BORIS ‘CIRCUS’ TAKES A HIT FROM TREASURY RINGMASTER MYNERS
BORIS Johnson’s visit to Brussels yesterday looks to have ruffled quite a few feathers in the austere halls of the Treasury, which is now claiming it should be hogging the glory for defending the City’s hedge funds against the EU’s evil draft directive on alternative investment fund managers.
Lord Myners, the City minister, yesterday got rather huffy about the whole affair, telling The Capitalist that the Mayor of London’s visit was nothing but a “circus” and that “nothing new came out it”.
Boris himself declined to get bogged down in the politics of the issue, although a spokesman was more than happy to fire a shot back across the Treasury bows.
“I am astounded that anyone who understands the potential adverse impact of this directive on this crucial industry for London would wish to argue over petty political issues when what is needed is a united and determined front,” he said, sternly.
“Boris was very impressed by the level of cross-party agreement on this in Brussels and would be very disappointed indeed if this is really the case.”
It always did seem too bizarre to have the Tory Mayor and the Labour government cosying up on the issue like old cronies, didn’t it?
LOOKING FOR LOVE
Life is looking up for all of those City bankers who’ve been jilted by their spend-happy wives and girlfriends since the start of the credit crunch.
I hear Global Personals, which specialises in running niche dating sites – such as singles365.com, maritalaffair.com and forcesdating.com (the one-stop shop for military personnel looking for a bit of slap and tickle) – has two new sites in the making specifically targeted at the City.
The firm is now developing sites called nicegirlsforbankers.com and nogolddiggers.com, in sympathy with those gentlemen who have found their luck in love has diminished in direct proportion to their wealth over the past year or so.
Yet how, I ask them, are they planning to prevent sneaky gold diggers – or, indeed, those who might be in denial – from registering?
“Well, that wouldn’t be in the spirit of things, would it?” boss Ross Williams tells me. “Though I suppose, if any relationship fostered by the site subsequently went sour and provoked any attempts at gold-digging, the membership might serve as an online form of pre-nup?”
CLASS ACT
Wee Willie Walsh must feel like he just can’t escape that nemesis of his.
The British Airways boss was at Conde Nast Traveller’s Reader Travel Awards on Wednesday evening, receiving an award, of all things, for the best airline for business class travel. Now, such accolades are few and far between for the beleaguered airline at the moment, what with all the furore about crushing losses and union squabbles, and Walsh’s cheeky face was alight with joy as he went up to the stage. But he hadn’t reckoned with a flash of wit from host Marcus Brigstocke.
“As a special prize, I’d like to offer Mr Walsh a voucher for a free flight with Virgin Atlantic,” quipped the comedian, to titters from the audience.
“Raffle it!” countered Walsh, looking somewhat put out as he made his way back to his seat.
That in addition to the fact that Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson was too busy to turn up in person on the night to pick up his own airline’s award for best long-haul leisure travel. What it is to be in demand, eh?
RISKY BUSINESS
A bemused chum from the investment world fires over a published unsolicited fact sheet for the Babylon Fund, a fund that invests in Iraq.
According to the author, the largest contributor to earnings last month was the hotel sector – which is rather a surprise given the lack of stability in the region.
Still, as my investment guru points out, at least the risk profile of the fund is labelled as “high risk”…
THE EXTRA MILE
Keen City runners are gearing up for next Thursday’s Bloomberg Square Mile Relay, which will see 1,000 competitors fighting it out around the mile-long course through the heart of the City to win a cheque for £5,000 to go towards the charity of their choice.
Among the City firms already registered are Barclays Capital, ICAP, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tullett Prebon, Credit Suisse and JP Morgan, and entries are still open at www.squaremilesport.com
RAT PACK
And while the fitter among us will be pounding the streets next Thursday evening, music aficionados should head out to Canary Wharf, where a free open air concert is being staged in Canada Square.
Tribute to the Rat Pack, which is being sponsored by Barclays, will be performing classics from crooners Frank Sinatra (left), Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior, as part of the Canary Wharf Group’s Twilight Delights free concert series.
The concert officially marks the end of the Wharf’s summer arts and events programme, so best lap it up before it’s too late.