Changes at the Top

I went to Richard Charkin's hastily organised leaving party at Macmillan, and it was among the worst parties I've attended in many years - a group of people standing around with beer in their hands, and the music so loud it was impossible to hold a conversation. I shall miss Richard - one of the cleverest men in publishing, and an intensely loyal man, in good times and bad. No fair-weather friend he. I wish him the best of luck in his new job at Bloomsbury.