The dastardly Mr Deedes
The seizing of Lars Windhorst’s private jet, art collection and wine cellar over a £60m dispute with Romanello Financial Corp is humiliating for the flamboyant German financier, but he retains one shining jewel in his social armoury. Windhorst, 40, remains listed as a founding patron of Kensington’s modish Serpentine Sackler Gallery, whose annual summer party is a magnet for London’s beau monde. Fellow patrons, Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross and Next boss Simon Wolfson, must be delighted.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney attended last weekend’s Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire, where he was seen in cargo shorts and sneakers. Carney’s laid back, man-o’-the-people skills sadly pale in comparison to his political rival, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose decision to wear traditional highland garb at a recent event in Ontario went down a storm here in bohemian circles. An excitable headline from Gay Times screams: ‘Justin Trudeau wore a kilt and we’re basically pregnant’.
Rascally Greek shipping heir Taki Theodoracopulos informs Spectator readers of a recent holiday in Greece, where he and fellow guests competed to think up their ‘dream’ cruise companions. His own selection: Sir Philip and Lady Green, US hedge fund ogre Steve Cohen and Bernie Ecclestone’s erratic son-in-law James Stunt. Says Taki proudly: ‘My choice won hands down’.
Goldman Sachs have seized a £30m yacht in Palm Beach belonging to Texan oil man William Kallop, who used it to secure a multi-million dollar loan he allegedly stopped paying last November. Such arrangements are common in investment banking. Goldman previously lent to swashbuckling energy tycoon Aubrey McClendon against his extensive wine cellar. Following McClendon’s death in a car crash last year, the bank easily made its money back when his precious clarets were auctioned for £6.5m.
‘Has Brexit affected the dating scene?’ asks the cerebral Financial Times, as more people using dating apps reportedly want to know a match’s political leanings. I fear the dog days of August are upon us.