The Hall of Fame


A right royal mortgage affair You’d have to be deaf,


blind and brain dead to have missed the commo- tion over the marriage of Prince William to Cathe- rine Middleton last month. But it seems the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge look set to dispense an unusual wedding favour to any loyal subjects sitting on tracker mortgages – a delay in the execution of an interest rate rise. The royal wedding makes an imminent rate rise


less likely as its impact on growth figures means the health of Britain’s recovery will be even harder to judge. “It’s true the overall economic effects will prob-


ably all come out in the wash,” Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, told us last month. “Nonetheless the royal wedding is likely to add to the volatility of the economic data in the next few months. [And] the extra uncertainty rein- forces the likelihood that the MPC will keep inter- est rates on hold for a while yet.” Now who said marriage was a mugs game?


Stilts, stockings and drag The HoF was treated to a spectacular night of royal


camping it up by technology consultancy FTRC last month. The Leicester Square Theatre’s kitsch comedy, Wedding Royale, saw girls, gays and guys hamming it up in skin-tight leotards, a bride-to-be on stilts Essex would’ve been proud of and a crowd surfing granny comedienne while the night away. The performance was topped off by a diamante studded, bikini clad pole-dancing bride but All My Plans boss, Paul Holland, swore his highlight of the night was the look of uncomprehending gobsmack- ery on editor Sarah Davidson’s face when the show’s host stripped and joined the drag queens in a rendition of Beyonce’s All the Single Ladies.


Unlikely bedfellows It seems that the Association of Mortgage Interme-


diaries and the Council of Mortgage Lenders are much closer than they would have you believe. The HoF happened to be in the right place at


the right time to overhear this snippet of conversa- tion between Matt Smith, senior policy adviser at the CML, and Robert Sinclair, director of AMI. “You’d never guess but Robert and I quite like


each other really,” Smith confessed. “Shhhh, not in public,” Sinclair was quick to


pipe up. 58 MoRTgAgE INTRoDUCER MAY 2011


Congratulations to Select & Protect’s Scott Fynn who will shortly receive £50 of John Lewis vouchers courtesy of Kensington.


Summer lovin’


Over at City law firm Allen & Overy and fe- male trainees have been given a dressing down over the way they have been dressing. “The main problem seems to be very short skirts and high heels and generally looking like we’re going club- bing instead of to the office,” the note from HR allegedly said. A spokesman for the firm said: “The sarto- rial elegance of A&O’s trainees has been well known for many years. However, it seemed a good idea to suggest the gentle application of a little common sense when deciding what to wear to work in the morning as we want our clients to remember what they say not what they wear.”


Emerging from the chrysalis


Drawbridge enters the Hall of Fame this month after rebranding to Dragonfly Property Finance. Apparently the former name was too restrictive for the short-term lender which decided to “spread its wings” and shed the epithet that tied it to bridging. Dragonfly’s four business streams (bridging, buy-to-let, second charges and development finance) are signified by the insect’s four wings we’re told. “We are agile, flexible in the way we assess applications, quick to react and very transparent in the way we operate,” said the lender’s CEO, Jonathan Samuels. “We feel the dragonfly embodies all of these qualities.” Most of the brokers we’ve spoken to seem unfussed by the change but one, who didn’t want to be named, confessed he was mildly perplexed by their decision to abandon the Drawbridge name. “But surely that’s all about safety and security. Dragonflies seem a bit ephemeral.”


A bridge too far perhaps?


Just take a look at this photo of an England training session and work out where the ball is. Photocopy the page, put a cross where you think the centre of the ball is, and send it – along with your name and address – to Nia at the address on page 3. Good luck!


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