Tonight:
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What a dither Darling is in over stamp duty
Evening Standard 8 Aug 2008
Here we go again. The Government floats an idea, then backs off. So stamp duty suspension joins the long list of other policies to be aired then made the subject of much dithering until, in the end, it never sees the light of day. But the truth about stamp duty is that it won't make a blind bit of difference to the housing market.
It's not the tax that is holding back housebuyers, especially first-timers, rather their inability to get a mortgage and to save the 10% deposit that lenders are now demanding. Of course, the property industry will argue stamp duty is the cause - they would, they've been pushing for its removal or lessening for years.
Deferring it appealed to Alistair Darling who is desperate to be seen to be doing something. The problem, as he well knows, is it won't suddenly kickstart the industry. At the same time, he will lose what revenue he was going to collect. He's got nothing in his locker - either in terms of actions he can take or revenue he can target. To chuck out stamp duty puts him in an even weaker position - hence the all-too typical indecision.
* Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Between Ourselves, City Index's director of dealing, Roger Hanbury, explained how the perils of playing hard were in the past for him. "There's a lot of entertaining," he said. "You used to do your full days, you'd do a 12- or 13-hour a day, then you take your clients out. You'd get home at two or three in the morning, have a couple of hours' sleep and then back into work. But I can't do that any more...Although I did do it last night."
Lightbulbs cost so much, Boris
How much does it cost to change a light bulb? The Lib-Dems have been poring over Boris Johnson's election campaign accounts and found an invoice from Metropolitan Estate Management Services for changing light bulbs in his Millbank campaign centre.
"Changing five lamps required someone to be paid for two hours of work, at £28.98 per hour," say the Lib-Dems. "That's 24 minutes per lamp. Plus 10% administration fee. Plus VAT. Add in the cost of material and the total bill came to £88.81. Nothing like a bit of value for money, is there?"
Come on, Gordon, don't be so coy
What is it with Gordon Ramsay and Companies House? City Spy has previously highlighted the TV chef's reluctance to share with the public the performance of his operations. Now restaurant bible Harden's has joined the fray. On its website, Harden's say it was told by Gordon Ramsay Holdings that accounts for 2006 would be filed on 20 June (almost 12 months late). That date passed so Harden's asked again. It was informed the accounts "have been approved and signed and are due to be filed with Companies House by 11 July". Er, that date has also been and gone.
The accounts are still not available. Ramsay's company won't say why it twice misled Harden's. Nor will it say when the figures will be sent to Companies House - most odd, if, as it claims, the accounts "have been approved and signed". Gordon, what's the hold-up? Or, as you might say, what the f*** is going on?
* The departure of Driss Ben-Brahim from Goldman Sachs for hedge fund operator GLG might have been expected to have caused apoplexy at the bank. The Frenchman headed its prop trading desk and was reputed to be the City's highest-paid trader, earning off-the-scale bonuses. But the word within the bank for some time has been that while he's good, he's not that good. Yes,he did have one stonking year but that was something of a one-off. In other years, he's struggled and hasn't collected the sort of sums that the media have claimed...
Royal trade envoy is a joker
Mention here of Prince Andrew, royal waster without a proper job - sorry, the UK's special representative for trade and investment - has prompted a reader to remind City Spy of the time when his private flight to Scotland was delayed by weather for two hours.
The Prince was to be guest of honour at a dinner for 150 golfers.
At Heathrow, when an official apologised that he was going to be two hours late, Andrew replied: "No, I am going to be on time - 150 people are going to be two hours early."
From Russia, it's all about business
Russian oligarchs are buying into Germany at a record rate. Russian companies have bought stakes in travel group TUI, fashion chain Escada, the Air Berlin airline and shipyards in the Baltic ports of Wismar and Rostock.
This week, it was reported that Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov - a key stakeholder in Russian energy giant Gazprom - is considering upping his stake in Germany's biggest bank, Deutsche. But why Germany?
According to the head of the Russian Chamber of Trade and Commerce in Berlin, Sergey Nikitin, Russian companies investing in Germany are primarily interested in opening up new markets in the West and burnishing their image by adding the "Made in Germany" label to their product range.
* Barclays non-executive directors should be hanging their hands in shame. If Naguib Kheraj is anything like as brilliant as David Mayhew and JPMorgan Cazenove (he's their new chief executive) say he is, then Kheraj's decision to quit Barclays, caught in the crossfire between John Varley and Bob Diamond, looks ever sadder for Barclays...
* Opportunistic lawsuit or hidden agenda? London hedge fund manager Stephane Farouze is suing US Senator Joe Biden, his son and his brother over claims the Bidens acted fraudulently in failing to pay Farouze $10 million for a stake in hedge fund Paradigm. The timing of the suit from Farouze, now head of fund derivatives at Deutsche Bank in London, is intriguing. Biden was regarded as a strong Democrat Presidential candidate before getting steamrollered in the Barack-Hillary show but is still regarded as a potential running mate for Obama.
* The Americans have done little to enhance the English language. Even so, a letter doing the rounds of City PR firms takes the biscuit. David M Elias is keen for his DME Securities to meet UK companies which he could potentially invest in or help them raise capital. He signs off his letter with "Have a Money-Making Day." Yuck.
