Hasty hiring, cyclists being shamed and a non-Banksy Banksy; catch up on the latest City gossip in this week’s edition of The Capitalist
BANK-SY?
A public art piece appearing to satirise the process of quantitative easing this week popped up outside the Bank of England. The art piece – featuring a black Canon printer churning out dollars atop a discoball-tiled pedestal, itself sat in a pile of British pounds, all inside of a glass box emblazoned with a spraypainted ‘IN CASE OF EMERGENCY INFLATION BREAK GLASS’ – confounded observers not just for its confused economic literacy, but also for its origin. Initial claims that the piece was a Banksy were quickly poohpoohed, primarily due to the sculpture’s perceived quality. “This has Goldsmiths MFA student written all over it,” disparaged one observer on Reddit, to which another replied that did not rule out Banksy entirely. The City of London Corporation for its part has said the origins of the piece are unknown, but nevertheless wasted no time in putting up big barriers around it for the sake of “public safety”.
HASTY HIRING
About three months into the Burnham premiership and things are still in flux. Advisers who had been working under Starmer were given three-month probation periods to prove their worth. The new Prime Minister also brought back some advisers who left the Starmer government in the early days. Now Burnham is looking to further strengthen his policy unit with new hires in three areas: ‘Growth & Macroeconomics’, ‘Public Control’, and ‘Work, Social Security & Pensions’. These new advisers sitting in Downing Street will have to work alongside other ministerial advisers trying to keep their own bosses happy.
Job requirements include “a track record of leading through ambiguity, pressure and change”. This may be just another sign that the upcoming Budget may be short of radical policies given Downing Street’s thinking unit has not been fully set up yet. Burnham’s flagship ‘10-year plan’ speech is also expected by the end of the year. There will be a quick turnaround for any new hire hoping to join up the Prime Minister’s lofty promises with well-reasoned policymaking.
SIMPSON’S RETURNS(ISH)
We’ve clocked the triumphant (sort of) return of Simpson’s Tavern (now Cloth) in our lifestyle pages but it’s so good we feel it deserves another shout. Having been back in business for just a couple of weeks this Dickensian delight is already pleasing the “sausage on the side?” City crowd. It’s a bit posher than it used to be, but times change and The Capitalist is particularly pleased with the booths and alcoves, tucked away and perfect for sharing Square Mile gossip. (Top) hats off to Joe Haynes, Ben Butterworth and Tom Hurst for masterminding this wonderful reinvention.
MAMIL SHAMING
City of London Police are cracking down on cyclists who run red lights – not with fines but with information. In a video posted on Instagram yesterday, the force showed four offending cyclists being forced to watch a “hard-hitting road-safety film” by the Royal Exchange, in a new approach designed to make speedy cyclists “think about the consequences of their behaviour”. Judging by the video, which shows four commuters uncomfortably watching said video while still clutching their bikes on the roadside, presumably while coming up with an alternative excuse to explain their office tardiness, the strategy is designed to mix the powers of guilt-tripping and humiliation. For the sake of pedestrians, we just hope it works.