The Capitalist: Tory lemonade, Mrs T the opera and Netflix’s creativity crisis
Tory lemonade, a Margaret Thatcher opera and Netflix comes out fighting: catch up on the latest gossip in this week’s edition of The Capitalist
INSIDE CCHQ
As the flow of donor funding to the Conservative Party has reportedly slowed to a trickle, one cost-cutting measure under consideration is decamping from CCHQ. Guido Fawkes reports that the lease on 4 Matthew Parker Street is up and that Nigel Farage is mulling a move into the Conservative stronghold. The symbolism of taking over the storied building may be irresistible, but The Capitalist wonders what Reform staffers will make of the leaky ceiling, the giant portrait of Margaret Thatcher in the boardroom or the fridge stocked with San Pellegrino Limonata, otherwise known as “Tory lemonade”.
THE LADY’S NOT FOR TURANDOT
And looks like the budget may be stretched again after fresh news that a Margaret Thatcher opera is to grace the London stage this year – surely an obligatory Christmas party pick for the party’s staffers. Mrs T – released to mark the centenary of her birth – will set the Iron Lady’s 11 year-tenure as Prime Minister to music (The Prayer of St Francis of Assisi certainly seems ripe for a riff), with the libretto to be written by celebrated historian and podcast host Dominic Sandbrook.
While billed as “the first ever opera of Thatcher”, close followers of Mrs T’s career (The Guardian) have been quick to point out this is actualllly not entirely accurate, with her having also featured in the 2013 Aliados, an opera partially funded by the French government. And, of course, it’s by no means the Iron Lady’s stage debut. Her looming presence in Billy Elliot – which involves a giant paper mache version of her puppeteering over the set as the cast sing “we all celebrate today ‘cause it’s one day closer to your death” – notably threw up quite the controversy during its 2013 run.
The Capitalist hopes Sandbrook’s depiction may be more nuanced. The historian himself has said he is hoping “people who are great supporters and people who are fierce critics and lots of people who have no opinion whatsoever will enjoy this work”. Seems to us that people who have ‘no opinion whatsoever’ on the Iron Lady are few and far between. We look forward to curtains up.
NETFLIX AND GRILLING
While you may have been Netflix and chilling, The Capitalist was hard at work gossip-gathering (you’re welcome) at a (rather fabulous) party hosted by the streamer at the Picturehouse Central last week. The event, remotely hosted by Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria from LA, offered a glimpse into the network’s biggest upcoming shows for 2025. Responding to recent discourse that creativity seems to be dead – the top 10 grossing films in the US in 2024 were all sequels and prequels – Bajaria offered a robust defence, before announcing the streamer’s most anticipated releases of 2025: Squid Game series 2, Stranger Things season 5 and a new film dramatisation of a little known story called Frankenstein.
Notably absent was any mention of the streamer’s upcoming cooking show hosted by the Duchess of Sussex, amid speculation Netflix was considering dropping its £80m deal with the royal couple. Ms Bajaria stood firm this week, however, telling The Mail on Tuesday she was “really excited” about Megan’s new cooking show, which she said “has really easy great takeaways on life”. What kind of wisdom could that be? She went on: “It really has great takeaways. I was like ‘oh my God, I want to really do that pasta.'” Should be a hit, we’re sure.
KEEP A CIVIL TONGUE
It always seems that senior civil servants – people who have spent their life working for the public sector – have no trouble moving into lucrative consulting and advisory roles in the private sector when the mood takes them, and yet it remains rare to hear of experienced private sector professionals moving into Whitehall. The Capitalist heard recently of a highly successful entrepreneur and investor who felt the time had come to “give something back” and so applied for a Civil Service role – one for which they were eminently qualified. After a Kafkaesque process the would-be public servant was spat out the other end with a curt “no thanks”. Apparently the reason given was “unrealistic salary expectations” – which is odd, because they said they’d do it for free. It seems in the Civil Service, that really is unrealistic.