You must have missed the irony. Those parties and tiny bits of cow on sticks is what he is making fun of. I have to say that I agree with his point. I don't know the London scene, but I keep an eye on the Paris scene, and that article might as well have been written for Paris. Same problem.
He makes one point in passing that is very telling: visiting big UK companies is not going to matter for the startup scene. Europe has a tendency to have large legacy companies, but not much of an entrepreneurial angle.
It's how the London scene was when I was working out there in 2000-2001. If it wasn't a problem then, it probably isn't a problem now. I got a definite sense of "work hard and play hard... but first work hard" when I was there.
Sure, he's making fun of the luvvie (UK word) events, but he's also part of those events. The irony is that he seems to love them despite knowing they're ridiculous.
He makes one point in passing that is very telling: visiting big UK companies is not going to matter for the startup scene. Europe has a tendency to have large legacy companies, but not much of an entrepreneurial angle.