AN ABUNDANCE OF GLITTER FOR THE ASIAN WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
LONDON’s most successful Asian ladies were out in force on Wednesday night for perhaps the sparkliest evening of the year, the Asian Women of Achievement Awards, in association with Lloyds TSB.
The star-studded guest list included Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as well as BBC Dragon James Caan, MP Tessa Jowell, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg and Cherie Blair, who turned up fashionably late, blaming a birthday party for her nine-year-old son Leo.
Business woman of the year was presented to Veera Johnson, the chief executive of electronic procurement solutions firm Procserve, while media professional of the year went to the BBC’s Riz Lateef. Kiss FM DJ Neev Ranu and barrister Rehana Azib were joint winners of the young achiever of the year award, and the entrepreneur of the year award was scooped by Christina Vaughan of Image Source.
Predictably, the evening was a distinctly cheery affair despite the economic doom and gloom – though actress Meera Syal, another of the guests of honour, had one idea why the ladies in the room had reason to be celebrating.
“Asian women aren’t affected by the credit crunch because they like to buy in bulk,” she joked. “Our mothers always seem to keep a stock of toilet rolls in the garage…”
A tip to bear in mind, perhaps?
CITY TWITTERATI
The mildly irritating Twitter phenomenon inches ever closer to global domination.
Make of this what you will, but the latest to follow in the footsteps of hairy lothario Russell Brand, business tycoon Sir Richard Branson and tousled London mayor Boris Johnson is none other than the British Bankers’ Association, which yesterday announced it would be “tweeting” daily updates on its three-month sterling Libor rate.
“Only 18 months ago Libor was virtually unknown to the public: only economists followed its daily moves,” John Ewan, the BBA’s Libor director, tells me in great earnest. “Today it is as well-known – and as keenly watched – as the Bank of England’s base rate.” Words, for once, fail me.
EARLY BIRD
The Capitalist has to admit being as fond of the festive season as your average small child, but isn’t the middle of May just a smidge early for sending out Christmas emails? An invitation to a Christmas preview pops into my inbox from luxury store Fortnum & Mason, which is “already planning the festivities”.
Just the small matter of 217 days early, then.
RACE DAY
Work and play seem to have become pleasantly mired together for the lucky folk working for broker Hargreave Hale.
Hargreave took a load of its staff down to the Worcester racecourse on Wednesday evening for the Hunters’ Steeple Chase, which it had sponsored.
But there was a happy surprise in store when the firm found out the event organisers were hosting a second competition on the side: to find the 2009 winner of the Miss Worcester beauty pageant. (Cue plenty of jokey photo opportunities with tiara-clad blonde bombshell Leanne Groutage, and even more red faces in the office the next day.)
Can’t be bad, can it?
PARTY TRICK
The Queen’s technological education has been well documented ever since she started using email to keep up to speed with her globe-trotting grandchildren’s escapades and then marched into Google’s London headquarters last year to keep the geek squad on their toes.
Still, The Capitalist can’t help feeling publisher THQ, which said yesterday it had sent Her Majesty a gold-plated Nintendo Wii as a present, was being a bit optimistic – after all, even the most sprightly of octogenarians would get a bit out of puff jumping around the living room swatting at thin air with an imaginary tennis racquet. At least the flash console might come in handy to keep BNP leader Nick Griffin out of trouble at the forthcoming Royal garden party.
OFFICE TOTTY
I hear former England rugby hunk Josh Lewsey has been spotted lurking in and around the headquarters of his employer to be,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, as he prepares to join the firm as a performance improvement consultant.
Evidently the presence of such a fine specimen of manhood has been getting PwC’s female staff somewhat hot under the collar, and The Capitalist is pleased to reveal there’s further good news to come.
You see, rather than getting all starry on his new employers and demanding a glass-walled office of his own, Lewsey has decided he’ll be perfectly happy sitting out on the work floor, just like everyone else at the firm.
Something tells me the nearest water cooler will start getting popular…