
There is an annual real estate mega-conference with the unresonant name of MIPIM that took place this week. As ever, Cannes was the nominal location. “Nominal”, I stress, because those who have visited this bizarre bazaar — full of sovereign investors, Brits on the sauce and middle men of uncertain tax domicile — will know that it could be anywhere. You begin to see how a career at the top end of the property game might instil a certain worldliness in someone: a certain unshockability.
本周举行了一年一度、名字毫不响亮的房地产超级大会MIPIM。照例,名义上的举办地是戛纳。我之所以强调“名义上”,是因为去过这个古怪集市的人都知道:那里挤满了主权投资者、喝得醉醺醺的英国人,以及税务归属成谜的中间商——它其实可以发生在世界上任何地方。你会开始明白,为何一个人在地产游戏的高端圈子里混出头,会养成一种见多识广、处变不惊的气质。