There were some interesting foretastes of Monday’s deal between Amazon and the big UK bookstore chain Waterstones in comments made by the latter’s managing director, James Daunt, at the FT a few weeks ago. Mr Daunt – who had previously called the etailer a “ruthless, moneymaking devil” – spoke at a roundtable in early May to launch the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award. You can listen to a podcast of his initial interview in which he pointed out that all bookshops had to find ways to make the environment for book-buying attractive again. He added: The largest of us face the additional challenge of how do we become a relevant part of this new digital world, in which, clearly, ... Continue reading →

I've been reading up on how to make boodog, a Mongolian national dish. This photo makes it look easy http://t.co/rrWmIz5f Continue reading →

Good old Warren Buffett and his folksy ways. A bunch of newspapers like the Clinch Valley News, the Hickory Daily Record and the Goochland Gazette will fit right in alongside Dairy Queen and See’s candies in Berkshire Hathaway’s collection of quaint Americana. It’s nice to see a well-meaning billionaire sparing $142m in small change for the hard-hit community newspaper trade, particularly one who still likes to talk about the lessons he learned on his childhood paper route. As he sang to the Omaha Press Club a few weeks ago, “I’m only a paperboy.” But look a little closer and it becomes clear that Thursday’s deal for most of Media General’s publications is as rational and opportunistic as any of Mr Buffett’s bigger deals. First, the ... Continue reading →