黑洞社区

Not on the phone
News that Nick Pollard鈥檚 role as Balfour Beatty UK construction chief executive had been shrunk - the major projects division no longer reports into him, leaving him with the firm鈥檚 M&E and regional construction businesses - was met with interest by those reading the Balfour tea leaves. The company stressed that this was not a demotion but a chance for him to focus more on the two divisions causing most concern. But, it was noted that Pollard, a regular on conference calls with analysts and journalists last year, did not feature on calls hosted by new chief executive Leo Quinn and outgoing financial director Duncan Magrath last week.

Not providing subtle hints
Former City of London planning officer Peter Rees has pulled few punches in his views on the role of mayor of London. Now a professor at University College London, Rees called for the post鈥檚 abolition in an Observer comment piece at the weekend, saying he favoured a borough-led approach to London鈥檚 development. Whether Ken Livingstone or Boris Johnson was his most loathed mayoral incumbent is not directly stated. Rees merely says: 鈥淓lected mayors love 鈥榯rophy/vanity鈥� projects: a cross-river cable car that duplicates a tube line; a tourist garden posing as a bridge; another model of a custom-designed London bus - then make a quick escape to Uxbridge or Downing Street.鈥� No clues there, then.

Not an overgrown child with a giant train set
Billionaire mobile phone magnate John Caudwell is building a narrow gauge railway around his Grade I listed Staffordshire pile, we learned this week. Caudwell - who founded the Phones4u shop chain, then sold it for 拢1.5bn eight years before it鈥檚 plunged into administration - is clearly a bit of a train fan. His charity Caudwell Children has previously taken Staffordshire and Cheshire youngsters to visit the Virgin Trains Academy in Crewe. Caudwell has obviously become tired of the uncertainty surrounding phase two of HS2, and opted instead for a more select network around his 11-hectare estate.

No one dodging inheritance tax
黑洞社区 has received some interesting junk mail from a company of property finders extolling the use of the government鈥檚 soon-to-be enacted pension-pot reforms to buy London starter homes for one鈥檚 cash-strapped offspring. 鈥淗istorically London property doubles in value every 7-10 years,鈥� it professes. 鈥淚f a parent bought their child a 拢500k property today, in 20 years, it could potentially be worth between 拢1m and 拢1.5m 鈥︹�� if they didn鈥檛 buy and the child inherited the 拢500k in 20 years, they would then need an average salary of around 拢330k to afford the same property.鈥� Seemingly sound logic. But with a pension pot tied up in non-revenue generating bricks and mortar, where does the cash for bingo and sherry come from?

No one expects the Spanish inquisition
There鈥檚 no need for an inquisition into women-in-property cycle group pedElle鈥檚 plans for a fund-raising ride this year: it鈥檚 a 450km trip across Spain from Bilbao to Madrid. The group announced its plans for the 10-13 June event earlier this week, along with an early doors call for registrations for the 35 places available. The Spanish run will be the group鈥檚 third annual two-wheeled odyssey, following last year鈥檚 Milan to Venice 鈥淚talian Job鈥� and 2013鈥檚 inaugural London to Paris hop. Money raised goes to children鈥檚 charity Coram. More details and registration for the Spanish jaunt is available at www.cycle-to.org.