The dastardly Mr Deedes

Credit Suisse’s annual Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong this week featured a keynote speech by Nicolas Sarkozy. Asked for a diagnosis on the EU’s health, the ex-French president babbled about it being a mistake for Britain to leave the European Union then said he was ‘nervous’ for both sides in the forthcoming negotiations. Sarkozy is said to earn £250,000 for this sort of corporate gig. As diagnoses go, his grinning host Tidjane Thiam might have hoped for something a little more ‘dynamique’ for his money. BlackRock has announced a shake-up of its underperforming equities division. Around 40 staff have been laid off by the company as part of a cost-saving drive. Imagine how the poor saps must be feeling about BlackRock paying the former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne £650,000 for only one day’s work a week. Sir Martin Sorrell says that he is still holding out for a second referendum on leaving the European Union. The breathless WPP advertising mogul tells the New Statesman: ‘Tony Blair says so. Richard Branson says so.’ I think that’s meant to convince us. While the ex-Middle East head of Barclays, Roger Jenkins, is nervously awaiting a decision on whether he will be charged over the bank’s 2008 emergency fundraising from Qatar, life is certainly much chirpier for his batty ex-wife Diana, who is now reposing in Los Angeles as a ‘human rights activist and entrepreneur’. Her latest Instagram post shows the Bosnian blonde, 43, all dolled up and preparing to board a private jet, all while clutching a bottle of champagne. Speaking at a private dinner in Mayfair this week, Barclays boss Jes Staley announced: ‘We’ve had great year at JP Morgan.’ Eh? He meant Barclays of course. Unless he was making an in-joke that we don’t know about, that is. Staley has lured so many JP Morgan executives over to Barclays that his JP counterpart Jamie Dimon is said to be having kittens.