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| The fowl extravagance of Crispin Odey's chicken house | The fowl extravagance of Crispin Odey's chicken house |
| (6 months later) | |
| In theory, what a private individual chooses to do with his or her money is nobody else's business. We live in a country where you may dispose of it however you see fit, so long as you break no laws. You are free to indulge silly fantasies, to treat yourself, to spend on things others might perceive as having no value. | In theory, what a private individual chooses to do with his or her money is nobody else's business. We live in a country where you may dispose of it however you see fit, so long as you break no laws. You are free to indulge silly fantasies, to treat yourself, to spend on things others might perceive as having no value. |
| In practice, this isn't always the case, and with good reason. We are a society, not simply a collection of individuals, and our behaviour has ramifications. We participate in an economy, where our decisions about money affect others. Just ask hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, who paid himself £28m in 2008, after successfully betting that shares in British banks would fall through the floor. He's decided to spend a much more modest sum on a home for his chickens: media reports estimate the stone alone will cost more than £100,000. | In practice, this isn't always the case, and with good reason. We are a society, not simply a collection of individuals, and our behaviour has ramifications. We participate in an economy, where our decisions about money affect others. Just ask hedge fund manager Crispin Odey, who paid himself £28m in 2008, after successfully betting that shares in British banks would fall through the floor. He's decided to spend a much more modest sum on a home for his chickens: media reports estimate the stone alone will cost more than £100,000. |
| The stone, you say? Yes, the Odey chickens will be housed in style – no coop for them. Nothing as déclassé as chicken wire hems them in. And yet, if visions of Sir Peter Viggers' notorious duck house have been conjured, dismiss them and think bigger, much bigger. Odey's gaff is a galline Parthenon. | The stone, you say? Yes, the Odey chickens will be housed in style – no coop for them. Nothing as déclassé as chicken wire hems them in. And yet, if visions of Sir Peter Viggers' notorious duck house have been conjured, dismiss them and think bigger, much bigger. Odey's gaff is a galline Parthenon. |
| We know this because detailed plans for the chicken house, which surfaced yesterday, are available on the local council's website. Odey may have the money to realise his wildest dreams (I hope for his sake that these extend beyond luxurious accommodation for domestic fowl), but he has to submit to the law of the land, which requires public scrutiny of building projects. Before I return to the moral case for exposing Odey to opprobrium, it's worth analysing these on aesthetic grounds. Whatever the conscious reasons for his choices, they reveal much about what contemporary City money admires. | We know this because detailed plans for the chicken house, which surfaced yesterday, are available on the local council's website. Odey may have the money to realise his wildest dreams (I hope for his sake that these extend beyond luxurious accommodation for domestic fowl), but he has to submit to the law of the land, which requires public scrutiny of building projects. Before I return to the moral case for exposing Odey to opprobrium, it's worth analysing these on aesthetic grounds. Whatever the conscious reasons for his choices, they reveal much about what contemporary City money admires. |
| It appears to admire shows of learning and wit, though these concepts appear to have a different meaning among the financial class than they do for the rest of us. As the chickens despoil the polished Forest of Dean stone floors with their droppings, they may pause to admire the Ionic columns that surround them. It's not clear why Odey chose this particular order of architecture, though it's known for its elegant simplicity, in contrast to fussy Corinthian or bulky Doric. They may glance up and catch sight of the acroterion on the roof. They may cluck with surprise as they realise that, nestling inside the conventional palmette motif is a sculpted egg (this is the witty bit). There are even rumours of a Humpty Dumpty-themed frieze in the band that would usually be reserved for carvings of martial exploits. | It appears to admire shows of learning and wit, though these concepts appear to have a different meaning among the financial class than they do for the rest of us. As the chickens despoil the polished Forest of Dean stone floors with their droppings, they may pause to admire the Ionic columns that surround them. It's not clear why Odey chose this particular order of architecture, though it's known for its elegant simplicity, in contrast to fussy Corinthian or bulky Doric. They may glance up and catch sight of the acroterion on the roof. They may cluck with surprise as they realise that, nestling inside the conventional palmette motif is a sculpted egg (this is the witty bit). There are even rumours of a Humpty Dumpty-themed frieze in the band that would usually be reserved for carvings of martial exploits. |
| Eggs and Humpty Dumpty aside, the chicken house is straightforwardly, even boringly, classical. Call to mind that duck house again. It was an eclectic little thing, an English pastiche in the spirit of, say, Brighton's Royal Pavilion. Odey has gone instead for something much more serious, and therefore pretentious: an attempt to emulate the taste of the ancients. The building is said to have taken its cue from the Greek revivalism of Friedrich Schinkel, a very sober Prussian architect whose works include the Altes Museum in Berlin. Schinkel's projects lent timeless gravitas to a burgeoning empire by borrowing from empires of old. If Odey is making a similar bid for greatness, we must see it as an attempt to bring the spirit of the god-like hedge fund manager, with his Olympian appetite for money-making, to the Welsh borders. Atlas is never off duty. The overall effect is very 80s: the man in the suit leaning against a corner of the building in the drawing could be Peter York or Gordon Gekko. | Eggs and Humpty Dumpty aside, the chicken house is straightforwardly, even boringly, classical. Call to mind that duck house again. It was an eclectic little thing, an English pastiche in the spirit of, say, Brighton's Royal Pavilion. Odey has gone instead for something much more serious, and therefore pretentious: an attempt to emulate the taste of the ancients. The building is said to have taken its cue from the Greek revivalism of Friedrich Schinkel, a very sober Prussian architect whose works include the Altes Museum in Berlin. Schinkel's projects lent timeless gravitas to a burgeoning empire by borrowing from empires of old. If Odey is making a similar bid for greatness, we must see it as an attempt to bring the spirit of the god-like hedge fund manager, with his Olympian appetite for money-making, to the Welsh borders. Atlas is never off duty. The overall effect is very 80s: the man in the suit leaning against a corner of the building in the drawing could be Peter York or Gordon Gekko. |
| The 80s, of course, was when the modern City was created. The foundations for this chicken house were laid in 1986, with the explosive deregulation of the big bang. From that point on capital was free to flit between London and the rest of the world, with financiers pecking off their portions of ever-larger, ever-faster transactions. Conspicuous displays of wealth become inevitable when you accrue more money than you sensibly know what to do with. | The 80s, of course, was when the modern City was created. The foundations for this chicken house were laid in 1986, with the explosive deregulation of the big bang. From that point on capital was free to flit between London and the rest of the world, with financiers pecking off their portions of ever-larger, ever-faster transactions. Conspicuous displays of wealth become inevitable when you accrue more money than you sensibly know what to do with. |
| Which brings me back to why we should care what a private individual does with his or her cash. It is a question of degree, of course. There's no public interest in the well-off doctor, accountant or manager who decides to dig a swimming pool or build a treehouse. But a significant chunk of Odey's huge personal fortune was made from a series of events that proved catastrophic for the wider economy. His wealth wouldn't have been possible without the passing of laws many now dearly long to see reversed and which, arguably, have impoverished millions. In that context, what you do with it does matter. And in this particular case, there's the feeling that those who aren't as lucky as Odey are having their noses rubbed in it. We appear to exist in an age where some chickens get treated like kings while hundreds of thousands of humans live like battery hens. | Which brings me back to why we should care what a private individual does with his or her cash. It is a question of degree, of course. There's no public interest in the well-off doctor, accountant or manager who decides to dig a swimming pool or build a treehouse. But a significant chunk of Odey's huge personal fortune was made from a series of events that proved catastrophic for the wider economy. His wealth wouldn't have been possible without the passing of laws many now dearly long to see reversed and which, arguably, have impoverished millions. In that context, what you do with it does matter. And in this particular case, there's the feeling that those who aren't as lucky as Odey are having their noses rubbed in it. We appear to exist in an age where some chickens get treated like kings while hundreds of thousands of humans live like battery hens. |
| Apparently, Odey, who is "part of the old money City establishment, highly educated, conservative in taste", has said he "does not believe in crass displays of spending power". But if he can't see what's crass about his chicken house, then someone needs to have a quiet word with him. For me, at least, it's a vision of clucking hell. | Apparently, Odey, who is "part of the old money City establishment, highly educated, conservative in taste", has said he "does not believe in crass displays of spending power". But if he can't see what's crass about his chicken house, then someone needs to have a quiet word with him. For me, at least, it's a vision of clucking hell. |
| Top savings accounts | |
| Coventry BS | |
| GE Capital Direct | |
| Skipton BS | |
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