Mishaps at London SXSW, fishticuffs at London restaurants and a Bitcoin breakfast with Reform at The Shard; catch up on the latest gossip in this week’s edition of The Capitalist

SXSW LONDON: £1K TO QUEUE FOR ABBA AT THE FESTIVAL OF IDEAS

SXSW, one of the world’s most prestigious festivals of ideas, has arrived in London. Pass-holders are scurrying around Shoreditch heading to talks with world-leading entrepreneurs, musicians like Bjorn from ABBA and actors like Idris Elba. For £1,300 the Platinum pass suggests getting into the most coveted talks should be a doddle, with website material saying holders “benefit from priority access to ALL events”. But queues half the length of Brick Lane snaking around the Truman Brewery, and plenty of irate looking lanyard-wearers, suggested the opposite. “It’s a lot of disappointment,” one insider admitted. One particularly angry-looking subset queuing outside Björn from ABBA’s talk would have been furious to find out that the legend actually walked on stage to a near-empty room, facing over a thousand empty seats. Management issues filling the hall meant that even the lucky ones........

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