A City Spectator: Bulls, Bears, Booms and Boondoggles

Christopher Fildes' weekly City and Suburban column in The Spectator on the follies and eruptions of markets and boardrooms - peppered with jokes, literary references, character sketches and satirical proposals - has been required reading for more than twenty years. A City Spectator is a selection of Fildes’ best, introducing us to the heroes and villains (from the Queen Mother to Robert Maxwell), Chancellors and Bank Governors of the city of London. We are invited to enjoy $2 martinis and 8-euro kirs and to experience the gravy train of the international boondoggle* circuit. We watch the city at work, and get thoughtful opinions on its extracurricular activities: the travails of transport (with I.K. Gricer, Fildes' man on-and frequently off-the rails), tales from the track (with racing correspondent Captain Threadneedle) and thoughts on the absurdities of the housing market.