Anil Bhoyrul, the British business journalist convicted in the Daily Mirror share-tipping scandal, says his plan to teach his three children the value of money by moving them to Bolivia did not work. Bhoyrul, 60, told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden at a London launch party this week that his children returned to Dubai and went straight back to spending. “I wouldn’t advise parents to ship their kids off,” he said.
From a Conviction to a New Life in Dubai
Bhoyrul was born in Mauritius. He carried out 180 hours of community service in 2006 for his part in the “City Slickers” scheme, which ran from 1999 to 2000. He and his then colleague James Hipwell wrote the Daily Mirror column. They bought shares in cheap dotcom-era companies, recommended them to readers, and sold their own holdings after the prices rose. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act 1986 at Southwark Crown Court.
His reputation was badly damaged. Bhoyrul and his wife Branka, a Slovenian photographer he married in 2008, moved to Dubai. They spent eight years in a 5,000-square-foot villa there.
Why He Says He Acted
The couple have three children: Evita, Joe and Savannah. They were then aged nine, six and five. Bhoyrul came to see them as “spoilt materialistic brats” and decided they should grow up somewhere less focused on money.
He gave examples to Esquire. “One iPad wasn’t good enough, they needed three,” he said. “My son wanted an iPhone and an Apple Watch, just like the ones his pals at school [had].”
A holiday sealed it. When Bhoyrul turned 50, he surprised the family with business class tickets to the Maldives. “On the way home, all three [children] kicked off at the humiliation of having to fly economy,” he recalled.
Choosing Bolivia With a Map and Darts
The couple picked Bolivia after the children threw plastic darts at a world map. None of the family had been there. Bolivia is landlocked and one of the poorest countries in South America. Bhoyrul hoped its school system would give his children a different view of life.
The family lived in La Paz, the capital, for two years from 2018. The children went to school by way of the Amazon rainforest, where the three siblings spent time in the natural world. Bhoyrul travelled back and forth between Bolivia and Dubai. Branka stayed in La Paz with the children.
Life there seemed to suit them. Evita rode the 46km Death Road mountain bike route to mark her eighth birthday. Joe got his “first ever paid job as an ice cream seller,” Bhoyrul wrote on Instagram. He added that when he asked Joe what he would do with the money, the boy answered, “Buy a one-way ticket to Dubai.”
Back in Dubai, Old Habits Returned
The joke turned out to be accurate. Bhoyrul told Eden the children went straight back to their old habits once they returned to Dubai. “They were meant to learn the value of money and not get carried away,” he said. “It didn’t work. They came back after six years, and within ten seconds their view was, ‘I’ve done my time. Where’s the iPhone? We’re never going back.'”
He says his daughter Savannah, now 13, is the clearest case. She wears designer labels and spends a lot of money. “They’ve totally gone the other way now, and my daughter spends a fortune. At just 13 years old, she’s got all this designer gear,” he said.
The Book Launch
Bhoyrul was in London for the UK launch of his book, Men’s Guide to Pregnancy. The launch party took place at the cocktail bar ESQ. Guests included his former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan and the broadcaster Andrew Neil.
The book is billed as “the pregnancy book he’ll actually read.” It covers the nine months before the couple’s son Joe was born. Bhoyrul described it to guests as “the men’s side of the story, the ups and downs, highs and lows, the chaos, comedy and farce. Everything happens to a man.”
Savannah spoke at the event. She admitted she had only read the “front and back” of her father’s book. She joked that she came on the trip “so I could get some Blank Street,” a reference to the viral coffee and matcha chain.
What Happens Next
Bhoyrul’s experiment gave his family a period in La Paz and some stories, including the ice cream job and the Death Road ride. It did not change how his children spend money. By his own account, the attitudes he wanted to remove came back within seconds of the flight home.
Bhoyrul has not said whether the family plans another attempt. His current focus is the book, which he introduced to readers in London this week.
