LIBERTARIAN LEAFLETERS HIT OUT AT ANTI-CAPITALIST PROTESTS
SNEAKING among the protesters outside St. Paul’s Cathedral over the weekend was a pack of intrepid pro-capitalist activists.
Their purpose? To reform and educate the anti-corporate revolutionaries on the beauty of an unimpeded free market. “We distributed more than 100 leaflets to protesters,” ringleader Simon Gibbs told The Capitalist. “One third of protesters, mostly young people, received a clearly laid out opposing opinion,” said Gibbs, while his leaflets boasted: “Capitalists feed, clothe, and entertain us… capitalism is not the problem!”
The group, an internet forum known as Libertarian Home, urged protesters to direct their angst at government-driven cronyism instead. Government laws “protect bankers from risk”, the literature explained, before lashing out at the Bank of England for excessive money-printing and creating the credit bubble.
“We don’t need to end capitalism, we need to end cronyism and that means ending the government’s favours and market distortions,” the group concluded.
Thirsty work, especially on one’s day of rest. Before long, the libertarians packed up and defected to the Wetherspoon’s pub on Wormwood Street. “We’re occupying a table under the TV,” they tweeted happily. “Arsenal just scored.”
HAPPY CAMPERS
MEANWHILE, there could be an unlikely winner from the anti-capitalist demonstrations: the struggling outdoor camping business Blacks, which has a shop right next to the protesters in Paternoster Square.
Just the place for the demonstrators to buy their tents for their overnight stays – expect an improvement on Blacks Leisure Group’s “disappointing” loss of £5.5m for 2011 in chairman David Bernstein’s next trading update…
MOVER AND SHEIKHA
THERE will be no honeymoon for Amanda Staveley (below) when she marries Mehrdad Ghodoussi on 29 October, as The Capitalist hears the Middle Eastern dealmaker plans to return to fixing deals for sheikhs the day after starting married life.
There will be no time off before the ceremony either, as Staveley – best-known for helping rescue Barclays from a government bailout through the Dubai royal family’s billions – will work right up to the day of the ceremony.
The marriage – the first for both parties – will still be a memorable occasion as it rolls on until 2am however, with 500 guests expected at the black-tie celebration at the Buckinghamshire country pile West Wycombe Park.
But contrary to reports, Staveley’s ex-boyfriend the Duke of York is not expected to be among the City and Middle Eastern revellers. “That would be unusual,” said a source familiar with the plans, indicating Staveley’s lunch companions Sir Philip Green and Simon Cowell are also unlikely to make an appearance.
YOUNG PRETENDERS
HE’S HIRING again: Lord Sugar, the self-styled “avid supporter of young people in business”, yesterday launched his search for a Young Apprentice ahead of the start of the BBC One show next Monday.
Most of the “tycoons of tomorrow”, aged between 16 and 17, are still in school – but Lord Sugar started in business at the same age and expects his prospects to be able to do the same. All the contestants think they have what it takes to win the £25,000 fund to start their business career, but – typically – Lord Sugar knows better. He warned: “Don’t try to pretend you know it all because, believe me, it’ll be embarrassing.”
SAFE AS HOUSES
IT WAS only a matter of time before the London property market, viewed by the world’s wealthy as a safe haven for their cash in difficult times, started seeing “capital flight” from troubled Eurozone economies.
One high-end residential developer, who manages flats worth multiple millions, started seeing a “significant amount of money” coming out of Greece and Portugal four months ago, as the viewing list for London’s finest homes grows ever-longer. No doubt Italian buyers will soon join the stampede…
ADDING VALUE
ARE you a top-performing risk director in an investment bank with ten years’ experience, a university degree and an MBA?
If you are not already paid a base salary of £92,000 with an 80 per cent bonus then it is time to ask for a payrise, says a salary calculator designed to tell City professionals how much they are worth. Check www.whatismyvalue.co.uk before storming into your boss’s office.