Winterflood’s mysterious bash
IT’S the end of April, which can only mean one thing: it’s Christmas party season for City stalwart Winterflood Securities.
The market maker’s festive parties are famed for two things: the vast quantity of alcohol up for grabs, and the yearly theme, with guests being treated to royal wedding, James Bond and school disco knees-ups over the years.
So it was with great consternation that hundreds of bankers, traders and analysts tried to work out what this year’s theme actually was. Greeters at the entrance of the Royal Exchange were wearing fake, thick-rimmed glasses and dressed all in black.
The food on offer was an austere spread of traditional fare including cones of chips. Whatever could it mean?
One Winterflood staffer suggested that in these straitened times, the firm had gone without one this year “out of respect for the economy”.
Or perhaps the mystery theme was too subtle for the sozzled guests to discern.
WHERE’S BORIS?
ELECTION watchers were left scratching their heads yesterday as a previously-billed interview with Boris Johnson on the BBC Sunday Politics Show turned out to be a grilling of his deputy, Kit Malthouse, instead.
Malthouse gave a spirited defence of the Mayor’s track record with just days to go before the election, but said Boris had a “long-standing engagement”, which the BBC has actually known about since March. The purpose of this mystery mayoral meeting remains just that, though Johnson was later spotted doing a spot of electioneering on the streets of Wimbledon.