Bookie unhorsed by too much of a racing certainty
Ladbrokes managers were once again extolling the virtues of virtual horse racing at Hilton Groups annual results on Thursday. Apparently its much better than proper racing because you never back a horse that isnt trying.
Presumably theyd forgotten a blunder on Monday by SIS, which supplies pictures to bookmaking shops and managed to show the (virtual) winner of the 7.13 from "Steeple Downs" before the off. Punters piled in and the horse duly won, leaving the bookie with a nasty loss.
parted from his wife of 33 years last August but it seems the couple have yet to sort out living arrangements. I hear Sorrell has moved as far as the basement of their four-storey Georgian townhouse in Knightsbridge. WPP declines to comment. Given his enthusiasm for bath analogies, I do hope its suitably equipped down there.
Platoon leader wanted
The Competition Commission is advertising for a new chief economist after Amanda Rowlatt moved on to the Department for International Development last month. Its not a bad deal. For a £95,000 salary and a "first class" pension, you lead a 20-strong platoon of economists checking to see whether companies "are behaving in an anti-competitive fashion".
The work is at "the cutting edge of competition policy", whatever that may mean. I understand competition is already hotting up among the 20 drones but a spokesman denies suggestions that the commission is simply ticking the boxes. "This is a serious ad for external candidates."
2005-08-12
