The dastardly Mr Deedes

The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane’s claim not to understand our baffling pensions system was another moment of candour from the plain-spoken Yorkshireman. He’s previously attacked the complexity of financial regulation and ‘shorttermism’ among listed companies. The pencil-thin father-of-two, 48, is no stuffed shirt, either. He sashays into Threadneedle Street each day in his Prince of Wales checked suits, delicately creamed hair and brightly coloured silk ties like Beau Brummell purring through Regency london. Whisper it, but many feel Haldane would have been a shrewder choice of Governor than yet-tosparkle canadian dawdler Mark carney. Thomas Cook’s sardonic, Swiss-German boss Peter Fankhauser came under fire after announcing a 5pc drop in his firm’s bookings. Herr Fankhauser, 56, was sporting a full head of impressively dark hair which remained unruffled under heavy questioning. But would its jet-black hue survive a heavy splattering of rain? Energetic advertising mogul Sir Martin Sorrell – how he loves the sound of his own dreary voice – is most proud of his firm WPP’s annual report. Says dinky Sorrell, 71: ‘For us, it’s a statement of how we see our future of our business. Reporters take note: if you have a question about WPP, the answer can usually be found there.’ Quite so. Sir Martin’s ridiculous £70m pay deal, included in the report, was impossible to miss. Legendary mining prospector and oil baron Algy Cluff, the elegant exGrenadier Guards officer, says in his new memoir (bracingly entitled Get On With It) that he joined the St James Club, at 106 Piccadilly, after the Army ‘to increase my social mobility.’ Its most celebrated member was Bert, the then Duke of Marlborough. Cluff, 76, noticed that ‘every day a fellow member known as Loopy Whitbread endeavoured to sit next to him’. On each occasion, Marlborough said: ‘F*** off, Loopy.’ Cluff adds: ‘These were the only words I heard His Grace utter…’ Goldman Sachs’ pugnacious boss lloyd Blankfein has sold his home in fashionable East Hampton for £9m. He dropped the cost of the seven-bedroom bolthole – avec tennis court and swimming pool – after it failed to reach its £12m asking price. last month, Blankfein, 61, a Bronx-born pitbull took his first pay cut in three years, receiving a paltry £15.6m. Who says the rich have it easy?