The popular image of the City of London Lord Mayor is a smiling, elaborately costumed figure, waving from an 18th-century golden coach surrounded by colourful floats, bright costumes and bursting fireworks. It is all part of the annual bonanza that is the Lord Mayor Show.
Lawyer Robert Finch who is 59 and the 676th mayor to hold the office - acknowledges the fun. Even so, while agreeing that the job may well be called a venerable antiquity, he is also keen to stress that essentially, the Lord Mayor is there to promote a financial services industry that is growing in a climate of fierce competition. He faces a crowded working day serving markets in a city that never sleeps. Ceremonial is maybe five percent of the activity and often a lot less.
Within the narrow confines of the City -London financial sector - security houses, commodity and derivative dealers work alongside insurers, shipping companies, European banks and euro traders. It is over centuries of trading in these sectors that the City of London has earned its reputation as 'the place' to do business.
The office of the Lord Mayor is a potent symbol of the stability and continuity that has been enjoyed by the City of London for over 800 years. This factor, perhaps more than any other, has enabled the City of London to develop into the leading financial and business services trading centre in the world. It has more foreign banks than any other European financial centre and is also the largest international banking centre in Europe -- with most international banks having headquarters or at least one office in London.
We are delighted to announce that the Lord Mayor and his accompanying delegation will visit Taiwan between 8 and 12 September 2004. His main objective is to support the already strong bilateral relationship we share with Taiwan, to demonstrate the importance of the City of London to the Financial Services sector in Taiwan.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary