Rubbish has always fired my imagination and set my pulse racing. I don’t know why; it may be an inherited trait. My late father used to rifle through our bins lest anything useful had been thrown away, and in unhappier circumstances might in old age have extended his research into the streets, parks and railway
It is highly likely that Tony Blair will become a Roman Catholic after he leaves office. He regularly attends a Catholic Mass rather than Anglican services — nowadays, because of security problems, usually in No. 10 Downing Street or at Chequers. It seems logical to him that he should follow the religion of the rest
One of the many things which makes me love Edward Elgar is that both the man and his music are so tremendously unfashionable. No wonder tax-funded quangos set up to ‘promote culture’, and run by New Labour bureaucrats, are refusing to mark his 150th birthday. He does not correspond with their criteria of approval at
The City summer party season has begun. I kicked it off with a fifth-anniversary party for Neptune Investment Management last Thursday. I like Neptune: they’ve got good funds and a good business, and offering drinks after hours at the Wallace Collection is clearly a fine way to win fans. But the party had one faintly
A Martian called Zog visits Earth to see what it can offer in the way of the latest investment funds. He meets an independent financial adviser called Charlie who asks him what kind of investment he’s looking for. ‘I’ve been reading about funds of funds,’ says Zog. ‘They sound good. You get access to a
‘The customer is always right,’ said the 19th-century American retail pioneer Marshall Field — and shoppers at his Chicago store became so enamoured of their omnipotence, and of his assistants’ assistance, that they spent enough to make him the wealthiest businessman in the city. His retail innovations — unconditional refunds and consistent pricing — soon
Waiting for the bursting of the Chinese share bubble is like waiting for an avalanche. You can hear the rumbling but you have no idea when and where it will strike. Among the most bemused of those waiting to find out are the Chinese authorities — torn between pride in the prowess of their markets
I have long been a fan of Patak’s, the Lancashire-based Indian sauce-and-pickle empire that was acquired last week by Associated British Foods for an undisclosed price thought to be somewhere north of £100 million. The business that now sells 30 million jars of curry sauce a year and supplies three quarters of Britain’s Indian restaurants
