June 9, 2014updated 28 Jan 2016 7:22pm

The Editor’s Letter (Issue 38)

Space: the final frontier. Well, the currently final frontier. I had the pleasure of interviewing Per Wimmer, the financier turned space-traveller (imminently, anyway), about what it takes to go into space: money, a reasonable level of fitness and no fear of being stuck in a metal box as it speeds out of the Earth’s atmosphere. (Read here)

What I found particularly interesting was the way Per has progressed through a series of increasingly bold escapades, from vanilla backpacking through the Amazon to the world’s first tandem sky-dive over Mount Everest (and why not?). This makes me wonder what comes next, since wealthy adventurers like Per are always looking for the next challenge: Mars? The bottom of the ocean? The first day of the Harrods sale?

DOING THE SPLITS

Full of the joys of spring, we offer you the 50 best divorce lawyers in the land. And they don’t just do divorce — they can also write up a snappy pre-nup. Nothing is quite as romantic as a proposal down on one knee followed by passing over a pen and asking your beloved to sign on the dotted line.

There are three trends we found in doing the Index: the official rise of the pre-nup, the unofficial rise of arbitration, collaboration and mediation for divorces and the threat the government’s cuts pose to our system of justice. All of these combine to suggest that just as we take our healthcare privately, we may soon be looking for justice in the same way. Whether you want to sign up to a legal version of Bupa is up to you, but it’s a trend we can’t ignore.

BURN IT!

Fearing reverence as we do, I like that in this issue we’re welcoming the author of The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance, Brett Scott, with some ideas which may shock, alarm and potentially even distress you (read here). Brett introduces philanthroactivism, where the wealthy and powerful act for social good in ways you might not expect. It’s a stirring read.

Equally stirring is Alex Matchett’s call for the British government to stop driving our best entrepreneurs to California (read here). Yes, they have self-driving cars, Google buses and Silicon Valley out there, but can they offer the charms of unpredictable weather and the wan blandishments of a Business, Innovation and Skills minister?