Details 1191 The End of the Champagne Years

This Competition marks the end of an era. Anyone who won before this week's competition can count themselves lucky. The champagne has run out. The cellars of the Independent on Sunday can now only accommodate.....Prosecco. The man who is the answer to this week's competition, too, is perfectly in tune with a downgrading of the sensory pleasures, ironically enough. Though perhaps Jenny Gilbert is making a point for Alexander Lebedev, who is reportedly seeking to offload the loss-making paper(s). I am not entirely sure if the owner is Alexander Lebedev or his son, Evgeny, as I have access only to Wikipedia on these points, but the Telegraph indicates as follows:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10576763/Independent-owner-Lebedev-looking-for-buyers.html

"Mr Lebedev has had to prop up years of losses at IPL, which made an operating loss of £17.5m in the year to September 2012, the most recent set of figures.

Last year, he warned that efforts to destroy his businesses in Russia meant he was not making enough money to sustain The Independent's losses. The former KGB spy said his banking and airline businesses had been ruined with only his potato farming operation remaining lucrative."