Monday, December 10, 2007

Conrad Black

Poor old, weird old Conrad has gone down at last. I feel sorry for him. As with Robert Maxwell, the guilty parties are are those daft enough to invest in such a strange and absurd man. Having met both, I think I can safely say I wouldn't have lent either a tenner. They should have been no more than minor embarrassments at the business party. But both were identified at some point as 'buccaneering' businessmen, as if the word alone were enough to suspend normal judgment and allay suspicion. This confirmed their view of themselves as special, beyond the reach of the ordinary rules by which the rest of us live. It's strange how words can invent characters and, finally, destroy them. 

2 comments:

  1. Nice summation, Bryan, indeed so.

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  2. It's strange how words can invent characters and, finally, destroy them.

    This is what makes them free, democratic - and dangerous!!

    Nor does one need to stress the point that important groups abroad, as well as within the UK, regarded Conrad Black, in his time, with distinct benevolence. For no matter how many convictions the law hands down, the genie is out of the bottle and there’s little that can be done to recover the money

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