Spotted leaving the Royal Court Theatre in London’s Sloane Square on Tuesday: Mark Carney. The Bank of England governor seemed to have enjoyed the evening’s entertainment, a darkly comic vision of the apocalypse delivered by an all-female cast.
Escaped Alone, by Caryl Churchill, imagines a future where the wealthy buy gas masks in assorted colours to survive chemical leaks, and the obese sell slices of themselves. Presumably it’s also a world of ultra-low interest rates, though the script somehow omits any mention of monetary policy.
Carney, 50, may well have emerged with an even more bearish view of the economy than when he went in.
IT COULD be the script of a Hollywood blockbuster: a London banker hired by Libya to manage an $800m (£560m) fund takes advantage of the stricken country’s diverted attention — the small matter of a revolution and civil war — to support his own lavish lifestyle.
The claims are made in a barnstorming lawsuit filed by hedge fund FM Capital Partners (FMCP) against a former employee, Frederic Marino. The suit, first reported by Bloomberg, claims Marino, 49, racked up expenses of £165,000 at London’s swanky Lanesborough hotel , including a barely believable £42,000 on parking.
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Marino, a former Bear Stearns and JP Morgan Chase bigwig, is alleged to have used the Arab Spring and deposing of Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi to obscure the fact that he restructured the fund and paid out millions in performance fees.
He is said to have used company cash for a helicopter ride, clothes and restaurant bills. Marino denies the claims and says increases in his salary and bonus were approved by FMCP’s board. Hollywood should start casting now.
WARMEST congratulations to Greene King boss Rooney Anand, who will soon achieve his lifelong dream of sitting on the board of a FTSE 100 company.
Anand, 51, was appointed a director at Morrisons just before Christmas, only for the supermarket chain to slip out of the blue-chip index. Naturally, Prufrock reported this tale of thwarted ambition with its customary level of vigour. Imagine our surprise, then, when Anand’s people made clear his displeasure at the story.
Now there’s a chance to make amends. Later this month, Morrisons will be readmitted to the FTSE 100. Well done, Rooney.
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WITH storm clouds looming over the global economy, now might be a good time to buy gold. Just make sure it’s the right sort of gold. One place to avoid might be coinportfoliomanagement.com.
At first, the site looks like a dream. A gold penny commemorating the Queen’s 90th birthday costs £95 in a special offer. It weighs 4 grams — at the current gold price worth about £114 .
While no price can be put on a coin in “special collector’s brilliant uncirculated condition”, wait a second before you buy in bulk. The penny is made of 9 carat gold, which is less than half as valuable as the metal in its purest form. A quick calculation places the coin’s true value at £42. What a bargain.