Tina Turner’s life has been well documented first in her autobiography I, Tina and then in the film What’s Love Got To Do With It with Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to audiences that this fiercely talented singer endured years of brutal beatings from her husband Ike Turner. This violence is central yet again to Tina Turner’s story in this production, turning what could be a rags to riches, typical jukebox musical into a study of domestic abuse. Of course, we know that she will triumph and go on to record her Private Dancer album, become even more successful without Ike and will eventually find happiness, but the journey that takes her there is a difficult one to watch.
Katori Hall’s script has a lot of ground to cover, so doesn’t have much time to delve into any depth or ask too many questions of its protagonist. We first see Tina waiting to go on stage in Brazil in 1988, calmly chanting Buddhist prayers while a huge audience screams in anticipation. We then jump to the beginning of the story, an outdoor prayer meeting in Nutbush, Tennessee, where little Anna Mae Bullock is told off by her mother, Zelma, for singing too boisterously and showing off. Zelma is reprimanded for her criticism by her husband, Richard, the preacher, who hits her in front of the children, a foreshadowing of Tina’s life to come. Zelma soon takes off with younger daughter Alline to St Louis and Anna Mae is left in the care of her grandmother, a kind woman who encourages her. At sixteen, she joins her mother and sister in St Louis and almost immediately meets Ike Turner at a club, who insists that she join his band and charms her mother into letting her, promising that Anna Mae will be well paid and will send money home. He also promises to take care of her, but the early signs are not good. He loses his temper with everyone around him, showing a narcissistic, bullying personality, threatening fellow band members as well as the singers. Nevertheless, Tina joins him and is soon made the lead singer. Although she falls in love with saxophonist Ray, and has a child by him, Ike renames her Tina Turner and pretends that they are married for the sake of their band, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Two years later they do marry, despite Ike beating up both her and Ray, and what follows is years of abuse as well as many hit records.
What is glossed over is why Tina stayed all those years with Ike, who was a drug addict and philanderer. We see plenty of scenes of violence but never any love so it makes her look like an unquestioning victim, perhaps because she considered it normal for a man to beat his wife, as she saw in her childhood. Only after her suicide attempt does she eventually decide to stand up to Ike, fighting back and then escaping from him on the spur of the moment, while they are on tour.
Act Two sees Tina now left with no money, a single mum struggling to support two sons by doing Las Vegas shows, and follows her slow rise back to the top of the charts with the help of a new manager and a fortuitous collaboration in London. Along the way, she also finds love with Erwin Bach, a German music producer who is seventeen years younger than her. The rest is history.
Although Tina Turner’s life story is bleak, it is clear that what kept her going was the music and there is plenty of it in this production. The songs
are cleverly interwoven into the story, starting with Nutbush City Limits sung as a hymn by the outdoor church to Gran Georgeanna singing Don’t Turn Around as she sends young Anna Mae off to St Louis, to Let’s Stay Together sung by Ray in one of the rare tender moments.
The music really takes off though when performed by the astounding Adrienne Warren who perfectly embodies Tina Turner; despite not sounding or looking like her, she has Turner’s unbounded energy, strength and size. Her magnificent voice soars in every number. The scene where Phil Spectre is recording the iconic River Deep, Mountain High with Turner, making her do it repeatedly until she gives it her all, is particularly memorable. American actress Warren also captures Turner’s mesmerising stage persona, from the highly energetic, verging on manic dance moves of Proud Mary to the smiling powerhouse of Simply the Best. In addition, she has to age from sixteen to forty- nine, which is no mean feat, even though Tina Turner has always looked remarkably young.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, a fine actor who has worked frequently in theatre, including playing Laertes to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet, has the unenviable task of playing the unrelenting villain of the piece, Ike Turner. He plays it absolutely straight in an unyielding performance that doesn’t ask for sympathy, but unfortunately the script gives him little opportunity to show what first attracted Tina to Ike and what kept her with him for sixteen long years of abuse. He is, without a doubt, a powerful presence, however, and we do sense his resentment at never being recognised as the rock and roll renegade he was. He shapes and forms young Anna Mae into the iconic Tina Turner but cannot control his anger and brutal temper, lashing out at all around him.
Madeleine Appiah as Zelma Bullock, Lorna Gayle as Gran Georgeanna and Francesca Jackson as Rhonda Graam, Ike’s road manager and later Tina’s close friend and personal assistant, all turn in excellent performances. Mention must also be made of the actresses playing the Ikettes, the original back-up singers, who perform with as much gusto as Tina.
This is a musical with heart, showing the bravery, fearlessness and extraordinary talent of Tina Turner, faced with not only an abusive husband but with racism, ageism and sexism from white executives in the music industry. However, it never takes a closer look into the mind of a woman who would endure such abuse for sixteen years, while still asking the audience to witness repeatedly such scenes of violence. It is an uncomfortable story to watch, alleviated by full throttle performances of Tina Turner’s greatest hits by the incredible Adrianne Warren. Although the musical is hard-hitting, it didn’t seem to bother most audience members who happily stood up and danced and sang along to the obligatory end of show numbers including Proud Mary. As Tina Turner had a hand in presenting this version of her life, we have to assume this is what she wants the world to see, that she will not be beaten into submission by anyone and in the end, we just have to keep singing.
Consent, a new play by Nina Raine which premiered at the National Theatre last year, is a biting dark comedy about what lies underneath and in between the lies that people tell each other and themselves. As the play opens, we see Kitty and Ed celebrating their move to a new house and the birth of their baby with another couple, Rachel and Jake. As the friends, three of whom are lawyers, loudly discuss the various rape and criminal cases they are trying, while holding a real baby, we sense that this play is not going to be an easy ride. Although each character is interesting, intelligent and funny, they are not particularly likeable and are incredibly privileged. As soon as Jake and Rachel have departed, Kitty and Ed surmise that something is wrong in their friends’ marriage. Sure enough, the next time we
see the group of friends gathered together, this time with Tim, a prosecutor and Zara, an actress they are trying to match him up with, Rachel is absent. It is soon revealed that she has thrown out Jake as she suspects him of having an affair, which he denies wholeheartedly to everyone who will listen, until he eventually confesses to many dalliances, saying it kept the marriage alive. As Ed and Kitty try to intervene, they find themselves taking opposite sides along gender lines. Kitty is aghast when Rachel eventually takes Jake back, a reunion orchestrated by Ed. Meantime, cracks in their own marriage start to show: in a scene where Tim and Ed are helping Zara to research a role, Tim censures Ed for flirting with Zara. He denies it and in turn accuses Tim of being attracted to Kitty. The real problem, however, is Kitty can never forgive Ed for an affair he had five years ago.
Interspersed with all this is a rape case that is being tried with Tim as the prosecutor and Ed defending the accused, whom we never see, witnessing only his harsh cross examination of the victim, Gayle. She keeps trying to tell them what happened but is told to stick to her original statement and finds herself torn apart by brutal questioning about her drinking and sexual history. We never do hear the whole story and it never seems important to the lawyers involved, even when a distraught Gayle turns up at their New Year celebrations, asking why her personal history was ripped apart and examined while her rapist’s was left untouched. For these lawyers, it is just one more horrible trial to get through. As the play goes on, and we see Ed continually putting the rules of the law above all else and dismissing emotional involvement, we understand when Kitty blows up at him for having no empathy. She says that he spends his life lying, defending criminals and rapists and it’s turned him into an unfeeling, heartless person. Later on, we see quite a different side to Ed as Kitty decides to exact her revenge so that he will know what it feels like to be cheated on. His rage and tears are the stuff of Greek tragedy, earlier referenced by Zara doing a production of Medea.
What follows next brings up yet again the question of consent as Kitty accuses Ed of rape and surprisingly Jake, who earlier had his own wailing and gnashing of teeth, takes her side while his wife sympathises with Ed.
This is a complicated play with complex,
familiar characters. Ed is the sort of person who just always has to be right, no matter what the consequences. Jake is no better and both of them seem to belong to a club where their own self-belief outweighs any ethical code. They freely lie, philander and demean others and are shocked when they are caught out and punished. Tim at first appears very different to them, a kind man whom Zara initially dismisses as probably “gay” and “a bit victim-y” before eventually getting into a relationship with him. Compared to the bombastic, aggressive masculinity of Ed and Jake, he seems gentle and thoughtful. However, we question his motives in having an affair with Kitty; does he really love her or is it revenge on the bullying Ed? The women in these couples are no mere helpless victims and display as much rage and fury as the men. Kitty, who is probably the most sympathetic, hurls a kettle at Ed as she accuses him of having no empathy, a clever reference to Tim’s earlier story of a kettle flying across the room in his poltergeist haunted flat.
There is a nice balance of humour undercutting tragedy throughout the play. As the emotionally out of control Ed weeps with fury at Kitty’s betrayal, he says he hasn’t cried that much since prep school. When Jake thinks he is unjustly thrown out by Rachel, he says he is “basically being bullied”. These men are ridiculous at times and don’t seem to be aware of it, despite their extreme intelligence.
The cast are uniformly superb as is Roger Michel’s direction. Adam James as Jake and Stephen Campbell Moore as Ed, perfectly embody their entitled, self-righteous lawyer characters who also show a tender side as they are first seen holding a tiny, actual baby in the first scene. These are men who will fight to the death for their children, the only way they know how to show real love. Claudie Blakley is excellent as the dissatisfied and occasionally fierce Kitty, the only one who seems to have any morals until she decides to give Ed a taste of his own medicine. Equally good are Lee Ingleby as the awkward Tim, Sian Clifford as Rachel, Clare Foster as Zara and Heather Craney as Gayle.
This play will provoke much conversation and leave people debating the many issues raised as well as the controversial ending. It’s a disturbing yet entertaining and satisfying evening at the theatre. Consent is one of the best new plays I have seen in a very long time.
Top image: Claudie Blakley (Kitty) and Stephen Campbell Moore (Ed). Consent at the Harold Pinter Theatre. Photographer credit Johan Persson
Bottom image: Clare Foster (Zara) and Claudie Blakley (Kitty) - Consent at the Harold Pinter Theatre - Photographer credit Johan Persson.
On 1st June, the team behind Chewton Glen, Lygon Arms, Cliveden and 11 Cadogan Gardens, opened brand-new neighbourhood restaurant, Hans’ Bar & Grill on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road.
Located just a stone’s throw from Chelsea’s bustling Sloane Square, Hans’ Bar & Grill offers an oasis of calm, nestled amongst the artisanal shops and food suppliers of the picturesque street. Head Chef Adam England (previously of Le Pont de la Tour) has created an all-day seasonal menu, rooted in British produce and underpinned by his classical cookery skills, from his signature Duck Breast, to Confit salmon, goats curd and cucumber, and his own take on a classic Veal Carpaccio. Taking inspiration from the namesake of the restaurant Hans Sloane, who was credited with bringing cocoa to the UK, chocolate desserts and signature hot chocolate drinks will also take centre stage.
For early risers and weekend shoppers alike, Adam and his team have also created a breakfast and brunch menu, available every day from 7am until midday, featuring favourites such as Eggs benedict and Steak tartare alongside fresh-pressed juices and smoothies.
Housed behind one of Pavilion Road’s charming mews facades, Hans’ Bar and Grill has been designed by Goddard Littlefair. Upon entrance to the 106-seat restaurant, guests will be met by a bright and airy space featuring white fluted timber walls offset with original yellow-stock brick, a pale oak parquet floor and sky light windows. Throughout the restaurant, combines dark green banquettes and bespoke velvet chairs alongside white marble and black oak topped tables, with brass detailing and feature lights, giving a Contemporary-classic feel. The intimate 20 seat bar features a unique drinks selection, whilst a private dining room, ‘The Curio’, inspired by Sloane’s love of adventure and discovery, has capacity to seat a further 16 guests.
Restaurant General Manager, Simon Smith (previously of Berners Tavern and Hakkasan) oversees the wine list which features over 195 BINS with a focus on unique and quirky bottles from around the world, whilst a concise list of classic cocktails designed by Salvatore Damiano, and using British spirits, ncludes a twist on a Gin Sour and the British Mule.
“We are thrilled to be joining the Pavilion Road family and are proud of the heritage that our location inspires. I’m passionate about ingredients and fresh produce so having such great artisanal and family-run shops on our doorstep is a huge bonus for me” says Head Chef Adam England. “We want Hans’ Bar & Grill to be a real neighbourhood spot - a place people feel just as comfortable popping in for a drink and a salad for lunch, or for a special occasion with friends” adds Restaurant General Manager Simon Smith.
With the summer season nearly upon us, we thought we would introduce you to some of the partners we have worked with over the years, who will be able to help you, your friends, family and/or colleagues with any accommodation solutions. We are delighted to offer a range of residences including Four Seasons Hotel London at Ten Trinity Square, Residence Inn London Kensington, Your Apartment and Premier Suites.
FOUR SEASONS HOTEL LONDON AT TRINITY SQUARE IS PLEASED TO OFFER TEN NEW LUXURY RESIDENCES, PERFECT FOR AN EXTENDED HOLIDAY OR SHORT-TERM RENTAL STAY IN LONDON
Set in the heart of the City of London, just 20 minutes from City Airport and within easy access of underground and rail networks, Ten Trinity Square is a prime location for business or leisure. The residences feature open-plan living areas, dining rooms, fully equipped kitchens and up to four bedrooms, with standout accommodations offering extensive private terraces with stunning views overlooking the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
Located between the third and seventh floors of Ten Trinity Square, the spacious and well-appointed residences offer all the comfort and convenience of the Four Seasons Hotel, with the added privacy of a dedicated entrance. As a guest of the residences, you’ll enjoy full access to the five-star services and facilities including Michelin starred French restaurant La Dame de Pic London, Asian restaurant Mei Ume and the Rotunda Bar and Lounge; the setting for the Hotel's traditional afternoon tea. Other services include in-room dining, concierge, a luxurious spa with state-of-the-art fitness centre and indoor pool, Gielly Green Hair Salon and elegant event spaces. You will also be eligible for exclusive access to the Ten Trinity Square Private Club for the duration of your stay. The members-only venue offers a variety of spaces for meetings or social gatherings as well as several dining options, a Chateau Latour tasting room, members’ bar and cigar sampling lounge.
RESIDENCE INN LONDON KENSINGTON - OPENING SUMMER 2018
Located in one of London’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, the capital’s newest and Europe’s largest Residence Inn will start welcoming guests this July.
Conveniently located between West Kensington and Earl’s Court tube stations, with many of the city’s iconic sites and visitor attractions on our doorstep, the Residence Inn London - Kensington provides the ideal base to explore London. From the shopping Meccas of Harrods and High Street Kensington to the cultural delights of the V&A Museum and Kensington Palace, the capital’s most popular cultural attractions are all within easy reach.
And for those travelling on business, we’re just a 10-minute walk from the Kensington Olympic Exhibition Centre and an easy tube journey into the City. However, with free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel plus a 24-hour business centre and weekly after-work mingling through our Residence Inn Mix socials, we make it easy to stay connected.
Whether you’re looking to stay for a couple of nights or want somewhere to call home for a few weeks, we offer a genuine ‘home-from-home’ experience and warm hospitality. All our fully-equipped suites provide more space than a standard hotel room, with a separate bedroom and living area with work space, fully-equipped kitchen plus complimentary hot breakfast. What’s more, with our state-of-the-art gym, cocktail bar, games room, free Wi-Fi, communal laundry facilities and a 24/7 Grab ‘n Go market in the lobby, you can rely on us to help you maximise your stay in London.
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The question I currently find myself asked most frequently is: Should I sell US equities? It is a very good question, but in isolation its answer is insufficient to lead to an investment decision. Many investors agree that US equities are expensive and because of this believe the allocation should be reduced versus the strategic target. From a valuation point of view this is a good idea, as by most measures, such as the Price to Book ratio (P/B) or the Shiller Price to Earnings ratio (also called CAPE = cyclically adjusted P/E), US equities versus their own history have reached lofty valuation levels. At the same time, many investors overlook critical questions such as:
1. Should information beyond US equity
valuations be considered?
2. How can tactical asset allocation insights
like US equity valuations best be utilised in a
portfolio context?
Before we address each of these questions, let’s revisit the basic facts on asset allocation. Asset allocation is broadly understood as the exercise of allocating between different asset classes, such as bonds versus equities, and different market segments, such as UK bonds versus Eurobonds. Holding any asset allocation for a long period is called Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA). SAA has a huge impact on the return outcome as well as the return variability, also known as volatility. A famous study by Brinson, Hood and Beebower(1) examines determinants of portfolio performance and its volatility. The key point to take away is that SAA on average determines over 90% of the return volatility. This is demonstrated in the following graph.
Corresponding results have since been confirmed by similar studies as Brinson et al(2). A study by Ibbotson and Kaplan into the impact of SAA on the return level(3), shows that empirically SAA was on average responsible for 100% of the return level outcome.
Nowadays more and more investors focus their investment efforts on SAA and implement it with cheap, passive index tracking products. That is a very good starting point but should investors stop there?
Both market timing and security selection represent active investment management. Market timing represents short term, Tactical Asset Allocation (TAA) decisions, like temporarily underweighting US equities versus the strategic US equity allocation. Security selection keeps the strategic US equity allocation but varies the weights of individual US stocks within the allocation to US equities.
TAA is traditionally implemented by tilting portfolios away from strategic weights during any year. This creates relative risk (tracking error) but also potential outperformance (excess return) versus the SAA portfolio. The relationship of both variables, excess return over tracking error, is measured by the information ratio, and the aim of TAA is for the information ratio to be positive. A 10% underweight creates a much higher tracking error than a 2% underweight but if the same good idea is applied (the same information ratio), there is potential for higher outperformance. Therefore, investors are required to have a very clear idea about how much tracking error they can withstand when
markets don’t behave as predicted and that TAA generates significant underperformance versus a pure SAA portfolio.
Sizing an under- or overweight portfolio can have further implications on the absolute level of risk. For example, if an investor doesn’t like bonds versus equities because of low yield, should they reduce bonds from 50% strategically to 25% tactically? Alternatively, should the investor go all the way and not allocate to bonds at all; in other words switch to 100% equity? The latter will cause a far less diversified and much riskier portfolio. The following graph shows a 50/50 combination of two hypothetical assets, which both have a Sharpe ratio of 0.5 and a volatility of 10%(4): It illustrates a Sharpe ratio deterioration for tilting or switching, which is also larger for portfolios with more diversified assets or strategies (Fig. 2 lower correlations, left).
Therefore, a portfolio including TAA faces an uphill battle just to match the Sharpe Ratio investors would expect from it if no TAA would be attempted.
Let’s now look at using valuations in TAA decision making. In my opinion it is an absolute necessity to consider valuations. However, looking only at valuations can be equally as disastrous. For instance, some of you may remember the ‘TMT bubble’ at the turn of the century.
The below graph displays the Shiller P/E for US equities for the period of January 1881 to November 20175. In December 1995 US equities reached a Shiller P/E level over 25, well above the average level of about 15, which any investor could have calculated from all the data history between 1881 and 1995. 25 was also a level achieved only twice before in a period longer than 100 years. (Fig. 3, below)
Unsurprisingly in 1995 some investors believed that US equities were expensive and therefore started reducing their allocations to US equities. Unfortunately, in the following four years these investors had to experience significant performance headwind as valuation levels climbed even further!
After reading all of this, how excited are you about TAA? Most likely not a great deal. Nonetheless, I suggest to pursue it but in a very different, modern way that until now has predominantly been utilised by sophisticated, institutional investors. It involves the following: (Fig. 4).
Modern TAA combines many characteristics that all serve the main objective: to create positive risk-adjusted returns in most market environments. Firstly, modern TAA strategies are much more diversified. Gone are the days where a manager just shifts money between a few major equity markets or simply allocates between US equities, US bonds and US cash. Nowadays, TAA strategies explore global equity markets in much greater detail as they trade on country or regional equity indices from around the world, including liquid emerging markets. In bonds, futures on different parts of a yield curve are traded. Some strategies even explore credit spreads. Modern TAA strategies additionally allocate between different commodities, from energy contracts to agricultural, precious and industrial metals. They also pursue investment decisions between currency pairs, sometimes including currencies from emerging market countries. Some TAA strategies even trade volatility. In summary, modern TAA strategies have many options in which to invest.
Fig. 4:
Traditional
Modern
Long-only
Long/short
Unleveraged
Leveraged
Physical Implementation
Derivative Implementation
Valuation-driven
Multi-factor
Main Developed Markets
Includes Emerging Markets
Cash/Sovereign Bonds/Equity
Includes Currencie & Commodoties
All these investments are pursued using derivatives. What sounds scary to an investor who has little or no experience with derivatives, is music to the ears of sophisticated, institutional investors around
the world. Most of those derivatives have been used by investors for decades and many of them are standardised instruments traded on exchanges. They bring substantial cost advantages, as liquidity in most derivatives is very deep, sometimes even deeper than the physical market they are linked to. The crucial advantage here is that trading costs are relatively low, which in turn allows a manager to trade more frequently. Derivative usage also allows TAA investors to ‘short’ a market. This means that if the investment thesis is that the price will fall, establishing a short position makes it possible to turn such an idea into a profitable strategy. With shorting you can therefore significantly increase the number of ideas a manager can implement.
Now let’s talk about leverage. While leverage can often be a polarising topic, we believe there is a strong case for allowing it to achieve superior risk management. If an investor wants to have a noticeable impact on overall portfolio returns, modern TAA strategies would need very significant portfolio allocations, if those strategies would only target a small amount of risk. However, if modern TAA strategies can target a high
amount of risk, investors allocating to them achieve a much greater degree of capital efficiency, as they can make much smaller allocations and nonetheless achieve the desired level of risk-adjusted return impact. Without leverage, that desired high level of risk could only be achieved by taking on much more equity risk than let’s say interest rate risk. With leverage, however, this objective can also be achieved but with exposing the portfolio to a high concentration of equity risk. Instead, modern TAA strategies can balance out the different risks they decide to hold in their portfolios.
Lastly, modern TAA strategies don’t focus all their attention on valuations any longer. Instead, they are multi-factor strategies that also seek to benefit from momentum, quality and/or low risk as well as carry concepts.
Below an explanation for each idea:
• Value – The tendency for relatively cheap
assets to outperform relatively expensive ones
• Momentum – The tendency for an asset’s recent relative performance to continue in
the future
• Carry – The tendency for higher-yielding
assets to provide higher returns than lower-
yield assets
• Quality, Low Volatility – The tendency
for lower risk and higher-quality assets to generate higher risk-adjusted returns than high risk and low quality assets.
Going into more detail on each of these may be a topic for future articles. At this stage, it is critical to understand that a multi-factor approach is introducing an additional layer of diversification beyond the typical asset class dimension. This makes the return stream from modern TAA strategies even more robust.
Modern TAA strategies are a real improvement versus TAA strategies most people so far have had experience with. Still, no investment strategy can claim to be the ‘Holy Grail’ of investing as each strategy will undoubtedly have patches of negative performance and what is ‘state of the art’ knowledge today might not be tomorrow - modern TAA strategies are no exception. At this stage, however, I am confident that some of these institutional style, sophisticated strategies stand a decent chance to improve the odds of long-term positive returns of investors.
Sources
1 Brinson, G., Hood, R., and Beebower, G., (1986) “Determi- nants of Portfolio Performance”, Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 42, No. 4, pp 39-44.
2 Brinson, G., Singer, B., and Beebower G., (1991) “Determi- nants of Portfolio Performance II: An Update”, Financial Analyst Journal, vol. 47, No. 3, pp 40-48
3 Ibbotson, R., Kaplan, P., (2000) “Does Asset Allocation Policy Explain 40, 90, or 100 Percent of Performance?”, Financial Analysts Journal, Vol. 56, No. 1:26-33
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Helge Kostka, Chief Investment Officer Prior to joining MASECO Private Wealth, Helge helped to establish and grow the presence of Research Affiliates in Europe over the last 4 years. He began his career at Deutsche Bank in 1995, serving in a number of investment roles, including as head of qualitative alpha selection and
head of portfolio engineering. Helge started at Aviva Investors in 2009, initially heading up the product specialist team in the areas of investment solutions, equity, and multi-asset and later establishing the respective product management function.
Helge holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and accounting from Hogeschool, Utrecht, the Netherlands, and a Diplom Betriebswirt from Fachhochschule für Oekonomie und Management in Essen, Germany. Helge also graduated with an Executive MSc in risk management and investment management from EDHEC-Risk Institute.
Helge is considered an expert in Smart Beta and quantitative investing, and has spoken at various conferences around the globe. Having worked with HNW individuals as well as large institutions in different jurisdictions, his rich experience allows him to bring institutional investment practises into the private client world.
In 2016 the Financial Analysts Journal (FAJ) published Helge’s co-authored research around factor and smart beta exposures. In March 2017 CFA Institute named Helge and two co-authors as the winners of the 2016 Graham and Dodd Award of Excellence via CFA Institute; it is the first time that a Chief Investment Officer at a UK Private Wealth Management firm has received such honour.
Tina Turner’s life has been well documented first in her autobiography I, Tina and then in the film What’s Love Got To Do With It with Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne. Therefore, it should come as no surprise to audiences that this fiercely talented singer endured years of brutal beatings from her husband Ike Turner. This violence is central yet again to Tina Turner’s story in this production, turning what could be a rags to riches, typical jukebox musical into a study of domestic abuse. Of course, we know that she will triumph and go on to record her Private Dancer album, become even more successful without Ike and will eventually find happiness, but the journey that takes her there is a difficult one to watch.
The music really takes off though when performed by the astounding Adrienne Warren who perfectly embodies Tina Turner; despite not sounding or looking like her, she has Turner’s unbounded energy, strength and size. Her magnificent voice soars in every number. The scene where Phil Spectre is recording the iconic River Deep, Mountain High with Turner, making her do it repeatedly until she gives it her all, is particularly memorable. American actress Warren also captures Turner’s mesmerising stage persona, from the highly energetic, verging on manic dance moves of Proud Mary to the smiling powerhouse of Simply the Best. In addition, she has to age from sixteen to forty- nine, which is no mean feat, even though Tina Turner has always looked remarkably young.
Consent, a new play by Nina Raine which premiered at the National Theatre last year, is a biting dark comedy about what lies underneath and in between the lies that people tell each other and themselves. As the play opens, we see Kitty and Ed celebrating their move to a new house and the birth of their baby with another couple, Rachel and Jake. As the friends, three of whom are lawyers, loudly discuss the various rape and criminal cases they are trying, while holding a real baby, we sense that this play is not going to be an easy ride. Although each character is interesting, intelligent and funny, they are not particularly likeable and are incredibly privileged. As soon as Jake and Rachel have departed, Kitty and Ed surmise that something is wrong in their friends’ marriage. Sure enough, the next time we
see the group of friends gathered together, this time with Tim, a prosecutor and Zara, an actress they are trying to match him up with, Rachel is absent. It is soon revealed that she has thrown out Jake as she suspects him of having an affair, which he denies wholeheartedly to everyone who will listen, until he eventually confesses to many dalliances, saying it kept the marriage alive. As Ed and Kitty try to intervene, they find themselves taking opposite sides along gender lines. Kitty is aghast when Rachel eventually takes Jake back, a reunion orchestrated by Ed. Meantime, cracks in their own marriage start to show: in a scene where Tim and Ed are helping Zara to research a role, Tim censures Ed for flirting with Zara. He denies it and in turn accuses Tim of being attracted to Kitty. The real problem, however, is Kitty can never forgive Ed for an affair he had five years ago.
This is a complicated play with complex,
familiar characters. Ed is the sort of person who just always has to be right, no matter what the consequences. Jake is no better and both of them seem to belong to a club where their own self-belief outweighs any ethical code. They freely lie, philander and demean others and are shocked when they are caught out and punished. Tim at first appears very different to them, a kind man whom Zara initially dismisses as probably “gay” and “a bit victim-y” before eventually getting into a relationship with him. Compared to the bombastic, aggressive masculinity of Ed and Jake, he seems gentle and thoughtful. However, we question his motives in having an affair with Kitty; does he really love her or is it revenge on the bullying Ed? The women in these couples are no mere helpless victims and display as much rage and fury as the men. Kitty, who is probably the most sympathetic, hurls a kettle at Ed as she accuses him of having no empathy, a clever reference to Tim’s earlier story of a kettle flying across the room in his poltergeist haunted flat.
On 1st June, the team behind Chewton Glen, Lygon Arms, Cliveden and 11 Cadogan Gardens, opened brand-new neighbourhood restaurant, Hans’ Bar & Grill on Chelsea’s Pavilion Road.
Located in one of London’s most prestigious neighbourhoods, the capital’s newest and Europe’s largest Residence Inn will start welcoming guests this July.
Your first thought may be a hotel, but many people are now choosing to stay in fully serviced apartments as they provide a flexible alternative.
Sizing an under- or overweight portfolio can have further implications on the absolute level of risk. For example, if an investor doesn’t like bonds versus equities because of low yield, should they reduce bonds from 50% strategically to 25% tactically? Alternatively, should the investor go all the way and not allocate to bonds at all; in other words switch to 100% equity? The latter will cause a far less diversified and much riskier portfolio. The following graph shows a 50/50 combination of two hypothetical assets, which both have a Sharpe ratio of 0.5 and a volatility of 10%(4): It illustrates a Sharpe ratio deterioration for tilting or switching, which is also larger for portfolios with more diversified assets or strategies (Fig. 2 lower correlations, left).
Unsurprisingly in 1995 some investors believed that US equities were expensive and therefore started reducing their allocations to US equities. Unfortunately, in the following four years these investors had to experience significant performance headwind as valuation levels climbed even further!
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