Surviving the Recession

The credit crunch has had some unlikely repercussions. Tim Blixeth, a US lumber billionaire, was recently trying to sell his Caribbean island. With little interest shown in the $75 million asking price, Blixeth is now trying to barter it. He has suggested that a Gulfstream jet or a snazzy New York apartment might just secure the island.

On a different scale, I know how he feels. We used to pay £85 an hour to have a man who knew about computers come and sort out the cyber mess in the Prince household. We would often get bills for £500 and that would happen three or four times a year — it was ruinous. Tax deductible, yes, but nevertheless a huge sum of money. In the general scheme of computer geeks, the man who used to come to service our hardware and software might not have been considered expensive. But he was far too pricey for Prince family finances.