I think the main reason I have been cautious and conservative all my life is a particular madness I observed in the 1970s as I was on the threshold of adulthood. There was a property boom in the UK and people were making a packet buying and selling anything with a front door. One fine day,…
His Kingdom For A Hearse
With England burying one of its monarchs today, 530 years late, I thought it appropriate to re-post this item from March 25, 2012. Greatest Britain What makes Britain great? There is, of course, no single answer (and the French would suggest there is no question), but the nation that gave the world its principal parliamentary…
Greecing the wrong palms
Sneak, snitch, grass - those one syllable words do not convey an aura of approval. In school, where we imbibe the morality that plagues us for the rest of our lives, a telltale can expect a bigger punishment than the class-mate he is squealing on. The sheer number of synonyms (I have just used five)…
A drop of golden sun
From Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to Adolf Hitler to Conchita Wurst, little Austria has always punched above its weight. It is ironic that the country that gave the world half its great classical music and, so far, all its World Wars, should be almost exclusively associated today with one kitch movie.Fifty years ago this week,…
Celebrity Squares
Adolf Hitler is, for me, ancient history, while Churchill is almost pinchable. Why the distinction regarding two implacable foes, the height of whose infamy and fame coincided exactly? It is simply because, by the time I was born, Hitler had been dead for over a decade, while I remember Churchill's funeral, 50 years ago next…
Christmas Cheer
The spirit of Christmas Present materialized in the wake of the sensational success of 'A Christmas Carol'. Britain which, despite French whinging, was - in 1843 - the world's superdooperpower, had been struggling with Christmas traditions and what-not for years. Dickens's simple short story of a tyrannical, lonely employer mirrored against his put-upon employee (the latter having a loving,…
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The scene - a church graveyard in Middle England. A respectable crowd, trussed-up in winter clothes, surrounds an open grave. As the coffin is lowered into the gaping hole, the priest declares: 'The Mother of Parliaments gave, and the Mother of Parliaments hath taken away.' A sharply dressed gentleman throws the first clod of earth onto the…
Cry for Argentina
Any professional Opinion Letter writer knows that the invention of the footnote was a godsend. Enabling the eternally cautious tax lawyer or accountant to throw caution to the wind in the main body of his document, the footnote can be stuffed with endless bits of what the paying client calls 'fudge' and the expert refers to…
The Gentle Tax
There was a time when the mere mention of the name Germaine Greer - pioneering feminist author of 'The Female Eunuch' - made grown men (and only grown men) adopt the Direct-free-kick-defensive-wall position favoured by all modern footballers. I had no such reaction when, the other day, I turned on my car radio and was sucked…
Hungary for knowledge
1984 (the 326 page book, rather than the 366 day year of the same name) describes how a totalitarian regime could keep a lid on knowledge through a Ministry of Truth, Newspeak's Doublethink, and the dreaded Thought Police. Democratically elected governments have, traditionally, had more trouble in keeping a handle, let alone a lid, on…
Tax Break 