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For HNWIs, small is beautiful

June 30, 2009

Big is not necessarily beautiful. We know this thanks to the lavish expenses of sundry MPs and the ludicrous salaries of top BBC executives. But in the real world of serious money, it seems also to be true, as revealed in this story from Wealth Briefing: high net worth individuals are tired of what comes across as product push from the bigger institutions and in their stead are moving their money to boutique outfits. Could it be that small is beautiful?

Ben Bradshaw: Politics, Respect and Surfing

June 30, 2009

“The BBC will have to change its news timings to fit in with the new respect that we’re going to give Parliament.”

“Why this obsession with the Today programme? Why should we be dancing to the tune of the BBC, of Radio 4’s news agenda?”

Thus spoke Ben Bradshaw, the new culture secretary and a former BBC journalist, in an interview with the Independent on Sunday. Mr Bradshaw – who is not thought to be related to Ken Bradshaw, the famous Hawaiian big wave surfer – believes that ministers should stop announcing policy decisions on the BBC and show more “respect” by doing so in Parliament.

This, of course, is ridiculous. To countenance it is, for a second, to believe that the House of Commons runs the country, when everyone knows that the media is in charge.

Pictured courtesy of jez – armchairhero.com: Ken Bradshaw tells fellow surfers that British MPs have a task ‘the size of a giant wave’ on their hands in their quest to regain voter respect.

Cash for Moats and Mortgages

June 30, 2009

Think that the Telegraph may have been a little too zealous – or perhaps selective in the MPs it targetted – in its coverage of the cash-for-moats-and-mortgages scandal? Well, Will Lewis, the paper’s editor, defends its coverage here, while the full Radio 4 programme, presented by Nick Robinson and produced by Martin Rosenbaum,  is also well worth checking out.

Note that Robinson mentions his frustrations about the lack of time to ‘ponder’ on the revelations, and queries whether accusations were presented fairly. But has the Telegraph irreparably damaged Parliament? Not at all, says Lewis. He’s merely the messenger, exposing a crop of current ills; the next generation of MPs can seize the baton and behave honourably.

Perhaps.

Somewhat curiously, a Flickr search of the words ‘Will Lewis’ produced this image courtesy of Automatt.

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