Curious places, hedge funds. Clearly, the proximity of vast amounts of money and some seriously strange individuals triggers some extreme behaviour. You will read elsewhere about the sordid allegations at the huge SAC Capital. Less well-noticed is the 2½year jail sentence handed out to Albert Hsu, a Connecticut man who used to work at Anchor Point Capital of New York. He posted a request on what I will politely call a specialist website purporting to come from his former girlfriend, which claimed that she desperately wanted to be kidnapped and sexually assaulted.

Needless to say, the posting found a taker, who did the gallant thing under the circumstances and contacted her first to ask her if this was really what she had in mind. Hsu was lucky. He had previously stalked the woman and could have got 30 years, but pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping and misusing personal information.

A Rock and a nice place

While many of Northern Rock’s customers may be concerned about their mortgages, the chairman of the bank has no such worry. One of Matt Ridley’s family homes, the Findynate Estate in Perthshire, is under offer for an estimated £7 million. The 1,365-acre property, with what estate agents describe as a “Scots Baronial” mansion, has been in the family for more than 100 years, but the death last October of Viscountess Ridley prompted the sale. The buyer will enjoy stalking, salmon fishing, grouse shooting and what is known as one of the the most testing pheasant shoots in the district.

The “History of Filth” exhibition just opening at the Barbican that I wrote about the other day prompts a New York colleague to inform me that there is a Museum of Sex in Midtown Manhattan. There is a sign instructing visitors “not to stroke or mount the exhibits”. Probably not necessary at the Barbican.

Perish the thought, because two years ago the bearded one, in response to a suggestion in a rival newspaper that he had courted publicity with some hare-brained scheme or other, wrote to the paper thus: “We are also in the midst of a project to create a refinery which can use agricultural waste to produce a nontoxic approach to personal transport in the future.” That silenced his critics. Attempts to establish with Virgin the exact location of the refinery come to nought, but it’s out there somewhere, I can promise you. Perish the thought that Sir Richard Branson’s emergence as a potential bidder for Northern Rock might have anything to do with the resulting publicity.

This seems to be working out to be a smutty day, for which I apologise. An e-mail arrives from . . . well, let’s say a deeply conservative lobbying group. “Urgent Action Required re Most Revolting Video Seen on BBC,” it screeches. “This is the most shocking, disgusting, immoral thing we’ve ever seen in ten years of campaigning. Click here to watch it.” Er, can any one see the tiniest logical inconsistency here?

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive