Planes, Trains & Automobiles – Le Carre, Whyte and Russell Grant – by Brogan, Rogan, Trevino & Hogan

Good Morning,

Many people get out of their bed each morning, have a shower, grab some breakfast,throw on some clothes,brush their teeth,grab their coat,their bag and whatever other paraphernalia they choose to carry and head out of the door towards their daily toil.

Many travel by car, however, even more use public transport and so find themselves sitting on a bus, a train and in some cases even an aeroplane.

Those who are not driving may read the paper or a magazine,or in this age of smart devices it is more likely that they will consult what is commonly referred to as their phone— a generic name for a device which has long since ceased to be merely a phone in the sense of the Alexander Graham Bell device where you dial a number and speak to someone at the other end of the line.

Today, a phone can do all sorts of things including record a conversation if innocently left on a table top. What’s more, if you really want to be James Bond you can now openly buy specialist phones– they look like phones, perform like phones , but also have that extra capability to record any sound in any room in which they are left in, are voice activated, and can even transmit the conversation automatically to another device under the control of the person who deployed the “spy phone” in the first place.

However, most people– those sitting on the bus or the train– don’t deploy spyphones or record other people’s conversations– they use the “phone ” for much more mundane reasons. They watch video, read a paper online, send a text or two, place a bet, tweet, facebook,do their shopping and– god forbid— post the odd blog comment!!

However, many many people do something else– something totally odd perhaps, but something that has become an accepted part of everyday life and society, so much so it is an activity that is to be found in the majority of newspapers, has had its own slot on TV, has made many specialists bundles of money. Yet it is an activity that passes many by without a second thought– as it is not unusual, suspicious,criminal,offensive or anything else— but is undoubtedly slightly………odd! Yet it is carried out on the train in full public gaze— every single day!

What is this activity?

It is that habitual checking of your horoscope!!!

Yes— Millions of us consult whatever paper or magazine is to hand and decide to check out those few column inches which may just reveal what the day or the week or the month holds for us. Many, as I have said above, carry out the same process by use of the “Phone”— off we go, on line, via satellites in the sky– we consult the stars!!!

Now, stop and think about this process. Whilst we may well read what all the Russell Grants of this world have to say, the Very same Russell Grants have to consult the stars and the signs and whatever else, decipher what is being said in the heavens and then write it all down, get it to their editor and have it published all in advance of the morning train or bus ride.

And of course— the few lines concerned will tell you what is going to happen in the future– or what you should do in the future– or how you should act in accordance with their prediction of the future. That is what reading the horoscope is all about— interpreting the future, reacting to it, and maybe even possibly influencing it!

I have no idea whether Craig Whyte consults his horoscope on a daily basis, and given his nomadic Date of Birth on Company House forms, I have no way of knowing if he consults one horoscope or two? Nor do I know if he believes that in Chinese Horoscopology he was born in the year of the dog or the monkey or the… whatever!

What I do know, is that anyone who, as they are going out the door of a morning, grabs a recording device with the intention of using it in a covert fashion to record a conversation of a sensitive nature, is intent on potentially influencing the future in some way. They are not intent on preserving something for posterity by way of a memento. They are intent on preserving certain information so that they can use it should the need arise……. at some time in the future!

So with that in mind, why would wee Craigy tape a conversation in a restaurant many many months ago, keep it up his conjurer’s sleeve for a period and decide to release it to the BBC– yes the very same BBC that he spent money on threatening with legal action as a result of the same reporter’s panorama programme— at this point in time?

Perhaps it is because the future– or part of it at least– has arrived and now is the time to influence the possible alignment of the stars.

As a matter of practice, Duff & Phelps have to prepare a report on the company that is under and has been under Administration. Such a report is bog standard practice. The terms of reference for such a report are also bog standard– and it includes as standard The Administrators report on the conduct of the Directors of the company prior to its going into Administration.

If the Administrator concludes that the Director or Directors have been naughty boys and girls then the powers that be can send them to the naughty step and prevent them from being Directors in the future– either permanently or for a period. Craigy boy has been on this naughty step before you will recall.

However, if the Directors have been very naughty indeed, then a period on the naughty step may well be far too mild a punishment, and a far more draconian sanction may be the order of the day. It may be that– to use an old fashioned school boy type analogy— rather than a period on the naughty step, the naughty director may just be introduced to the old fashioned school punishment that was made famous by the town of Lochgelly in Fife.

However, if the naughty schoolboy can persuade the teacher with the Lochgelly in hand that the prefect who was charged with overseeing him and who has now reported him for all sorts of poor behaviour– was actually involved in and participated in the naughty activity concerned– then this deflects and undermines the quality and reliability of the reporting prefect– and indeed may well move the teacher on to consider an even greater breach of trust— leaving the naughty schoolboy with a lesser wrath to face.

Earlier this week, a newspaper report confirmed that D&P had completed and submitted their report into the conduct and the affairs of Rangers PLC and its directors for the 3 years prior to the date of Administration.

That report will have gone to the DTI and in this case possibly to the Court of Session where we know that Paddy (Lord) Hodge has taken a keen interest in these affairs and indeed the abilities of, and potential conflicts surrounding, D&P.

Well, wouldn’t you know it— just about the same time, The Monaco based recluse just happens to pop up in a BBC interview and waves about a secretly taped conversation with one of the prefects which shows,he claims, that the big boys did it and really did run away!

I hate to say it but was that just not written in the stars?

There was a well known Glasgow solicitor I used to know in the days when some solicitors were real characters, He is long since dead alas, however, he used to have a big wooden sign on his desk which all of his clients couldn’t help see when they entered his office.

It read: ” Never trust your own clients!”.

Craig Whyte knows where the bodies are buried– but he also knows who committed the murder, who drove the car, who dug the grave, handed out the shovels and helped cover it up. He undoubtedly skirts round the truth, but also mixes his deceptions with the actual truth or slivers of the truth— that is the nature of the beast.

Now, he is attempting– by fair means or foul– to play the role of the honourable schoolboy to use a John le Carre title as an analogy. He has consulted his horoscope, seen what the future possibly holds, decided he didn’t like it much and decided to start playing those cards which may shape that future to his best advantage and to try and ensure that the naughty step is as far as it goes for him.

The problem with Le Carre’s honourable schoolboy is that he made too many mistakes and too many enemies along the way– and he dies in the end.

Of course another feature of Le Carre’s account of this world of secret tapes, clandestine meetings and attempted deceptions is the constant presence of……. well George (Hector) Smiley—- The G man, The HMRC man, the man who is used to and who anticipates many a move by those who seek to further their own ends at the expense of…….. the Government.

George…. Hector….. lurks constantly in the background shadows……. watching….. watching…….. watching— and he continues to do so to this day!

 

Posted by Brogan, Rogan, Trevino and Hogan