Airline bosses scrap, a new City restaurant inks up its guests, and a gift for headline writers; catch up on the latest City gossip in The Capitalist

FIGHT OR FLIGHT?

It took all of about 15 minutes for the jovial atmosphere at this year’s Airlines 2026 summit to hit turbulence. At yesterday’s aviation jamboree, Virgin Atlantic boss Corneel Koster launched an almighty tirade against Heathrow and its decision to split Richard Branson’s carrier up from its alliance counterpart Delta.

He vowed to challenge the decision “extremely hard”, and even suggested he gatecrash a later on-stage interview at the conference scheduled with the airport’s boss, Thomas Woldbye. That promise was then followed up by a similar offer from third runway bidder Surinder Arora, prompting some concern there wouldn’t be enough chairs on stage. Transport secretary Heidi Alexander, sadly, said she had a meeting. Spoil sport.

TATTOOS AT TIRAMISU AT EDMONDO

The latest opening from glitzy Italiano restaurant group Big Mamma (which is actually French by the way) has landed in the heart of the City, with The Capitalist packing in with over 700 guests last week for the hectic launch of Edmondo at 6 Lombard Street. The event was so well attended the cloakroom stopped accepting bags at 7:45pm, though the lack of space was no obstacle for Big Mamma’s famous big personality serving staff, who weaved through the masses with giant wheels of pasta-filled cheese held above their heads with no hint of complaint.

Most striking though was the overwhelming take-up for the in-event tattoo artist, from which guests could get a permanent momento of the event from a pre-selected range of Edmondo-themed icons. Options ranged from a cocktail glass to ‘I GOT DRUNK AT EDMONDO’ to have permanently inked onto your body. The Capitalist was unable to find out if anyone opted for the latter.

Wham, bam, thank you Huang for one of the most pun-friendly stories of the year. Reports of Nvidia boss Jensen Huang’s extramarital activities (some with alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang) have inspired a raft of quips about the AI boss, from the need to huang on to the job to warnings for the chip CEO to better control his own semi-conductor. It’s a good thing too: Nvidia shareholders are in need of a laugh, following the company’s market price wipeout to the tune of around $430bn.