The dastardly Mr Deedes
Historian and commentator Sir Max Hastings says he recently declined a weekend invitation from a ‘prominent’ hedge funder he describes disparagingly as ‘an avowed Brexiteer who asserts Boris Johnson should be Prime Minister and anticipates increasing his fortune by shorting Britain’. It hardly requires Sherlock Holmes to ascertain he’s referring to Crispin Odey. A friend observes: ‘Max is as antiBrexit and anti-Boris as they come. If there was shooting involved, he must really consider Odey beneath the salt.’
Touchy-feely (so they say) Ted Baker boss Ray Kelvin returned to the retailer’s office on Tuesday for the first time since the accusations emerged that he forced staff to hug him. I am told that, upon his arrival, a number of his sympathetic colleagues welcomed him with a supportive embrace. Voluntarily, of course.
Asked to gaze into her crystal ball for 2019, Legal & General’s sharp-as-a-tack head of personal investing Dame Helena Morrissey says: ‘I think there’ll be continued tussles between mainstream politicians and business leaders. People want more inclusive government, they don’t want to be told what to do by people they don’t particularly trust.’ My 2019 prediction: the ramshackle Tories urge graceful Dame Helena to take a seat around the Cabinet table.
Press release of the day from the Association of Investment Companies, whose chief executive Ian Sayers says: ‘The expected delay to KIDs for UCITS funds is welcome but leaves investors in nonUCITS funds out in the cold. Recent EU proposals to reform KIDs do not address their fundamental failings. Investors now face being misled by KIDs for years to come.’ No, me neither, I’m afraid.
Broker Icap welcomed the Duchess of Cornwall to its London offices yesterday for its charity day. Its New York event is today, which had been postponed for yesterday’s day of mourning for late president George HW Bush. The star turn will be creaky Wall Street actor Michael Douglas, whose villainous character Gordon Gekko coined the catchphrase ‘Greed is good’. Depressingly, chain-smoking Gekko is still considered to be a role model by thrusting young brokers.