43Z

Sharon Lougher talks to Simon Munnery, a comic who splits opinion with his experimental, off-the-wall imagination, ahead of the former Perrier nominee's Soho Theatre run.

Minghella launches new film centre

2007-03-13T09:18:44Z

Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella is hosting a champagne reception to launch the British Film Institute's new multi-million pound cultural centre.

Celebration of offbeat laughs

2007-02-07T00:00:00Z

Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring were among the comedians performing to raise money to put surreal Midlands comic Ted Chippington's early work on CD.

Return to the age of innocence

2006-12-07T00:00:00Z

A modern audience is likely to find that Alan Parker's cod-Twenties gangster film Bugsy Malone displays a little too much sex and sin.