Drugs fuel the City's high [View All]

For a brief moment at the end of 2008, it seemed like real change was in the air for the financial sector. Public anger mixed with senior bankers' contrition to form a heady concoction of introspection and remorse within the Square Mile, and the brow-beating lasted as long as the market kept falling.

But, as every good trader knows, nothing goes down in a straight line, and once the bear market ended and the new bull rally began in earnest, suddenly the self-flagellation didn't seem to fit any more and the carnival atmosphere returned to the City streets.

Bonuses are back, firms are hiring rather than firing once again and the fear and loathing felt by the public towards the world of high finance seems to have dissipated almost as fast as it had appeared. The credit crisis is, for now, yesterday's news – and a quick glance at the nocturnal activities in the Square Mile confirms the going is good once more.

spoke this week to an acquaintance of mine who has been selling class A drugs to City workers for years: if anyone's trade is a good barometer for testing the state of market players' finances and feel-good factor then it is his. He says he's never had it so good – traders and bankers are flocking to him in droves to score their coke and pick up their pills, and from his dealer's-eye view, the City is back to partying like it's 1999. Both inside and outside the Square Mile, it looks like business as usual once more – and so it will continue unabated till the next time the walls come crashing down.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/18/drugs-city-bankers