"Ah Ha, mi Hearties! Shiver mi timbers!" Arturo closed one eye. I wasn't sure whether he had been at the sherry or was ill!
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm lookin' for
pieces of eight, mi old shipmate!" He peered at me. "You haven't been keeping up with the news, Butch, have you?" I shook my head. "Well, take a look at the laptop over there! Maybe you'll get the piracy analogy then!"
I peered at the screen. There was an article; it was
Re:Locate the online magazine for
HR, Global Managers & Relocation Professionals. Not Arturo's usual daily news diet, you understand. But - there must be something of interest here. The headline looked somewhat dull:
PM David Cameron promises to remove bureaucracy to help businesses
Suppressing a yawn, I read on:
In his address to the CBI Annual Conference, Prime Minister David Cameron said the government will embark on radical reforms to speed up the way it takes key decisions in order to help boost economic growth.
Blah! Blah! Blah! Same old
'Boy David' Cameron spinning himself into a dangerous web of PR again!. However, Arturo was eying me closely, so I went on reading:
The PM unveiled a four-pronged strategy to “eliminate bureaucratic rubbish” and dismantle some of the procedures that had slowed down economic growth, he told business leaders.
A
four-pronged strategy to “eliminate bureaucratic rubbish”. Careful, 'Boy David', I thought. There are many, even in your own party who think you're little better than rubbish yourself. But I still did not get the piracy rant from Arturo. Then - then I spotted it:
In a wide-ranging keynote speech, Mr Cameron said the UK was in the “economic equivalent of war” but hailed signs that Britain was again “selling to the world”. “Frankly, we need this buccaneering, deal-making, hungry spirit now more than ever,” he said.
http://www.relocatemagazine.com/corporate-finance-a-tax/finance-a-tax-news-corporate/6593-pm-david-cameron-promises-to-remove-bureaucracy-to-help-businesses
At last - was this what Arturo was on about?
Buccaneering?
Long John Silver and all that?
'Buccaneering' - did 'Boy David Cameron envisage us all as 21st century Blackbeards?
Then, I noticed another tab. I moved to the next story. A page from the
Telegraph was displayed. The headline read:
David Cameron: I want privilege for all:
Didn't sound piratical to me - sounded more like advertising for
Eton College. Anyway, the article by
Robert Winnett appeared on 10 October 2012. This was hardly up-to-date, cutting edge news. However, dutifully, I continued reading:
In his speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Mr Cameron said his aim was not to defend “privilege” but “spread it” by giving everyone the help he has enjoyed in life.
So far, nothing interesting here. Just the usual old
PR. I went on reading:
The country is the “most enterprising, buccaneering, creative, dynamic nation on earth” and can recover from the economic crisis with “individual effort and aspiration”, the Prime Minister said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9600468/David-Cameron-I-want-privilege-for-all.html
There it was again:
buccaneering
It seems as though Cameron has had buccaneering on the brain for over a month! Poor bloke!!
I decided to look up the definition of a 'buccaneer'. The
Oxford Dictionary defines the word as follows:
a pirate, originally one operating in the Caribbean:
a person who acts in a recklessly adventurous and often unscrupulous way, especially in business:
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/buccaneer?q=buccaneer
So, does
'Boy David' Cameron really want us all to act in a:
recklessly adventurous and often unscrupulous way, especially in business
Oh dear! It seems our
Prime Minister, him upstairs, has been watching a few too many re-runs of the '
Pirates of the Caribbean' or reading '
Treasure Island' too often to his children. But whatever the explanation, it is rather ridiculous. I am sure you will agree that advocating 'buccaneering' as the solution to achieve anything - is wrong! Most buccaneers ended up by being hanged - possibly drawn and quartered too! Not a fate to recommend to the UK businessman, Mr Cameron.
"Ah Ha, Mi Hearty," Arturo exclaimed, "The Boy's really gone and shivered his timbers this time!"
Arturo's right, of course. Prime Minister Cameron would do better to read the
King James Bible and exhort us all to:
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Proverbs 6:6
Of course, there is another explanation for Cameron's buccaneering fixation. He finds himself surrounded by buccaneering
MPs and
Ministers who are doing '
very nicely, thank you' for themselves in a buccaneering sort of way.
Channel 4's programme 'Dispatches', highlighted the goings on relating to expenses within the corridors of power in the House of Commons! Their shenanigans would put even
Blackbeard to shame for being a paltry pirate.
Antony Barnett presented the programme in which he took a tour around London and its outskirts showing the second homes, rented apartments and millionaire residences of some of these 'buccaneering' MPs and Ministers! The Channel 4 website included the following:
Channel 4's Dispatches will reveal:
Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude is still claiming thousands of pounds on a second home in central London despite the prime minister's personal pledge Maude would not "claim any money" on his second home.
Equalities Minister Helen Grant is claiming £20,000 a year for a luxury London flat despite owning a £1.8m home in Surrey just 19 miles away from Westminster.
Treasury Minister David Gauke recently sold his second home in central London which the taxpayer helped buy and has kept a profit of more than £20,000.
John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee has moved out of a second home which the taxpayer helped fund and is renting it out for £400 a week. He is now claiming expenses for renting out a property nearby.
http://www.channel4.com/news/new-expenses-row-as-at-least-32-mps-claim-for-rent
So we have some examples of
swashbucklers well known to 'Boy David' Cameron! No wonder he was saying to the businessmen:
we need this buccaneering, deal-making, hungry spirit now more than ever
Arturo and I are off to find some sardine heads from the kitchen. Couldn't quite see if the
Jolly Roger was flying from the Downing Street chimney!
'Bye'
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