TECHNOLOGY moves so fast these days. We’re all looking at an uncertain future.

So how do nervous decision makers at multinational enterprises plan for the next few years? Nobody really knows what’s coming next.

Or do they?

The INQUIRER got a clue when it visited Brighton recently.

This Tarot card reader (See pic) on Brighton Pier promises to read your cards and predict your future. You’d think his customers would be mostly simpletons – fans of Princess Diana or drunken chavs.

But no, a notice on the side of his ‘office’ suggests he’s got some pretty prestigious clients who take his opinions very seriously indeed. SmithKlineBeacham, Tate & Lyle and Ericsson have all apparently consulted the sage to ask about their futures.

This is no gypsy Tarot card reader’s caravan on Brighton Pier. No, Punditt Maharaj (real name Paul Hughes-Barlow) is clearly running an international corporate strategy consultancy.

Cable and Wireless is a client too, apparently. We wonder if he advised them to spend so much money on the ASP market. No, hang on, it was the market analysts - like Durlacher – who said we’d all be using online applications by now, and the European ASP market would be measured in billions. Our Punditt on Brighton Pier didn’t say anything as stupid as that.

A spokeswoman for Cable and Wireless denies Mr Maharaj is guiding the company in any way. (She denies it a little too much, we suspect. Probably scared BT might poach him) “No he’s not helping us with our long term strategy decisions,” she says, “we probably just booked him for our Xmas party, or something.”

If any CEOs out there need a visionary, we're available for tea leaf read ings, at reasonable rates. µ