Mannerisms

Now that those bankers who have brought the world economy to the brink of collapse are at risk of the sack, their wives are getting ready to walk out, taking as much of their husbands' remaining money as they can.

These wives don't wait for hubby's P45, they're off to the divorce lawyers at the first whiff of trouble

The law firm, Pannone, says it has seen a 300 per cent rise in the number of inquiries about claiming partners' assets since rumours of impending redundancies in the City first began.

Obviously, bankers marry gold-diggers. Why is that apart from bankers' anal natures and enormous self-regard? Greedy guys, it seems, attract greedy girls.

As the marriage counselling service, Relate, points out: "More financial stress will tend to show the cracks in marriage contracts which were, either overtly or covertly, financial in the first place."

So what does a bird, who's married a bloke for his money, do when the bloke loses his money? I suppose it's a no-brainer. What's the point of staying with Mr D4Dull?

The girls can't wait to do their runner.

"Redundancies are still only being whispered about in the big City firms - but already we have never been busier", says Sandra Davis, top City divorce lawyer from Mishcon de Reya which represented Heather Mills.

But it's not just the chicks. According to another Mishcon de Reya lawyer, Miles Geffin: "Businessmen who lose their jobs often see it as an opportunity to head straight off to the divorce court before they find a new job - so alimony payments will be based on their unemployed status." 

In a sad commentary, Sandra Davis adds:  "When money looks like flying out of the window, loves walks out of the door."

Assuming love had ever been indoors.

If the girls can't wait to ditch the old man when he loses his job, and if the guys see losing their jobs as a good opportunity to ditch the old girl cheaply, then Richistan is a strange country to inhabit. 

And its inhabitants are different to the rest of us.