| Merrill Lynch's Euromarket Christmas party in London this year had a James Bond flavour. Was Merrill trying to say it had been shaken by Deutsche Morgan Grenfell's hiring spree this year, but not stirred from its position at the top of the league table? Or was it just giving its syndicate a licence to kill future defectors? The ThunderBond party, though lacking Martinis, tried to evoke the ambience of the Bond milieu. Black ties were in evidence as was a casino, the British secret agent's favourite way to woo women and humiliate his enemies. It was a winning formula. London syndicate supremo, David Tory, said his group had worked hard to generate ideas to beat last year's party. This was held in the Sega Centre, where guests played computer simulated head-to-head car races around a track in Daytona. On this occasion cars Aston Martins of course had to be left at the door, along with overcoats, bugging devices and Walther PPKs. The Museum of the Moving Image was the venue. Scenes of Roger Moore and Barbara Bach cavorting around Egypt in The Spy Who Loved Me played on the screens. |