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Who's in and who's out
Gideon Spanier, Evening Standard25 Mar 2008
The energy of London is nowhere more reflected than in the shifting balance of power among its trendsetters, leaders and thoughtmakers. Every week, Gideon Spanier looks at who's in and who's out.
MAKING MOVES
MUSIC
TONY HALL, 57
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
The canny ROH boss has shamelessly upped the price for the best seats at Covent Garden to £210 so he can subsidise the cheap seats, arguing the rich and corporate guests can afford it. Hall used to run BBC News and he has a populist touch despite his highbrow tastes. The arts world is impressed by his plans to beam ROH productions into selected cinemas nationwide.
LAW
FIONA SHACKLETON, 51
Her slicked-back hair looked great after a soaking with a water jug at the hands of Heather Mills but it was in court that Sir Paul McCartney's divorce lawyer really shone. The Benenden-educated solicitor, known as the "Steel Magnolia", was catapulted into the top tier when she represented the Prince of Wales in his divorce. Now at solicitors Payne Hicks Beach, she was the only person to emerge from the McCartney-Mills saga with her reputation enhanced.
RUNNING THINGS
TELEVISION & RADIO
ROGER MOSEY, 50
BBC DIRECTOR OF SPORT
Got his chequebook out for the BBC to win back Formula 1 motor racing from ITV. Oxford-educated Mosey lost out in the negotiations for the rights to the Champions League football highlights - but at least he didn't bust the Beeb's budget. As the corporation's sports supremo, he is in for a busy time overseeing coverage of Euro 2008 and the Olympic Games in China. And the planning for 2012 is not far off.
UNDER PRESSURE
POLITICS
STEPHEN CARTER, 44
DOWNING STREET SUPREMO
No 10's strategy guru was poached from City PR firm Brunswick to restore Labour's flagging fortunes. But his bid to remove some of Gordon Brown's Praetorian Guard has been met with hostility, especially his handling of the exit of Spencer Livermore, one of the PM's closest advisers, who departed last week. Carter has become a force in Downing Street but it is not yet clear if he has the political antennae to survive.
BUSINESS
LORD STEVENSON, 62
HBOS CHAIRMAN
Even a City veteran like Stevenson must have been surprised when market manipulators sold HBOS short on false rumours that the bank was seeking emergency funding. The crossbench peer is a tough operator, bravely admitting last year to suffering from clinical depression. He wields huge influence in the arts world and chairs the House of Lords appointments commission.
UP AND COMING
SPORT
DANNY CIPRIANI, 20
RUGBY PLAYER
After kicking Jonny Wilkinson out of the Six Nations squad, the Wasps wonderkid has emerged as the new hope of English rugby - as well as of advertisers, who are always eager to find a new poster-boy. Memorably dropped from the England team after he was snapped at a nightclub after midnight before a match, Cipriani then produced a Boy's Own performance by leading his country to victory on his full debut.
