Gold pushes Gordon's nose sideways, but it's hard for us to buy some

Spectator, The, Jan 10, 2004 by Fildes, Christopher

Room service

Tutti possono sbagliare: we can all make mistakes, as the hedgehog remarked, disengaging himself from the hairbrush. The proverb may console Calisto Tanzi in the Milanese prison which has been a home from home to so many of his country's financial elite, when he is questioned about the eight billion euros missing from Parmalat, the company he founded. He has asked for his cell to be furnished with a small camping stove. Perhaps he has remembered the fate of Michele Sindona, the creative financier who ordered a cup of coffee when in prison, discovering too late that it was laced with strychnine. Sindona's secrets, and others', died with him. How prudent of Mr Tanzi to do his own cooking.