The dastardly Mr Deedes

Unilever boss Paul Polman looks stranded following the firm’s botched relocation to rotterdam. Some investors are said to be keen for him to accelerate his retirement plans, which were expected to be announced toward the end of next year. Perhaps globetrotting Polman’s celebrity chums will rally to his defence. When Unilever faced a £100bn takeover bid from Kraft last year, U2 crooner Bono offered to compose a soaring ditty to help see off their US rivals. Deutsche Bank commissioned artist and erstwhile enfant terrible Tracey Emin to curate an exhibition at last week’s Frieze Art Fair celebrating female empowerment. Oh dear. Remember when Tracey was considered anti-establishment? is the iMF managing director job cursed? Former chief rodrigo rato had a four-and-half-year jail sentence confirmed last week for misusing funds while president of Spanish lender Bankia. his successor, wolfish tombeur de femmes Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested for sexual assault, for which he was later cleared. The incumbent, Gallic gazelle Christine Lagarde, was found guilty of negligence in a longrunning fraud case in 2016, though has been allowed to remain in post. Why Bank of england governor Mark Carney is so keen on the role is anyone’s guess. The chief executives of four of America’s biggest defence firms – Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Boeing’s defence division – are all women. How’s that for carpet bombing the glass ceiling? it’s London Metal exchange week, always a lively few days when the global metal industry conjugates in the City for their annual jamboree. LMe brokers are at the rougher end of the finance spectrum, where trading is interceded with 12-hour lunches and evening trips to the local table-dancing emporium. you’ll be unsurprised that nigel Farage describes his two decades working there as some of the best years of his life. Irish journalist Matt Cooper’s unauthorised biography of gobby Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has shot to the top of the Amazon bestseller charts. But would it have done so if O’Leary hadn’t taken the trouble to declare the book ‘fake news’? Discuss, as owlish university dons are wont to say.