Transparent.
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Diary once had a brief encounter with the actor Hugh Grant.
His response to this column’s polite request for his thoughts on the Leveson Inquiry report on press ethics was: “What I’d really like is for you to go away.”
So one hopes he is more amenable in his latest role – as the judge for a new competition, backed by Zac Goldsmith MP, to make a video protesting against a third runway at Heathrow.
Diary’s film pilot is already in the can. With apologies to romcom king Richard Curtis, it’s called Three London Airports and a Crash Landing.
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The grave geopolitical events in Ukraine have had an unforeseen consequence closer to home.
The Russian-themed charity May Ball at the well-heeled Dulwich College in south east London – or Londongrad, as it is perhaps called by the Russian contingent at parents’ meetings – has been quietly cancelled.
Aeroflot, the Russian airline, was waiting in the wings as one of the sponsors of the lavish party, according to The Economist magazine. But it seems organisers felt the sight of wealthy international Londoners dressed as babushkas and Cossacks would be inappropriate as the Crimea crisis continues.
Perhaps the president Putin costumes will come out next year.
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Uncomfortable reading yesterday for Aldermanic Sheriff Sir Paul Judge, the former director of ENRC, as details of his alleged leaks to the media while at the colourful Kazakh miner emerged in the press.
On the same day, his wife, Lady Barbara Judge, stood down as a non-executive director of Nationwide Accident Repair Services, which specialises in car crashes.
No explanation was given. Coincidence?
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Bankers pitching for IPO fees should trying using some of the put-downs from the fictional pub landlord, Al Murray.
Diary hears that Just Eat’s CEO, David Buttress, picked his advisers for the takeaway company’s upcoming listing by using the “beer test” – whether the bankers had the banter to make sure they’d all get along.
Happy hours indeed.
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harriet.dennys@telegraph.co.uk

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