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Deal or no Deal.
Nov. 4th, 2010 11:17 amThere was an interesting story doing the rounds of the Blogosphere yesterday, but which as yet doesn't seem to have been picked up by the mainstream press (but it will be). It's that, in a statement to the House of Lords, Lord Stratchclyde mentioned that he'd been approached by an international organisation - which he declined to name - who'd offered to give £5bn in gold to the treasury to help rebuild the British economy, with a further £17bn to come if things went well. This might sound odd - unlikely, perhaps - but to quote Hansard from the other day:
Foundation X is saying at this moment that it is prepared to put up the entire £5 billion for the funding of the three Is recreation; the British Government can have the entire independent management and control of it—foundation X does not want anything to do with it; there will be no interest charged; and, by the way, if the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, the foundation will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas, if requested, and all these other things. These things can be done, if wished, but a senior member of the Government has to accept the invitation to a phone call to the chairman of foundation X—and then we can get into business. This is too big an issue. I am just an ageing, obsessive old Peer and I am easily dispensable, but getting to the truth is not. We need to know what really is happening here. We must find out the truth of this situation.
For starters, I truly love the way that it's just being called "Foundation X", like something out of a Bond film. I can't help but imagining Blofeld squatting in his volcano saying "Five billion pounds, Mister Bond. What? No, that's not a ransom demand, I'm offering it to you, you moron."
However, my immediate reaction is that this has to be something of a hoax, simply because when anyone says to me "Can I give you some money, no strings attached", they struggle to get to the end of the sentence before I've said yes and signed whatever they've put in front of me, and I reckon government works in much the same way I do.
But then again, maybe it isn't a hoax. There's been a lot of speculation about who the mysterious Foundation X might be. The UN? The Vatican (HA!)? The Mafia? Who?
Well, it strikes me that, as usual, the question is who is out there with that sort of money who would have a solid interest in a recovering, stable, UK? And the immediate answer which suggests itself to me is: Russians and Arabs. The UK offers both these groups something they don't have at home - namely stable government and the rule of law. For Russians, London is somewhere nice and safe to put their money and live where Putin isn't going to be confiscating their wealth and imprisoning them, and the chance of dining on Polonium profiteroles is fairly low. For Arabs, London is a nice safe place to put their money and live like normal people whilst having a markedly lessened risk of being murdered by the sort of bearded nutters who clutter up their homelands. The most likely candidates to have a big pile of loot to ensure continued UK stability are a consortium of Russki Industrialists or a Middle-Eastern soveriegn wealth fund.
Or, failing that, a shadowy, supra-national organisation, possibly devoted to Counter-terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. That would be the coolest thing possible, and I'd take their hand off.
Foundation X is saying at this moment that it is prepared to put up the entire £5 billion for the funding of the three Is recreation; the British Government can have the entire independent management and control of it—foundation X does not want anything to do with it; there will be no interest charged; and, by the way, if the British Government would like it as well, if it will help, the foundation will be prepared to put up money for funding hospitals, schools, the building of Crossrail immediately with £17 billion transfer by Christmas, if requested, and all these other things. These things can be done, if wished, but a senior member of the Government has to accept the invitation to a phone call to the chairman of foundation X—and then we can get into business. This is too big an issue. I am just an ageing, obsessive old Peer and I am easily dispensable, but getting to the truth is not. We need to know what really is happening here. We must find out the truth of this situation.
For starters, I truly love the way that it's just being called "Foundation X", like something out of a Bond film. I can't help but imagining Blofeld squatting in his volcano saying "Five billion pounds, Mister Bond. What? No, that's not a ransom demand, I'm offering it to you, you moron."
However, my immediate reaction is that this has to be something of a hoax, simply because when anyone says to me "Can I give you some money, no strings attached", they struggle to get to the end of the sentence before I've said yes and signed whatever they've put in front of me, and I reckon government works in much the same way I do.
But then again, maybe it isn't a hoax. There's been a lot of speculation about who the mysterious Foundation X might be. The UN? The Vatican (HA!)? The Mafia? Who?
Well, it strikes me that, as usual, the question is who is out there with that sort of money who would have a solid interest in a recovering, stable, UK? And the immediate answer which suggests itself to me is: Russians and Arabs. The UK offers both these groups something they don't have at home - namely stable government and the rule of law. For Russians, London is somewhere nice and safe to put their money and live where Putin isn't going to be confiscating their wealth and imprisoning them, and the chance of dining on Polonium profiteroles is fairly low. For Arabs, London is a nice safe place to put their money and live like normal people whilst having a markedly lessened risk of being murdered by the sort of bearded nutters who clutter up their homelands. The most likely candidates to have a big pile of loot to ensure continued UK stability are a consortium of Russki Industrialists or a Middle-Eastern soveriegn wealth fund.
Or, failing that, a shadowy, supra-national organisation, possibly devoted to Counter-terrorism, Revenge and Extortion. That would be the coolest thing possible, and I'd take their hand off.
