James Sherwin-Smith will be up for election after securing more than 250 nominations to run alongside existing directors Nationwide building society could have a customer on its board for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century after one of its longtime members secured enough support for a spot on the lender’s annual ballot. James Sherwin-Smith will be up for board elections at Nationwide’...
James Sherwin-Smith will be up for election after securing more than 250 nominations to run alongside existing directors Nationwide building society could have a customer on its board for the first time in nearly a quarter of a century after one of its longtime members secured enough support for a spot on the lender’s annual ballot. James Sherwin-Smith will be up for board elections at Nationwide’s annual general meeting (AGM) in July, having gathered more than the 250 peer nominations necessary to run alongside existing directors. Continue reading...
The Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton author branches out with the tale of a Massachusetts teacher haunted by trauma The American author Elizabeth Strout famously persisted throughout years of rejection to publish her first novel when she was in her 40s, and the hard work has certainly paid off. She won a Pulitzer prize in 2009, and has been nominated multiple times for the Booker and Women’s prize...
The Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton author branches out with the tale of a Massachusetts teacher haunted by trauma The American author Elizabeth Strout famously persisted throughout years of rejection to publish her first novel when she was in her 40s, and the hard work has certainly paid off. She won a Pulitzer prize in 2009, and has been nominated multiple times for the Booker and Women’s prizes. The Things We Never Say is her 11th book. Strout, who grew up in Maine and New Hampshire, writes mainly about small-town America and the mostly white, working-class people who inhabit it. She’s interested in the small details of ordinary lives: people’s joys and disappointments, marriages and infidelities, and the lasting effects of trauma. The fictional world of a Strout novel often extends into subsequent companion works: Olive Kitteridge, published in 2008, was followed by Olive, Again in 2019; the characters first seen in her 2016 novel My Name Is Lucy Barton reappeared in Oh William! in 2021 and Lucy by the Sea in 2022. In 2024, Strout took this world‑building to another level when Lucy, Olive and other recurring characters were brought together in Tell Me Everything . She has charted her fictional worlds so extensively across interlinked novels and stories that readers often think of her characters as their personal friends. Continue reading...
The airline refused a refund or credit for our group of 14 after a brain tumour diagnosis for my two-year-old child We were organising our wedding for this June when the happiest period of our lives became a nightmare. Our two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive grade 4 brain tumour requiring immediate life-saving surgeries. The prognosis is devastating. Continue reading...
The airline refused a refund or credit for our group of 14 after a brain tumour diagnosis for my two-year-old child We were organising our wedding for this June when the happiest period of our lives became a nightmare. Our two-year-old daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive grade 4 brain tumour requiring immediate life-saving surgeries. The prognosis is devastating. Continue reading...
Private beach clubs dominate much of the Italian coast, but you can still find pristine stretches that are framed by nature and open to all As an Australian living in Italy, I grew up within an hour of some of the most pristine coastline in the world, so the Italian penchant for private beach clubs is something I’ll never quite grow accustomed to. Along some of Italy’s most naturally beautiful str...
Private beach clubs dominate much of the Italian coast, but you can still find pristine stretches that are framed by nature and open to all As an Australian living in Italy, I grew up within an hour of some of the most pristine coastline in the world, so the Italian penchant for private beach clubs is something I’ll never quite grow accustomed to. Along some of Italy’s most naturally beautiful stretches of beach, from the Amalfi Coast to the Cinque Terre, private, exclusive beach clubs and five-star hotels occupy the best patches of shoreline. The natural beauty that made these places famous can feel increasingly roped off. Continue reading...
Study finds monitoring and adjustment of medication where needed can help protect mothers’ heart health New mothers who had hypertension in pregnancy could reduce their risk of heart attack, stroke and potentially early death through daily blood pressure checks at home, research suggests. Women who regularly monitored their blood pressure in the weeks after giving birth, and had doctors tailor the...
Study finds monitoring and adjustment of medication where needed can help protect mothers’ heart health New mothers who had hypertension in pregnancy could reduce their risk of heart attack, stroke and potentially early death through daily blood pressure checks at home, research suggests. Women who regularly monitored their blood pressure in the weeks after giving birth, and had doctors tailor their medication if needed, had better functioning arteries nine months later than those who received routine care, scientists found. Continue reading...
The broadcaster’s thoughtful new interview series is an impressive feat. Plus, former tennis champ Maria Sharapova fronts a new female-orientated chatshow Continue reading...
The broadcaster’s thoughtful new interview series is an impressive feat. Plus, former tennis champ Maria Sharapova fronts a new female-orientated chatshow Continue reading...
The US’s most famous road celebrates its centenary. The 2,400-mile highway crosses eight states and three time zones from Chicago to LA The Mother Road, as the author John Steinbeck called it, has evolved over the years from an escape for poor farmers fleeing the devastating dust storms of the 1930s to perhaps the quintessential American road trip route that’s still delivering kicks. Although ther...
The US’s most famous road celebrates its centenary. The 2,400-mile highway crosses eight states and three time zones from Chicago to LA The Mother Road, as the author John Steinbeck called it, has evolved over the years from an escape for poor farmers fleeing the devastating dust storms of the 1930s to perhaps the quintessential American road trip route that’s still delivering kicks. Although there have been faster and more direct routes between the nation’s second and third largest cities for some time, Route 66’s neon still burns brightly and its vintage signs beckon travellers to restored motor lodges, classic diners and roadside attractions. Continue reading...
Hong Kong’s airport operator plans to raise at least HK$15 billion ($1.9 billion) from its only public bond sale this year, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to a surge in debt sales denominated in the city’s currency. Airport Authority has hired investment banks for the issuance and plans to price the multi‑tranche deal as early as Tuesday, the people said, asking not to be ide...
Hong Kong’s airport operator plans to raise at least HK$15 billion ($1.9 billion) from its only public bond sale this year, according to people familiar with the matter, adding to a surge in debt sales denominated in the city’s currency. Airport Authority has hired investment banks for the issuance and plans to price the multi‑tranche deal as early as Tuesday, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters. The offering highlights the rising appeal of public bonds denominated in Hong Kong dollars, a market long dominated by private placements, as geopolitical tensions and the currency’s peg to the US dollar boost investor demand. The transaction follows deals from the government-backed public transport operator and developer MTR Corp. , and flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. , both of which priced their first public Hong Kong dollar bonds earlier this month. A spokesperson for Airport Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The operator plans to sell bonds with maturities of three, five, and 10 years, one of the people said. The funds will be used to refinance debt, invest in projects, and support general corporate needs, the person added. Airport Authority first sold a public bond in the local currency in 2024.
In a tragic and mysterious ancient custom in China, unmarried girls were chosen as brides by a legendary “Cave God” and sent to live in caves, where they would fast to death as a form of sacrifice. The practice, known as Luo Hua Dong Nv is a folk legend from the Miao communities in Xiangxi, located in western Hunan province in southern China. It is an ancient practice which no longer exists and it...
In a tragic and mysterious ancient custom in China, unmarried girls were chosen as brides by a legendary “Cave God” and sent to live in caves, where they would fast to death as a form of sacrifice. The practice, known as Luo Hua Dong Nv is a folk legend from the Miao communities in Xiangxi, located in western Hunan province in southern China. It is an ancient practice which no longer exists and its origins are unclear. The custom has been described as a “marriage between humans and deities” and...
Nikada/iStock via Getty Images Fellow shareholders, Equities struggled for traction during the first quarter, challenged by the war in Iran, concerns over the direction of monetary policy, and, to a lesser extent, uncertainty over how the uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could negatively impact prominent elements of the broader economy. The Russell 2000 Index posted a 0.89% total return for ...
Nikada/iStock via Getty Images Fellow shareholders, Equities struggled for traction during the first quarter, challenged by the war in Iran, concerns over the direction of monetary policy, and, to a lesser extent, uncertainty over how the uptake of Artificial Intelligence (AI) could negatively impact prominent elements of the broader economy. The Russell 2000 Index posted a 0.89% total return for the quarter. The Baird Equity Opportunity Fund underperformed, generating a net return of -11.39%. * Following a solid start to the year, equities sold off toward the latter part of the quarter due to the conflict in the Middle East, though the Russell 2000 managed to eke out a 0.89% gain. While our 3-month results did not follow, we are encouraged by the relatively solid performance of small-caps. From a sector standpoint, energy, materials, and industrials led the way. By contrast, consumer, healthcare, and technology – software, in particular – posted notable declines. Sector moves during Q1 were a headwind to portfolio results given our smaller exposure to energy and materials and larger stakes in software and related shares. Market weakness and sector impacts aside, the war in Iran caused few direct impacts on the portfolio. While a spike in the oil price impacted Norwegian Cruise Line’s stock price (NCLH, down 16% in the quarter), it helped boost shares of energy holding Oceaneering International (OII, up 48% in the quarter). Indirectly, however, the war has disrupted the formerly expected path of accelerating economic growth and more accommodative monetary policy, sapping some enthusiasm for small-cap stocks in March. Unlikely just three months ago, it is now a proverbial coin flip whether the next Fed action is an interest rate cut or a hike thanks to elevated energy prices and disrupted supply chains brought on by the conflict. More impactful to our Q1 performance was the heightened exuberance for all things related to AI. The consensus narrative is that, to reap t...
Reset Germany: Breaking With An Exhausted Ruling Class Authored by Frank-Christian Hansel via American Greatness, Germany is not, in the first place, suffering from an economic crisis, an energy crisis, a migration crisis, or a crisis of state. Germany is suffering, chiefly, from a crisis of its elites. More precisely, Germany is suffering from a crisis brought on by that milieu which regards itse...
Reset Germany: Breaking With An Exhausted Ruling Class Authored by Frank-Christian Hansel via American Greatness, Germany is not, in the first place, suffering from an economic crisis, an energy crisis, a migration crisis, or a crisis of state. Germany is suffering, chiefly, from a crisis of its elites. More precisely, Germany is suffering from a crisis brought on by that milieu which regards itself as the country’s morally, intellectually, and administratively legitimate leadership class but which has, for years, sustained a regime of reality-avoidance, self-congratulation, and rhetorical substitutes for genuine action. The misery of our situation is not that mistakes have been made. Mistakes are part of politics. The real misery is that Germany has produced a class of managerial elites that refuses to change course even when the consequences of its actions lie plainly exposed. That class does not correct itself, because it no longer measures itself against reality; rather, it measures itself against the approval of its own circles. It does not want to be right before the tribunal of reality; it wants to be right before the tribunal supplied by its own milieu. That is the root of Germany’s decline. The Federal Republic was once—for all its flaws—a country that drew its strength from a peculiar mixture of sobriety, an ethic of performance, technical reason, institutional discipline, and bourgeois self-restraint. This country was not great through pathos but through seriousness, not through visions but through reliability, and not through moral grandstanding but through quiet competence. That was precisely why it was strong: because it had the capacity to concentrate on what was necessary, instead of losing itself in what was desirable. Of that Germany, little remains inside the ruling apparatus. In place of prosaic sobriety, a political-media class has emerged that mistakes governing for pedagogical world-improvement. Its first instinct is no longer to secure, to en...