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With a thump, the latest issue of Tatler arrives. This unashamed paean to elitism and luxury carries an interview with Diana Jenkins, a 36-year-old ex-Bosnian refugee married to Roger Jenkins, the former £40 million-a-year Barclays star banker.
Yet, despite having become rich in our city, Diana is curiously bitter about London.
The high-cheekboned Diana, or to use her real name, Sanela, came here penniless: "London for me was about hustling, surviving, about where I could find a job to earn money."
She did make money - enough to enable her to set up a jewellery business.
Then she met Roger. The brother of David Jenkins, the ex-Olympic athlete and UK 400 metre champion who was jailed in 1988 in the US for trafficking anabolic steroids, Roger was no slouch on the track himself: he went on to forge a hugely successful City career, establishing Barclays' tax avoidance division.
By her own account, Sanela - sorry, Diana - entered wealthy, high London society and hated it. "[The wives] treated me like I was an Eastern European mail-order bride. I realised that, unfortunately, with social girls if you have a big diamond ring they will talk to you, so I wore a diamond ring. My lovely husband bought me a diamond ring. It hurt him to see how snobbily I was treated."
Finally, she realised at a charity dinner she was bored with London. "I looked around the room and thought, 'What am I doing here with all these people?" So she went to Malibu and "took off all her jewellery and put it away for good".
"Money," she says, "is a wonderful thing." But she adds: "You have to have your priorities right first. No kid wants the private plane first - they want their parents... That's where all those social girls get it so wrong.
"My kids would rather be with me in a shack than with a stranger in a private plane who calls themselves mother. It's basic really."
Putting on one side what she and her husband thought they would achieve with such an outpouring, what bothers me here is the image she paints of London.
Clearly, she found her gilded cage existence to be hell. The snobs drove her out. Bless.
What's bizarre about her attack is that it is so wrong.
It seems to have escaped her attention that there aren't many cities in the world which are as accommodating as London.
Despite her mysterious past - she won't say how she came to get here ("Well, it was not good but I am not ready to tell that part yet") - and her lack of official paperwork (she had no passport), she managed to get on. London, for her and her husband, was a town of incredible opportunity.
It was that aspect she was able to exploit so successfully.
Hubby came from a family tainted by scandal and specialised in helping people avoid tax - yet was fêted. She didn't go to a smart school or come from an old, moneyed family - but was still able to rise to the top of London society.
Once there, she found it boring. But Diana, nobody forced you to wear a white fur bikini at a caveman-themed party - as you once did - let alone the diamond ring.
And there are plenty of wealthy people in London who do just what you do in California, running charities and doing good works. Besides, does the US society in which you now glide judge people any differently to London?
Doesn't Malibu have its own brand of elitism - one that depends on the size of your bank account, the scale of the villa in which you live and the stars you mix with?
By contrast with that world, this week the Evening Standard held a party to celebrate London's Influentials - the 1,000 most influential people in the capital, as chosen by this newspaper. It's possible - and right - to argue with that selection.
The point is that in the room and in the list were self-made tycoons, artists, voluntary workers, politicians, teachers and doctors. Yes, there were some who had been born with silver spoons - but they were not the majority.
There were those who had been raised in foreign lands, like Diana Jenkins was, who settled here. There were others who grew up in poverty in London or elsewhere in the UK and worked their way up.
Nobody passed judgment on any of them. At the party there were plenty of women present; I wasn't aware of guests eyeing up rings or necklaces or avoiding someone because they were not dressed as expensively.
Of course, discrimination and prejudice exist. But London is increasingly inclusive and meritocratic.
Twenty years ago, said Dr Philip Beresford when he started the Sunday Times Rich List, "75 per cent of those on the list were from inherited wealth and 25 per cent were not. Now, it's 25 per cent inherited and 75 per cent not".
Business and the City used to be dominated by those who were given substantial leg-ups by their forebears. Today, those who call the shots did it themselves - people like Sir Richard Branson, Lord Sugar, Sir Philip Green and Michael Spencer.
London is changing fast. This week, the bodies of the five soldiers killed in Afghanistan were repatriated.
One of the victims was due to be commissioned in the Grenadier Guards, traditionally the most blue-blooded and sniffy of all army regiments. His name was Darren Chant and he was born in Walthamstow.
Diana, it's hard to know what exactly you're complaining about. London is a great city that did you proud. And most of us value its openness and opportunities - even if the weather is better in Malibu.
Reader views (9)
The Empire strikes back! The British can't take any crticism can they? Let's be honest, America is all about immigrants and it's more inclusive. Here it is all about tradition. Eastern Europeans ( never been part of that tradition) don't quite fit, do they?
- Hope, London, 24/11/2009 10:39
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Chris is right. She is very lucky Britain has been good to her and other refugees. Did she expect to be received with open arms everywhere she went? As an American, I would say New York would have been difficult as well, possibly worse. And I am sure California is not as accepting as she anticipated, if that is indeed the reason she went there. It would be interesting to know how she is able to live there legally. She is not married to an American and her English husband is not an expat working in America. Rather, he remains in England.
I hope the reason she is in California is not to take advantage of California's favourable divorce laws, the best on the planet for a woman seeking to divorce a rich husband.
- Elaine, London, 16/11/2009 10:28
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Dear reporter you should consider one point. This person escaped from a civil war, entered a country illegally, did who knows what to earn enough money here to open up a jewellery and still thinks that this place is a hole.
Have you every considered that she is right ? Unfortunally I was so dumb and started my university here, despite beeing around british people since almost 2 years I don't know anyone I would call a friend - they are just not sincere or open. This town is just full of pretendiouness. However after the olympics and when the pound has finally fallen. You guys will wake up course then all the immigrants that do the jobs you don't like will leave. Then unlike Germany, no one is comming to your country because of the culture.
- Andreas, London, 13/11/2009 12:42
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A good article from Chris Blackhurst. Why is she coming out with these comments? Well it may be something to do with her having a book to promote! I don't have a lot of sympathy.
- David Stephens, London, 12/11/2009 16:31
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Jasna - London may not be for everyone, so since you have degrees why not try somewhere else. But I suggest avoiding New York as the snobbery there makes London look parochial!
And being treated as a dumb blonde is, sadly, going to happen wherever you are I'm afraid. That has nothing to do with London.
- Tony, London, 12/11/2009 14:02
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Jasna, one person's subjective opinion is not equivalent to THE truth. If you can empathise with the story as told, then fair enough. It doesn't make it true for everyone.
Along with Mr Blackhurst, I'm not sure what Mrs Jenkins hopes to achieve by biting the hand that fed her so hard.
- Nora, London, UK, 12/11/2009 13:39
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Get off your high horse Jasna. Chris Blackhurst is right. If as you say you have a degree, put it away and "do it" the east European way and you'll become very very rich too.
I never found snobbism in London and with hard work, opportunity to succeed is possible in this city.
- Mariza, Europe, 12/11/2009 11:36
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All she is complaining about is that her little career plan (start business, get rich hubby etc) hasn't gone according to plan and rather than take it on the chin and find another way she has chosen to blame others. Had she arrived in a lot of other European capitals without papers it is highly unlikely she would have got further than a free trip home.
Frankly if being rich, attractive and succesful in London is not enough for you, good riddance. There are millions in London who would love a fraction of what she has and would willingly suffer the "snobbery" and elitism. Just proves wealth and success don't bring happiness. If nothing else it makes the rest of us feel a bit better about our lot!
- Tony, London, 12/11/2009 11:17
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I am sorry but Diana was right. I am also Bosnian refugee with a similar story to Diana's. I live in London. Yes despite having BSc (Hons) and MBA, I still cannot get any decent job. And it is not just state of the markets at the moment. It was always and will always be, unless you are private school and Oxbridge, forget it. I am not obviously talking about some low paid jobs, but careers. Snobbery in London is astonishing. If I am not treated as stupid Eastern European, ditzy blonde than I am treated just like idiot that does not know her place in life (bottom of the pile). London is merely for surviving for me and just fighting every day to put any food on my plate. So, please get of your high horse and stop judging Diana for daring to tell the truth.
- Jasna, London, 12/11/2009 10:55
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