Tag: sailing

Bargain Basement Bernie – Price Of Bernie Ecclestone’s £30m Gin Palace Yacht ‘Petara II’ Slashed To ‘Just’ £16m

As he faces a £400 million fraud trial, coffin dodging skinflint Bernie Ecclestone has slashed the price of one his gin palaces, Petara; the 190-foot yacht is now on sale for the bargain basement price of ‘just’ £16 million

Previously valued at a rather punchy sum of £30 million ($37.32 million, €34.50 million or درهم137.6 million), ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone’s 190.9-foot motor yacht ‘Petara II’ – named using a combination of the names of his two daughters by ex-wife Slavica Radić, Petra and Tamara – is now been hawked for ‘just’ £16.95 million ($21.09 million, €19.50 million or درهم77.46 million) with EU VAT paid.

Offered by Burgess Yachts, the diminutive, dwarf-like businessman’s ‘gin palace’ was built in 2005 by Protesksan Turquoise in Turkey and is described as having “one owner from new” and subject to “very light private use only.” It has six cabins for upto twelve guests and includes a large full-beam garage complete with a hydraulic car lift, city car, toys and tenders.

‘Petara’ is capable of a maximum speed of 18 knots and has a range of 5,000 nautical miles; it has a crew of fourteen and currently lies in the West Mediterranean under a United Kingdom flag.

92-year-old Ecclestone – whose family supposedly nicknamed him ‘The Grinch’ – currently awaits trial for allegedly orchestrating a £400 million ($497 million, €460 million or درهم1.8 billion) fraud against His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). It is due to begin in London on 15^th November 2023.

Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

In reducing the price of his £30m yacht 'Petara' to 'just' £16m, is skinflint Bernie Ecclestone playing an 'ace' card or is he showing desperation as he prepares for his £400m HMRC fraud case on 15th Nov 2023? #BernieEcclestone #yacht #ginpalace #fraud #HMRC #crime #truecrime #F1
— Matthew Steeples (@M_Steeples) May 18, 2023

This morning on Twitter, Matthew Steeples asked: “In reducing the price of his £30m yacht ‘Petara’ to ‘just’ £16m, is skinflint Bernie Ecclestone playing an ‘ace’ card or is he showing desperation as he prepares for his £400m HMRC fraud case on 15th Nov 2023?” By 11:30am on Thursday 18^th May 2023, the majority of respondents favoured the answer: “Yes; time is up jail next.”

92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone arriving at court on 19th April 2023; the bungling buffoon and apologist for the evil tyrant President Vladimir Putin looked in worse condition than even at his last appearance back in January 2023.

92-year-old Bernie Ecclestone’s third wife and latest ‘baby mama’ Fabiana Flosi-Ecclestone accompanied him that day; the current Mrs Ecclestone curiously chose the name ‘Ace’ for her child – one is left wondering if the billionaire former F1 chief will be hoping for an ace in the pack when he faces his trial for allegedly orchestrating a £400 million fraud against His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on the 15th November 2023.

In February 2020, ‘The Steeple Times’ reported on croaked paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s chum (and his wife Sarah, Duchess of York’s financial sponsor) Prince Andrew having Bernie Ecclestone over to Royal Lodge, Windsor to celebrate his birthday. Whether this man “with qualities that would make Leona Helmsley look generous” brought Sloppy Giuseppes from Pizza Express (Woking branch) for the bash remains still unknown and whether he has entertained the Duke of York on ‘Petara’ is unknown.

At the 31st birthday party hosted for Naomi Campbell by her then lover Flavio Briatore on 19th May 2001 in St Tropez, France, Bernie Ecclestone (pictured top right) got to hang out on a gin palace with not only the since convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell but also the woman Prince Andrew paid £12 million to in spite of having never met – Virginia Roberts (now known as Virginia Giuffre). The now former F1 boss and alleged fraudster featured in the infamous address book credited to Epstein but most likely was actually a contact of the mucky madam Maxwell primarily.

The 91-year-old father of four and son of a Suffolk fisherman has previously been quite rightly deservedly slammed for his support for the world’s worst living leader, President Vladimir Putin. Calling such a tyrant “a good guy” and someone he’d “take a bullet for” about sums this nasty little piece of toerag up for what he is – an utter braindead berk.

BOG OFF BERNIE! BERNIE ECCLESTONE’S WORST MOMENTS

A poisonous penny-pinching dwarf and well-known as a “coffin dodger,” Bernie Ecclestone – a bestie of the man who paid £12 million to a woman he claims never to have met Prince Andrew – couldn’t give a damn about anything other than money. He’ll mouth off in support of anyone who might help him get just a little bit more, but really should just be told to bog off!

On President Vladimir Putin:

“[He] should be running Europe… He should be in Brussels running Europe… We should get rid of Brussels and he should just be in charge.”

“Honestly, I think the guy who be running Europe, impressed me more than anything, is Mr Putin because he’s a guy that says he’s going to do something and does it… [He’s] a first-class person.”

“He does what he says he’s gonna do, he gets the job done. I mean people don’t understand exactly what he wants to do… He wants to put Russia back to what it was.”

“I was with [Putin] after the [2014 Sochi Winter] Olympics on the top of the bloody mountain… We had a meeting, just the two of us, and we came out and we were walking along and people were coming up to him asking for an autograph… That’s what people think of him.”

“If someone had a machine gun and was prepared to shoot Putin, I would stand in front of him because he’s a good guy. He’s never done anything that isn’t doing good things for people.”

On President Putin’s intolerance to gay people in Russia:

“When I was at school, if you did something wrong, the teacher used to say: ‘Go and get the punishment book and the cane. Go to your headmistress and get a few whacks or something.’ That’s what he does.”

On President Donald Trump:

“I think he’d be fantastic [as President of the United States of America]. I’m sure he’s much more flexible than most of them. If he’s made a mistake, he’s more likely to say: ‘It was a good idea at the time.’”

“He has done a lot of good things for the world.”

On Adolf Hitler:

“Apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done… He wasn’t a dictator.”

On Jewish people:

“They have a lot of influence everywhere.”

On black people:

“In a lot of cases, black people are more racist than what white people are.”

Of democracy in the United Kingdom:

“If you have a look at a democracy it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries – including this one.”

Of his crackpot suggestion that the now late Max Mosley, son of the late Fascist Oswald Mosley, might have been Prime Minister of Great Britain:

“[He would have done] a super job… I don’t think his background would [have been] a problem.”

On Brexit:

“I’m 100% an outer.”

On his wealth:

“I’ve got enough I can do with my money.”

On following the rules:

“I never stopped breaking the rules.”

Asked if immigrants had made a contribution to the UK:

“They have not.”

On who is worth speaking to:

“Anyone who doesn’t speak English isn’t worth speaking to… I’d rather get to the 70-year-old guy who has a lot of cash.”

On journalists:

“I can’t remember a single occasion when I have been kind to a journalist.”

On social media:

“I think the change that is currently taking place is very short-lived, as these social media people are starting to think it is not as good as they thought.”

On waiters and prostitutes:

“Waiters are like hookers, never around when you want them.”

On women:

“You know, I’ve got one of those wonderful ideas… Women should be all dressed in white like all the other domestic appliances.”

“What I would really like to see happen is to find the right girl, perhaps a black girl with super looks, preferably Jewish or Muslim, who speaks Spanish.”

On women participating in Formula 1:

“I don’t know whether a woman would physically be able to drive an F1 car quickly, and they wouldn’t be taken seriously.”

On Lewis Hamilton:

“I don’t find him particularly engaging… He’s not particularly you would say black.”

On the corrupt criminal and disgraced banker Gerhard Gribkowsky:

“Dear old Gribkowsky… I don’t blame him because I would have probably done the same if I could have done it. He found the weak spot, found some leverage and used it. You can’t blame somebody for doing that.”

On the individuals who kidnapped his mother-in-law:

“If I get upset, how could it help?”

On his business career and his family’s Bambino Holdings offshore trust:

“I’ve got the highest position there is. So high that when I look down, I can’t see anything.”

“Maybe the most serious thing I regret was giving my shares to my ex [Slavica Radić], because when she them all in a trust for her and the kids, I lost control.”

May 18, 2023
A Boat For Brenda

As decidedly dippy Dame Esther Rantzen calls for tyrannical twerp Sir Philip Green to hand over his behemoth boat to the Queen, we suggest Sir James Dyson or Sir Charles Dunstone’s gin palaces as other options that could be commandeered

This morning on Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, Dame Esther Rantzen, for once in her somewhat curious career, made a valid suggestion when discussing the current hullabaloo over whether or not the nation should spend £200 million on a new royal yacht.

Commenting to the programme’s Paddy O’Connell of a “pomp and ceremony” focused proposal that the Conservatives are plainly using to wind up Labour, Dame Esther remarked:

“This is to me a crazy idea at a time when our economy has been obviously dealt something of a death blow by COVID, when we have no plans for social care, when food banks are thriving. Do we really think that the taxpayer, let alone the royal family, want £200 million spent on a royal yacht?”

“I think it’s an example of a newspaper starting a campaign which is so out of touch. However, perhaps, I have the solution: Sir Philip Green, do you remember him? He has a knighthood – which some people have questioned. He lives in Monaco, where there’s plenty of other people with yachts. Why doesn’t he donate his boat to the royal family?”

“If he’s got monograms with the words ‘Philip’ on it, that would be suitable for those who feel that the yacht should be named after Philip, Duke of Edinburgh… Prince Philip, you could just add a few, a few, you know…”

Equally, given the late NCP car park tycoon Sir Donald Gosling left £50 million in his will towards a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, we suggest some potentially cheaper boating options to Sir Philip Green’s £100 million gin palace below that could also be commandeered.

Pictured top: The late Sir Donald Gosling’s former yacht Leander and its owner with the Queen and her late husband in 2012.

Option 1 – Sir Philip Green’s ‘Lionheart’

Pros – The disgraced businessman’s gin palace is definitely big at 295-foot and can accommodate 12 guests with a crew of 30. It’d probably also appeal to ‘Randy Andy’ given his liking for living it large and there is plenty of space on the boat’s deck for the ‘Duchess of Dork’ to engage in a bit of toe sucking as well.

Cons – This boat’s décor would likely be considered a bit ‘lowbrow’ by the Queen given “Call Me Lady Tina” – the rotten retailer’s wife – is known more for brass than class. The tacky tub might need a bit of a clean also as in September 2020, the vessel was impounded in Monaco due to two of its staff contracting coronavirus.

Option 2 – Sir James Dyson’s ‘Nahlin’

Pros – Given all the breaks billionaire Sir James Dyson and his carpet designer wife ‘Lady Deirdre’ have been given by Boris Johnson in spite of disgracefully relocating their operations abroad, you’d think they might want to give something back and hand over their boat.

As was reported in the Guardian yesterday, this steam yacht has also been subject to a £25 million restoration and has ‘previous royal form’ in that it housed the then King Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson just prior to the 1936 abdication crisis. Perhaps that might attract that devious duo’s modern day equivalents, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, onboard for peace talks.

Cons – The Queen could find herself like the majority of the population, who’ve wasted money on his frankly mostly useless products, a little frustrated with the vessel’s hypocritical Brexiteer owner and we don’t think she’d like ‘Dreary Deirdre’s’ appalling rug designs either.

Option 3 – Sir Charles Dunstone’s ‘Shemara’

Pros – The 210-foot motor yacht Shemara is a favourite of all at The Steeple Times. Built by Sir Bernard Docker at the behest of his brilliantly batty wife, ‘Lady Nora,’ in 1938, this vessel has played host to everyone from King Farouk of Egypt to coalminers.

Cons – If the Queen took over this boat, she might find herself a little beholden to the ‘Chipping Norton set’ given Sir Charles Dunstone is considered one of that group’s most illustrious members. Conversations with Rebekah Brooks about her thoughts on her wayward grandchild and his money grabbing wife might not prove easy, but Jeremy Clarkson could break the ice with a drink or five.

May 16, 2021
An English McMansion Monstrosity
Gargantuan Cheshire ‘McMansion’ once owned by a BBC Sports Personality turned tax fraudster for sale; it’s a monstrosity and beyond gaudy

Somewhat generously described as “Cheshire’s most flamboyant home” by the Manchester Evening News in December 2019 and as a place where BBC Wales Sports Personality 1980 turned VAT fraudster Duncan Evans for a time “lived the life of a country squire,” Deansgreen Hall in Lymm, Cheshire has been on the market for £6 million since 2019.

Described as “architecturally unsurpassed and with a lavish interior” and an “ambassadorial style Smallbone kitchen” by selling agents Jackson-Stops, this vast English attempt at a ‘McMansion’ is quite frankly one of the most ludicrously laughable houses we’ve ever featured.

Standing on a plot of just under 11 acres where a probably perfectly charming yet subsequently bastardised residence was constructed in 1864, the ‘hall’ itself extends to about 20,000 square foot. It includes 5 reception rooms, a cinema room, a games room, a music room, an orangery and 8 en-suite bedrooms.

In addition, there is a ‘leisure suite’ with an indoor swimming pool and gym, a staff flat, a 3-bedroom lodge, a 620 square foot ‘entertaining pavilion,’ garaging for 28 cars, a helicopter hangar, kenneling and stabling.

Plainly desperate to offload this gargantuan white elephant, Jackson-Stops declare: “Our clients are looking to downsize and would consider part exchange with either another residential property or commercial property, or possibly another asset class (for instance, prestige and collectible cars, art, etc.).”

An English McMansion Monstrosity – Amateur golf champion, BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1980 and tax fraudster Duncan Evans owned Deansgreen Hall from 2002 to 2003.

The entrance hall to Deansgreen Hall harks back to the past and currently features coats of armour and a model of an old sailing ship.

The dining room of the McMansion is equally “historic” in its inspiration, yet the white gloss paint scheme simply just doesn’t work.

Plainly aimed at a sale to a footballer, the cinema room – complete with its naff sparkling light ceiling and purple panels – could have been designed by the “prosecco gagging” disaster that is Dawn Ward.

The Names & Numbers – Deansgreen Hall, Crouchley Lane, Lymm, Cheshire, WA13 0TL, United Kingdom
- March 2021 – For sale for £6 million ($8.4 million, €7 million or درهم8 million) with Jackson-Stops. Listed first with the firm circa December 2019.
- June 2018 – A former policeman named Roderick Bond, whose current correspondence address for his active company Ravenstone UK Ltd., was jailed for 2 years and 8 months as a result of his involvement in a “Formula 1 film tax scam” in June 2018.
- 2006 – Purchased by the current owner and “remodeled and presented in its current condition.”
- 2003 – Sold by Duncan Evans for £3.5 million ($4.9 million, €4.1 million or درهم18 million). “Devious and accomplished fraudster” Evans subsequently received a jail sentence of 4 years in 2009 for his part in a £21 million ($29 million, €24 million or درهم108 million) VAT fraud. He was again arrested in July 2017 after going on the run to Portugal.
- 2002 – Sold to BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year 1980 Duncan Evans for £1.2 million ($1.7 million, €1.4 million or درهم2 million) having reverted to private ownership in the 1990s.
- 1970s – Used as “commercial offices” by Fairclough Homes.
- 1864 – Original house built on the site. What remains of that, God only knows.
In November 2020, we featured what we termed “the world’s worst McMansion,” a £1.65 million horror in New Jersey. In Deansgreen Hall, we’ve definitely found something that could actually come a very close second.

The insipid white theme continues in this vaulted sitting room of the English McMansion.

A spokesperson for selling agents Jackson-Stops remarked of the McMansion’s kitchen: “The centre of the house has an ambassadorial-sized Smallbone fitted kitchen/breakfast room with large central island (with seating for 10) with sofas at one end.” Any serious chef would respond: “What a bloody impractical layout.”

The McMansion’s indoor swimming pool, surprisingly, seems relatively tame in its decorative styling.

A games room in “regal red.”

It’s back to the medieval mixed up with nautical heritage theme on the McMansion’s landing – complete with a chess board that looks like it came from Dungeons & Dragons.

The ‘master bedroom’ has an especially ghastly fireplace surround and it’s got some shagpile carpets that Jimmy Savile would have loved to have rolled around on.

The nautical touch continues in this bathroom area where also included is a tub where Prince Andrew might feel at home.

The rear elevation of the McMansion is frankly nothing but a hotchpotch and a design disaster. How many styles did the architect wish to combine?

A set of flags stands patriotically at the front of the building along with a very necessary pair of dragon statues.

Looking outwards, there’s a hint of classicism to enjoy.

The garage block and ‘lodge house’ of the McMansion resemble something found on a Barratt housing estate.

Yet more patriotism on display at England’s naffest McMansion. Nigel Farage and Ann Widdecombe would go potty.

There are two lakes that are supposedly “stuffed” with carp. Watch out, Eddie Grundy of BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Archers’ will be round to do a bit of poaching.

The entrance gates to the McMansion complete with a set of cobbles that wouldn’t look out of place on ITV1’s ‘Coronation Street.’
March 1, 2021
An Ugly Duckling With All The Extras

“Ugly duckling” ex-crab boat converted into “ultimate fun factory” by billionaire equity investor for sale for 47% less than in 2017; it comes with gadgets galore amongst them a two-seat amphibious flying boat

Stanford educated private equity investor Richard Kayne manages over £25.3 billion ($31 billion, €28.7 billion or درهم113.8 billion) through his firm Kayne Anderson Capital Advisers. He also “doesn’t like to sit still,” has over 300 employees and is not only pretty “alternative” in the way he invests; he’s also pretty unusual in the style of yacht he favours.

Father of three Kayne took up sailing in order to “get [his] daughters involved in a family experience” around 2002 and then commissioned a 164-foot yacht named JeMaSa – a merger of the names of Jenni, Maggie and Saree, his aforementioned children. His love of “toys” – such as Eurocopter helicopters, sea planes, submarines, tenders, flyboards, jet-skis and inflatable water slides – subsequently resulted in a further purchase, a 170-foot steel hulled crab fishing boat that he intended simply to use as a “supply boat” to house his ever-growing collection of “kit.”

Richard Kayne and his wife Suzanne.

Prior to becoming ‘SuRi,’ the yacht was a crab fishing vessel named ‘Fierce Contender.’

Nowadays, the boat is more likely to be found taking wealthy individuals to off-the-beaten track locations.

Previously known as Fierce Contender (built in Lockport, Louisiana in 1978) and used in the Discovery Channel television series Deadliest Catch, the boat was converted into a “shadow yacht” in Seattle over the winter of 2007. Of the work, in November 2019, Kayne told Boat International:

“Designing the garage was a challenge. In addition to the helicopter we had a hovercraft, one of the world’s noisiest boats, a hand-built mahogany speedboat, a work boat, WaveRunners, Sea-Doos, sailboats, ski and wakesurfing boats and, eventually, an amphibious airplane.”

Renamed SuRi – a combination of his name and that of his wife, Suzanne – the Kayne family then took their fleet to Denarau, Fiji and though together the financier termed them his “hundred-metre articulated yacht,” he later came to realise that “neither yacht was adequate for all the people and all the toys.”

His response came in 2011 and of it, he announced: “I did another silly thing – I decided to sell JeMeSa and jumbo-size SuRi.” The boat was taken to Alameda, California, cut in half and expanded to provide further accommodation and “what is arguably the largest toy garage-cum-aircraft hangar afloat outside the US Navy.” The resulting “amenity-rich explorer yacht” is now 208-foot long and can accommodate 18 guests in 7 cabins with 19 crew.

Capable of a range of 7,400 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 13 knots, SuRi became what its owner termed “the ultimate fun factory” where: “Whatever it is that you want to do – put jet boots on your feet and go flying up in the air, go kitesurfing, take a cruise in a Riva type of boat, or go wakeboarding, wake surfing, waterskiing, fishing or diving, you just go and do it.”

Now, however, Kayne’s enthusiasm has moved on to developing an “American-style golf club” on New Zealand’s North Island. He first put SuRi – which astonishingly has over 3,300 followers on its Instagram account – up for charter through firms such as Cookson Adventures and then tried to sell the yacht for £35.8 million ($43.9 million, €40.7 million or درهم161.2 million) in 2017. That price plainly was not achievable and now, Burgess Yachts are offering the craft for the much-reduced sum of £18.8 million ($23 million, €21.7 million or درهم84.5 million).

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April 5, 2020
A Half Million Hut

Lakeland boat house goes on sale for somewhat ambitious sum of £500,000 in spite of not having any residential accommodation

A boat house on the lake where Donald Campbell piloted Bluebird K7 to 202.32 miles per hour in 1955 has gone on sale for the somewhat punchy sum of £500,000 ($654,000, €562,000 or درهم2.4 million) in spite of not having planning permission for conversion or a parking space even.

A proposed design for an upgrade to the boat house

Siutated at the southern end of the 9 mile long Ullswater lake, Wall Holm Boathouse at Glenridding is set on a ¼ acre plot accessible on foot only. It is of timber framed construction and has a double wet dock with a walkway on three sides.

Outside, aside from spectacular views across what is often described as “one of the most beautiful English lakes,” there is an area of raised deck seating and a 65-foot frontage to the water.

The boat house is offered for sale by Fine & Country and potentially could be upgraded to provide “day accommodation.”

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September 16, 2018
A Funicular Feat

Highest asking price ever for a property on Lake Tahoe is sought for a compound complete with two glass funiculars; it could be yours for £60 million

Situated on 5.14 acres and having 525-foot of frontage to Lake Tahoe in Nevada, a 16,232 square foot mansion complete has gone on sale.

Built between 1997 and 2016, ‘Crystal Pointe’ on Crystal Bay is formed by a main residence, guest house and caretaker’s apartment linked to its lower level boat house and oversized 4-car garage by two impressive hillside traversing funiculars on heated tracks. It has a total of 8 reception rooms, 8 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, 13 fireplaces, a 10-seat cinema and a 1,687 bottle wine cellar.

The various elements of the compound are connected via furniculars as well as steps

One of two furniculars

Stuart and Geri Yount built the property between 1997 and 2016

Offered on behalf of building product tycoon Stuart Yount – CEO of Fortifiber – and his wife Geri, the property is designed to enjoy full views of the lake from sunrise to sunset. It stands in landscaped gardens with ponds and waterfalls that feature some pretty dramatic animal sculptures and adjoins US service forestry.

Chase International seek £59.1 million ($75 million, €66.1 million or درهم275.4 million) as Mr and Mrs Yount now wish to downsize to a smaller residence.

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August 16, 2018
Ratty on The River

A dream house for ‘The Wind In The Willows’ character Ratty; Devon boathouse for sale for £2.5 million

A Devon house that could be perfect for anyone sharing Kenneth Grahame’s character Rat’s view that “there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats” has gone on sale for £2.5 million ($3.5 million, €2.9 million or درهم12.9 million).

The Boathouse at Kingswear features “unrivalled views of the River Dart and open sea” beyond and is described by selling agents Savills a “iconic.” It incorporates 2,456 square of internal accommodation over five floors and is built from oak, slate and stone.

Aside from 4 bedrooms, the property also features a 32’ by 19’5” open plan kitchen-dining-reception space and a 24’2” by 23’8” garden room. For the sailor, there is a boat store, private slipway, a DHA licenced running mooring and direct access to the foreshore whilst those simply want to relax, could just idle away the hours in the property’s gardens and on its terraces.

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April 20, 2018
Big Shorting Gatsby

Long Island mansion with links to ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘The Big Short’ for sale for £13.1 million (or 152% more than it sold for in 2011)

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) set his ‘Roaring Twenties’ classic The Great Gatsby in the fictional locations of East Egg and West Egg on Long Island and now one of the homes that inspired him is available for sale.

Owned by Cornwall Capital founder James Mai – a man whose firm ironically made over 80 times its capital by buying credit default swaps on CDOs prior to the 2008 financial crisis – and his wife Chiara since 2011, 235 Middle Neck Road at Sands Point on Long Island’s Gold Coast was built in 1926 and home to the Rumsey-Harriman railroad dynasty from 1929.

Fitzgerald is said to have spent time at the residence learning about “the lifestyle of the moneyed aristocracy of Old Westport, Long Island, and their involvement in the movement of eugenics” from the Rumseys and ironically, James Mai, is also representative of a clash between ‘old’ and ‘new’ money. In 2008, he and his partner are said to have been the ones “screaming about [the coming crash] as loud as they could, but everyone turned a deaf ear.” The character Jamie Shipley, played by Finn Wittrock in the 2015 film The Big Short, is loosely based upon him.

Current owners Chiara and James Mai are said to have spent vast sums on the renovation of the estate

Featuring 11,955 square foot of renovated accommodation that includes formal and informal entertaining spaces, 13 bedrooms and 8 bathrooms. There is also a 6-car garage with a 3-bedroom caretaker’s cottage, a 4-bedroom beachside cottage and a boat house.

Outside, on a plot of some 5.3 acres, there is a 391-foot private beach, a tennis court and in spite of its seeming isolation, the property is situated just 29 miles from Downtown Manhattan and 25 minutes by boat.

235 Middle Neck Road is listed by Nava Mitnick of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International. In December 2016, of it, she commented: “Obviously, it’s so imposing – you drive down and see the sweeping views. But when we entered the house, I described it as a ‘glorified cottage’, because it’s so homey.”

235 Middle Neck Road – The Numbers

August 2017 – Relisted for £13.1 million ($16.88 million, €14.2 million or درهم62 million).

December 2016 – Listed for sale for £15.4 million ($19.8 million, €16.6 million or درهم72.7 million).

June 2011 – Sold for £5.2 million ($6.675 million, €5.6 million or درهم24.5 million).

February 2011 – Listed for sale for £7.7 million ($9.9 million, €8.3 million or درهم36.4 million).

August 27, 2017
Sail Away

Georgian house in Emsworth, Hampshire complete with its own private dock for sale for £3.4 million

A symmetrical, yellow brick early 19^th century house complete with its own private dock has gone on sale for £3.4 million ($4.4 million, €3.9 million or درهم16.1 million).

Grade II listed Wharf House in the small town of Emsworth stands in gardens of 0.72 acres and comes with a dock with a 45-foot capacity. It has tidal access to the Emsworth Channel, which leads to Chichester Harbour, and comes with a private slipway.

Wharf House itself provides 5,231 square foot of accommodation over four floors and features 3 reception rooms, an orangery, 6 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A double garage and garden room are to be found within the grounds and there is potential to add an outdoor pool.

Agents Strutt & Parker describe the property as: “A rarely available Georgian gem”.

June 1, 2017
Poore Borwick

New contributor Mark Newton shares his views on the “dubious record” of Lady Borwick, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Kensington

Kensington, Kensington, its name beats the drum of the Conservative heartland of London. Tory grandees have worked long and hard to be fortified in this Bastion with greats like Alan Clark, Michael Portillo and Malcom Rifkind amongst its previous tenants. To be given Kensington is to be awarded one of the safest, and most convenient seats in the land – a prize to be won by only the hardest working, and most industrious of MPs and this, to my mind, makes the continued selection of Lady Borwick (née Victoria Poore) as the Tory candidate even harder to understand.

Known locally by the epithet ‘Lazy Borwick’, this latest MP is cast quite differently from the usual Kensington mould. Lady (‘Call me Victoria’) Borwick’s stance on Brexit, lousy debate participation and letter response history, questionable use of public funds and ongoing links to shady businesses is creating quite the heated storm in the chattering leafy private gardens of Kensington. Over the next three articles, I’ll be taking a look at Lady Borwick to try to get to the bottom of how and why one of the safest Tory seats of the land came to be held by the one of the least worthy occupants.

Lady Borwick succeeded in getting her hands on Kensington after Malcolm Rifkind stepped down at the 2015 General Election. The circumstances of that coup are somewhat strange, not least because of the history of Kensington in selecting high profile and hard working MPs. What seems to have happened is simple nepotism. Lady Borwick, having twice failed to make the selection list for London mayor during Steven Norris’ candidacy, finally slid into the London Assembly in 2008 as one of three London-wide Conservative members. From there it was an easy promotion from Boris Johnson to the Deputy Mayorhood, and it seems no-one less than the great ‘BoJo’ himself shoe-horned her into the Kensington seat ahead of better qualified and more industrious candidates.

So why then is the epithet ‘Lazy Borwick’ doing the rounds in the Royal Borough? Surprisingly, it has very little to do with her controversial Brexit stance in a strongly Remain constituency. What’s got Conservatives up in arms is her uselessness as a constituency MP. According to the MP tracking website TheyWorkForYou, Lady Borwick’s response rate to written enquiries is just 18% – an abysmal score that places her 618^th on a list of 641 responding MPs. If there’s one thing the well-to-do residents of Kensington don’t like it’s an MP who is too busy or lazy to respond to their well-meant enquiries, particularly a Member of Parliament who manages to be significantly less efficient than her much busier, high profile forbearers.

So, what, might you ask, is taking up so much of Lazy Borwick’s time that she can’t manage to get to her mail bag? Some suggest that it may be her tireless work for charity, yet, strangely, Lady Borwick’s parliamentary voting record seems to spit in the face of the charitable causes she purports to support. Recently, she has jumped on the laudable activities of @CleanAirLondon, a much needed initiative to clean up London’s diesel rich environment, yet in the Commons ‘Lazy Borwick’ has consistently voted against climate change measures, and against a greater public control of bus services. Hard to reconcile with the self-promotional pictures of her backing smart energy meters.

Lady Borwick also claims to support local hospitals and to regularly visit the elderly residents of Kensington. She even spoke at a recent debate in favour of mental health and mobility support. Yet in the House of Commons she has almost always voted against paying benefits to those unable to work due to illness or disability and has consistently voted against the terminally ill being given assistance to end their lives.

Finally, there are those who suggest ‘Lazy Borwick’ may simply be too busy with parliamentary duties to answer constituents’ letters, yet she spoke in just 15 debates in the last year, well below average amongst MPs, and dramatically lower than previous high profile Kensington MPs.

Whatever it is that keeps Lady Borwick entertained, it can’t then be serving the interests of her constituents, so to get answers we need to dig further, into her bizarre and odd beliefs about Europe, and her odd use of public funds and ties to ‘Big Data’ business.

Coming up next – ‘Brexit Borwick’ and residents’ anger in Kensington; the constituency with the greatest proportion of EU nationals of any London borough.

Pictured above – ‘Woman of the people’ Lady Borwick – a “director and member of Poore and Second Poore Ltd; holding companies limited by guarantee” – aboard a 40-metre yacht in 2014 with Sunseeker Cheshire’s Jonathan Kingsley. At the time Mr Kingsley commented: “It was a wonderful opportunity to promote our iconic brand and reinforce the British success of Sunseeker to this high profile, influential Lady. She, and her son, adored the boat”.

#LazyBorwick

May 18, 2017