View from the top: Looking longer term

As a long-term legal alien, after more than 12 years in the UK, I am often asked what I like or dislike about the country’s culture and way of life.

When it comes to dislikes, I really don’t fancy Marmite, a no brainer when you’ve been raised on Nutella, and more controversially, I find cricket utterly pointless, although I’d like to take the opportunity to thank some of my broker friends who have tirelessly tried to persuade me otherwise.

Now the list of what I enjoy is much longer — hence the long stay — far too lengthy to go through in detail.

However, somewhere near the top would be the sheer quality of the UK media. I am talking about the media generally, rather than just our trade press, on which it would be rather inappropriate to comment in this column.

For all the recent and well-deserved criticism of a certain branch of the national press, people in the UK tend to forget or take for granted the brilliance of broadsheets, television and radio — especially the BBC, I’m addicted to Radio 4. Next time you are on the continent, France or Italy in particular, or almost anywhere else in the world, switch on the TV and tell me honestly that it isn’t abysmal in comparison.

Anyway, this rather long-winded introduction is to recommend a piece that recently caught my eye in a weekend edition of the Financial Times, another favourite of mine. A recent edition of Harry Eyres’s entertaining Slow Lane column had me intrigued by both the title Hard to Keep Your Head Down and the accompanying picture of Warren Buffett playing table tennis.

Using a bizarre mix of Roger Federer, golf, the Orpheus myth, Anthony Hilton and, of course, Buffett himself as examples, the piece reminded readers of the importance of keeping their heads down in these difficult times and looking past short-term market turbulence “to the long and navigable stretch”.

It’s good advice from which I will personally draw inspiration over the coming months, and I would respectfully invite others in the market, and Groupama’s partners in particular, to do the same.

Laurent Matras is managing director, Groupama