Financier George Soros has been busy trying to spoil Donald Trump's big day by spouting off in the manner of … er … Donald Trump.
In an interview at the elitist talking shop and back-patting shindig known as Davos, Soros, who backed Trump's rival Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, suggested to Bloomberg TV that Trump “would be a dictator if he could get away with it but he won't be able to.”
Not that Soros is a sore loser. He reportedly lost a billion dollars betting against the stock market “Trump rally”, but he maintained that he thinks Trump will fail as a president.
"Not because of people like me who would like him to fail, but because the ideas that guide him are inherently self-contradictory,” Soros said.
If it is any consolation to the president-elect, Soros is not a big fan of UK prime minister Theresa May's prospects, either.
"She already has a divided cabinet, a small majority in parliament, and I think she will not last," he said.
Of course, given the state of Her Majesty's Opposition, she'd probably win a snap general election by a street and return with the sort of huge parliamentary majority that, perversely, causes prime ministers problems, because backbench MPs feel they can go “off piste” without actually bringing down the government.
A house divided cannot stand
Talking of divided cabinets, the Financial Times had a bit of background to yesterday's announcement about the abrupt departure of Neil Cooper, the chief financial officer of house builder Barratt Developments PLC (LON:BDEV).
The Pink 'Un reports that Barratt's chief executive, David Thomas, told analysts the rift was based on “a lack of cultural fit”.
And Cooper is not even a woman!
He did come from bookie William Hill, though, so perhaps the cultural divide was class-based rather than gender-based.
Perhaps Cooper spent his time in board meetings taking bets on how long Theresa May would remain prime minister.
Barratt Developments, of course, was often referred to as the favourite company of Britain's only other female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Who and who now?
I am obliged to Twitter for informing me that Tom Baker, the actor who played one of the more memorable incarnations of Dr Who, is 83 today.
Or is he?
Finally, sometimes company names disappear from the stock market and you forget they ever existed until something jogs your memory.
Yule Catto always sounded more like a cartoon character – perhaps a feline version of Father Christmas – than a speciality chemicals firm, which is possibly why they changed the name to Synthomer PLC (LON:SYNT).
Whatever happened to Youghal Carpets, another company with a cartoon character's name?
Coats Patons?
Guest, Keen, Nettlefold & Sankey?
One day, we might be asking the same question of Randall & Quilter (deceased), which inexplicably is one of the most popular small-cap stories on a well-known company news site.
People are apparently gagging to find out about an issue of subordinated notes by the acquisitive insurance company, which is actually called Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd (LON:RQIH).