A few years ago the president of one of those numerous archipelagoes peppered across the Pacific Ocean made an accusatory statement about Australia that threatened a diplomatic incident. Listening to an interview on the BBC with the then Australian foreign minister my mind was tuned to expect a suitably circumlocutory diplomatic reply. "Frankly, he is talking a load…
Should auld acquaintance be forgot?
Alex Salmond, the bank manager-faced First Minister of Scotland, has been making headlines lately due to a referendum planned for 2014 to decide on Scottish independence. What a pity. On a visit to Westminster Abbey a few years ago, I collared a verger and we went on a hunt for the grave of Andrew Bonar…
Bo Peep
Ever since a BBC newsreader put me right about the difference in pronunciation between Gorilla, a type of ape, and Guerrilla, a type of freedom fighter, I have been a bit of a stickler for getting the sounds of words on target. While a gorilla may be anthropomorphically protrayed as a guerrilla, articulation of the latter involves a…
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…
Washington the dream factory
Last year, the Oscar for Best Actor was awarded to someone who feigned inability to speak coherently. This year, the same award went to someone who chose not to speak. The 2012 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor went to that prize's oldest recipient best known for playing a singing sailor whose most memorable line, nearly 50 years ago, was…
The Yanks are coming
This post is dedicated to the memory of Orni El-Ad, my mentor and friend, who introduced me to the world of taxation and taught me how to "think tax". Orni died suddenly this weekend at the premature age of 64. May his memory be blessed. "The Children's Book" by A S Byatt is, without doubt, one…
The Greecy pole
When it was suggested last week by a sympathetic BBC interviewer that the Italian government's decision not to fund Rome's bid for the 2020 Olympic Games had cost Italy the chance of taking its place on the world stage, the interviewee retorted sharply "Italy has been on the world stage for 2000 years". Meanwhile, the Greeks keep…
A Greek tragedy – the gods’ revenge
The scene: a windswept precipice at the very edge of Europe overlooking the Aegean Sea. A little man in a business suit stands nervously behind a robust middle-aged woman dressed in what appears, in the failing light, to be a teletubbies jumpsuit. Both are a safe distance from the cliff-face. She is evidently in charge. Two nondescript blacksuited men stand dangerously…
When Harry met Fabi
As a devoted Tottenham Hotspur fan, I was delighted to hear yesterday that manager Harry Redknapp had been cleared of all charges of tax evasion by a unanimous decision of the jury in his trial at Southwark Crown Court. This opened the way for him to be eligible for the job of manager of…
Hard times, great expectations
Mid-Atlantic. 35,000 feet. Dead of night. Everyone around me fast asleep. My seat bathed in the eery glow of one small lamp. Chapter 22: "A Gritty State of Things Come On". The height of the novel. I turn the last page and briefly scroll my eyes to the bottom of the text. The final full stop…
Tax Break 