I get talking to a fund manager at a party. He has the complexion of the one per cent: somehow matte and glossy at the same time. His biggest investor is a Gulf state, which I could have guessed. The second-biggest? The municipal pension scheme of a city that isn’t in England’s top 10 by population. At a similar event, one guest is treated with more deference than Eleanor of Aquitaine. She must represent a Faang. Or a sovereign wealth fund. But no: another provincial pension pot.
我在一次聚会上和一位基金经理聊了起来。他的肤色有着那种“百分之一”阶层的特征：不知为何既哑光又有光泽。他最大的投资者是一个海湾国家，这一点我倒是早有预料。那第二大投资者呢？竟然是一个人口未进英格兰前十的城市的市政养老金计划。在类似的场合，有一位嘉宾受到的礼遇甚至超过了阿基坦的埃莉诺(Eleanor of Aquitaine)。我猜她一定代表着某家FAANG公司，或者某个主权财富基金。但其实不是：她同样代表的是另一个地方养老金池。（译者注：阿基坦的埃莉诺是欧洲中世纪最具传奇色彩的女性之一。她的一生横跨十二世纪绝大部分时间，两度成为王后、两度参与十字军东征、两度掀起王位继承战争，留下了“欧洲祖母”的称号。）