Betfair Official Blog

Drone On

Our brand new blogger, the 'City Slicker', lifts the lid on life in the square mile...

THE Drone from the back office tells me, "IBM have predicted that by 2015 there will be 90 per cent fewer traders employed by the top investment banks." The Drone goes on to inform me that, "you traders will lose your jobs to computer systems. System managers will rule the City".

I tap him on the head to see if he's made of metal. "Stroll on," says I. "Stroll on. Toddle on back to your paperless offices and your cashless society." And your loveless life. Sometimes I wonder where people like The Drone live. In a house. With a mum. And a Star Trek duvet cover.

Just don't get me started about the housing market. The FT reported yesterday, "UK house prices - both in terms of absolute values and relative to income - have risen further in the UK than in the US over the past decade." Good news, then. "Whilst house building in the US more than doubled between 1990 and 2005, supply in the UK was effectively flat. In fact, in 2001 homebuilding in the UK was the lowest since the second world war and remains below the level required to keep up with demand. As a result, UK housing stocks have remained tight while US inventories soared." So housing stock should be OK.

And then Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, looks at the BoE's latest quarterly inflation report and mumbles, "The central view in this forecast is, looking several years ahead, there's no reason to expect house prices to be markedly above where they are now." Maybe the Drone can buy a starter home in an up-and-coming part of the UK and commute. Nah, mustn't be cruel. Must try not. Life is cruel enough for The Drone without me adding to it. We can't all be rich. We can't all be traders. Only the elite. The best. The premier cru Cristal.

I deserve my bonus. Work hard, take risks et al. But Martin Wolf in the FT isn't happy. He thinks banks overpay their staff. As if. Says he, "Yet the conflicts of interest created by large financial institutions are far harder to manage than in any other industry. That is so for three fundamental reasons: first, these are virtually the only businesses able to devastate entire economies; second, in no other industry is uncertainty so pervasive; and, finally, in no other industry is it as hard for outsiders to judge the quality of decision-making, at least in the short run."

I like the first bit about devastating entire economies. I'm thinking of putting it my letter heads, in gold - 'City Slicker - I Can Ruin your Life!' Better yet a new number plate for the Baby B - 'RU1N U.'

Kerching!