It is not uncommon for financial journalists to watch TV reports from conflict zones with a mixture of envy and relief: the dangers facing a Euromoney reporter typically peak at gout.
However, Euromoney’s trip to Santiago almost generated some unexpected excitement when your correspondent ended up going against the tide of a large group of student demonstrators, who were, if not running in the opposite direction, certainly walking briskly.
Tear gas was faintly in the air, causing a mild ocular itchiness. Across the avenue, a scuffle between a small group of students was taking place. An instinct for events was, unfortunately, repressed by the impulse of pontualidade britanica and an appointment. Interested, Euromoney conducted a straw poll of Santiago’s millionaire bankers on the protests.
Opinions ranged from the sympathetic ("It’s essentially an underlying demand for social mobility and better education is a laudable goal"), through qualified support ("It’s understandable but will take a generation and the students, being young, want it tomorrow"), and the selfish ("It’s taking the government’s eye off the more important ball of financial reform and I had to pay for my kids’ bloody universities") to the obtuse ("We all want something for nothing – I want free gasoline; should the government give me that too?").
