Nigella – how the rich live

Friday 29th November

For a mere mortal like me one of the most amazing things is that nobody at the time thought it extraordinary that the two Italian sisters who were supposedly Nigella’s assistants were spending 70 thousand or so a month on a company credit card.   The accountant simply processed it along with presumably several others, though exactly what we would have charged the expenditure to I do not know.  Staff uniforms perhaps?  There is actually here a possible taxman issue, as there is no way that these were tax deductible items – handbags, luxury holidays, jewelry and clothes.

And these two women were well paid; living rent free and all meals provided they were paid 25 and 28k respectively; plus of course the use of the credit card.  And nobody thought this odd.  That Nigella needed not one, but two personal assistants – I wonder which of the three did the cooking?

And Charles Saatchi was obviously earning so much from his businesses that he didn’t notice all this going on under his nose.  I wonder how many personal assistants he had, and how much they were paid and what bills they ran up on credit cards which he allowed?

In a society where twenty percent of people are getting into serious debt, where food banks and pay-day loans are the two growth industries it is rather galling that these rich people do not even notice over seven hundred thousand pounds being frittered away before their very eyes.  No wonder they need so many drugs…

Nigella Bites