Business Comment: Short memories in the City

It is little wonder the outside world believes the City is an unreal, through-the-looking-glass sort of place. In the past three days the Square Mile has furnished its critics with two more stunning examples of the yawning chasm that exists between its air conditioned offices and the real world.

First, it emerged that senior executives at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell are poised to pick up breathtaking bonuses after a year in which the bank dropped a mighty pounds 450m thanks to the Peter Young disaster. Even DMG admitted, with impressive understatement, that a rumoured pounds 7.5m bonanza heading the way of chief executive Michael Dobson might give it "presentational difficulties".

Then Nicola Horlick, whose petulance on being suspended from Morgan Grenfell's investment arm in January left observers open-mouthed, walked into another high profile job at SocGen's London asset management start-up. As they dodged the toys flying out of her pram, conservative types in the City muttered that she had made herself unemployable. Unreliable, unbecoming, they spluttered. Memories are short.