Stephen Fry's Key to the City Page #5

I'm a cyber underwriter. The latest

statistics were

the cyber crime market generates

more revenue for the criminals

than the drug trafficking market

worldwide.

- It's pretty scary stuff.

- Good Lord!

And we wouldn't insure anyone who

wasn't investing enough

into their IT security.

Saying that, if a hacker really

wants to get in,

and they're good, they likelihood is

they will

so that's the risk we take on.

It's not just personal data that's

a target; it's corporate

confidential data.

It's mergers and acquisitions

information.

Erm...it is medical research data.

So they are all under attack.

I had to find a space to check my

own cyber security.

What the...?

Hello!

Hi, I'm Stephen.

What's your name? Yeah. What is your

name?

I'll... I'll see you up top.

Can I film you?

Fabulous.

Hi, guys.

The 42 storeys of Tower 42 house the

UK headquarters of over 60 companies,

a good 20 of which are major players

in the finance industry.

Jimmy Lawrence has been cleaning

windows here for three years.

How do you discover you are the kind

of person who can do this

without screaming in agony and fear?

- I dunno really, to be honest.

- You just try it out? - Give it a go.

- Don't look down.

- (LAUGHS)

Presumably, you have to do this all

the time.

Yeah. It's constant all year round.

- Like painting the Forth Bridge?

- That's it. Warm water.

Just a bucket and a squeegee. The

old-fashioned way.

- Tie it to your wrists so nothing

falls off. - You must look in

and see people who not only get paid

in the millions,

they get paid millions in bonuses.

Does that make you think

"What the hell?"

It does a bit, yeah. Considering

they're nice and warm and...

- Exactly. - We're the ones doing all the

hard graft, yeah.

Up here, I'm feeling a bit queasy.

A feeling many people share about

the financial steadiness of the city.

- Every day, my heart would skip.

- Look down once, you'll be all right.

Look. You're safe. You're not going

nowhere.

I know I'm safe now but sometimes

where there's a gust of wind.

If the City is the honey pot of the

UK,

right at its heart, as it happens on

the roof of the Lord Mayor's

residence,

some workers are very buss-sy!

I dare a bee to get into me.

Actually, I shouldn't say that!

I'm on the roof of Mansion House.

All I can see there is the Bank of

England and the top of the Gherkin.

I'm right in the most urban

environment.

We've probably got a population of

about 30,000 in here.

30,000?!

About half of which would be

out working. Half will be in here.

- Slow and straight vertically up to

eye level. - Up to eye level.

Holey moley!

I must not drop you.

I won't. You're blowing bees at me.

- I'm blowing bees at you. Excuse me,

bees. - Don't use your FINGER!

If you just brush them out of

the way.

You really are brave.

- You can then just see... - Oh, there

is honey. I can see it glistening.

- It's beautiful. Gee whizz.

- There's the little waggle dance.

- Goodness me. - Now, this lady here is

vibrating.

And this is the waggle dance.

The famous waggle dance and what is

it communicating?

- Is it communicating a good source of

honey? - Yes.

The angle in which they are waggling

is the angle in which the other bees

need to navigate

in relation to the sun.

Where on earth to the bees go

and how can they survive in such an

alien environment?

First of all, bees will travel a

long distance to get what they need.

- They'll go three miles. - Oh, right.

Maybe five at pinch. But three.

So if you're a banker and you're

watching

and you're not in a tower block and

you've got a window sill,

jolly well put up some flowers

cos we've got some hungry bees here.

Hungry bees aren't the only ones

relying on bankers to help

them survive.

I need to get something off my

chest.

So I find a city grandee.

Former Lord Mayor and Chairman of

Lloyds Insurance,

Lord Levene, now runs an investment

bank.

It's an extraordinary institution.

The further I try and penetrate its

mystery,

the darker and deeper it sometimes

seems.

But let's face it... We live in a

time when probably

the words 'banker' 'hedgefunder' and

'derivative'

the word 'short seller'. All these

phrases most people don't understand.

I count myself as one of those.

What we do think is these words are

contaminated

and that, in fact, the City itself

is contaminated.

- To make rich people richer.

- That's one interpretation. - I know.

- But it's a common one. - There are

millions and millions

of customers of banks who use them

in a perfectly normal way.

There are hundreds of thousands of

people who work in banks

who don't get paid any more than the

average of the rest of the country.

It's very easy to pick out those who

got it wrong.

Those who did things that were

really bad.

There is very little remorse amongst

the top echelon of bankers.

When you hear them talking on the

radio, they don't seem...

Well, it depends who you talk to.

I mean, it's very easy to

characterise people.

Did a number of people do a lot of

stupid and greedy things? Yes.

Are there mechanisms in place that

will stop it from happening again?

Stephen, you will never have a

perfect system.

Anybody who answers yes to that

question will know that somehow

it'll get disproved but it is very

different nowadays.

Which country has got it right?

Which system is right?

The answer is that everybody is

trying.

They're trying different methods

and it's very tough at the moment.

The city is a controversial place

that everyone, including me,

wags their finger at but the thing

that drew me to the City

in the first place, is the apparent

contrast

between the cutting edges of modern

existence

and the roots in ancient ritual.

My final engagement is to accept an

invitation

from one of the most striking

examples of that contrast -

a City livery company.

So, time for a quick change in the

gents at the Mansion House.

The Society of Apothecaries have

invited me to dinner

and when they have dinner,

they don't wear black tie. No, siree.

They have white tie. And that means

a waistcoat

which I've got to get the right way

on.

Which is like... Hang on. Hang on.

Come on, Stephen. You're not that

stupid.

That's the front. That's the back.

So... OK. Oh, I see.

I sort of step into it.

Put that over me there.

Put my arm in like so. Hang on. That

can't be right.

There we go. Ta-da!

And then I do it up.

I think I may be faced with

the humiliation of having to loosen

the elastic at the back because of

my enormous gut.

I'm putting on my top hat,

tying up my white tie and dancing in

my tails.

Erm...there we are. I mean, look at

that.

That is all wrong.

Look at you. I didn't know you had

one of those bibs as well.

- I'll have to shake your hand. - Good to

see you. Like my doily?

That's fantastic.

Even in white tie, I'm feeling a

little underdressed.

I'm joining the mayoral party in all

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