Wealthy oligarchs gain become a fixture of the British landscape during the past 20 years. But what do they offer to the country’s culture?Early in this millennium an exotic novel species appeared in London. They were men of the genus nouveau riche,but they were different in important ways from other variations. They flew in private jets. They were accompanied by fashion models. They were surrounded by bodyguards, in a country where the police do not bear arms. Their brashness as much as their accent revealed their origin – they came in from the cold. They were the oligarchs from Russia.
Initially, and they were not particularly welcome in the space they insisted on calling tumanny (foggy) Albion. “Shadowy tycoon from Siberia”,who made his fortune in “murky oil deals”, was the most flattering epithet the British press awarded Roman Abramovich when he offered to purchase Chelsea FC.
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Source: guardian.co.uk