There was a time, not long ago, when the ideal higher education of a tax specialist was a combination of law and accounting. With the gradual death by asphyxiation of income tax planning, the ambitious young prospective practitioner might add a third arrow to his bow - doctor of medicine. Many would argue that, despite frustrating…
Did you hear the one about..?
This year’s Booker International prizewinner, ‘A horse walks into a bar’, follows the routine of an over-the-hill stand-up comic as he coaxes and manipulates his audience, painfully aware that one failed joke could send the entire act crashing through the stage floor. I often wonder why modern politicians don’t take their cue from stand-up comedians.…
A dope makes a hash of things
Depressingly, whenever I mention British Humour (sic) to an American I receive the stock response: "Benny Hill!" I used to fight back, arguing that Hill's humour was cheap smut eventually only permitted for export (to America), while true British Humour was a cerebral affair of the utmost sophistication. Balderdash! I was kidding myself. Benny Hill was…
Shooting at goal
I love municipal elections. Two weeks ago the incumbent mayor of my sleepy town (population 70,000 - the locals insist on calling it a city even though they would not fill Wembley Stadium) was lawnmowered into political oblivion by his predecessor, who decided to stand for the only apparent reason that he could not think of anything better to…
Chanson d’Amour
I don't think it is a coincidence that the French Government proposed a new Culture Tax in the same week as tonight's Eurovision Song Contest. The Europeans have made some pretty bad mistakes over the years such as two World Wars, the Euro and Belgium. On the other hand, like the Common Market and the Division…
The 2012/13 Overture
In the '70s and '80s there was a major movement worldwide to gently nudge the Soviet authorities to "Let my people go". Mass rallies, protests and disruption of Russian cultural events were the order of the day from London to New York to Sydney. With the collapse of Communism, the '90s saw the influx to Israel…
Left luggage
It was during the Bosnian War that the BBC's Martin Bell and his colleagues developed the concept of Journalism of Attachment. While war correspondents stretching back to William Howard Russell a century and a half earlier had reported the good and evil of war, it was this new generation that took sides and, effectively, became unarmed combatants on behalf…
French toast
The French are the masters of indignation. Staring at an offender from the top of his Gallic aquiline nose, a Frenchman can turn any opponent to blancmange faster than a speeding escargot. You don't cross the French. Marking Bastille Day last weekend with a cafe-au-lait and croissant in the comfort of my salon, my mind wandered back to…
Vive L’ Hollande
The swashbuckling Alexandre Dumas coined the phrase "cherchez la femme" (literally: look for the woman) that has haunted French culture ever since. In the run up to the French Presidential election it is generally agreed that, had Dominique Strauss-Kahn not fumbled in the wrong pocket of his bathrobe for the gratuity for the chamber maid…
Tax Break 