The Gaza Cease-Fire has somewhat hidden the news that China is about to be granted planning permission to build Europe’s largest embassy, over 20,000 sq.m. (600,000 sq ft), to the north of St Katharine Docks, near the Tower of London. This is despite the very real security concerns of MI5 and GCHQ, primarily about having a large Chinese TakeAway doing just that with all the myriad data cables that would inevitably run under or close to its location at the old Royal Mint site, slap bang in the heart of The City.
Inevitably, David Lammy and Yvette Cooper have their sticky fingerprints all over this gratuitous piece of kowtowing - but it is all at the behest of Starmer, who reassured The Dictator President Xi last month that Labour had ‘called in’ the application:
“You raised the Chinese embassy building in London when we spoke on the telephone, and we have since taken action by calling in that application. Now we have to follow the legal process and timeline.”
This is an extraordinary move to override security concerns for a building that is 24 times bigger than the existing embassy. Luke de Pulford, of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and a leading human rights campaigner on modern slavery and Chinese Human Rights Abuses, accused Starmer of “nakedly admitting that the Government called in the Chinese mega-embassy application under pressure from Xi Jinping.”
Why does the Labour Party hate this country so much?
An old friend of mine, the late great John Carrington, who once owned Windsor Racecourse (see… everything is connected in the end…) once explained some of the drivers of his canny understanding of shareholder value in Newcos and Developing businesses. If he used it, and it worked, and it worked well, and the people seemed genuinely interested in seeing the company a success - rather than merely as a cash-development business - he was in. FeverTree, Amazon, much of Japan, swathes of South America, and strange bits of Eastern Europe all felt his gaze on them and saw his support.
I cannot recall him saying anything good about China other than in terms of food.
With Burns Night fast approaching, and in this modern world of socially concerned platforms seemingly occupying the entire web biosystem, it is incumbent upon us all to teach our children, Godchildren, nieces, nephews, and young pups about the dangers facing The Haggis.
No one does it better than The Haggis Wildlife Foundation, which proudly proclaims on its website that for over 140 years, it has ensured a refuge for Wild Haggis. The foundation also offers professional training for prospective Haggis Guardians, staff, volunteers, and handlers. The website can be found HERE
This is an important cause, and I might write to the University of Shanghai asking the illustrious learning centre to consider offering a BSc in Haggis Management.
The Racing Post tells me that Martin Cruddace, head of ARC, is bewildered that No-Repreeves has been holding the first in a “Series of check-ins” with the various regulators. In these apparently regular meetings, each participant will bring ideas outlining wonderful money-making/saving schemes. There have been no press releases or fanfare, and Chatham House rules are apparently in place to avoid embarrassment.
Cruddace is astonished that the organisation directly responsible for deliberately squeezing the life out of the horseracing industry, The Gambling Commission, has not been invited to join OFWAT, OFCOM, OFGEM, FSA, OffRoad&Rail, Environment Agency, CQC, or CAA. That, of course, is the point. None of these august - and I use the term in every ironical sense - is actively destroying the industry it is supposed to represent. The Care Quality Commission does not try to shut down Care Homes, nor does Ofgem rail against us, heating our houses and switching the lights on and off. Ofsted is not against our children going to school. The Food Standards Agency does not prevent us from eating, and the Civil Aviation Authority does not want to stop us from flying.
I am also slightly bewildered at what happened to the 120 Business Leaders who publically supported Labour’s “change in Britain’s economic approach to support business.” HERE
Looking through the names of those so keen to see the change, I spot Tom Kerridge, who obviously feels that the pub industry would be better served by a 20% increase in wage costs, a 20p per pint increase and an increasing tax and household cost burden on his punters. It is no surprise to see Matthew Freud, who has historically attended almost every restaurant opening event in the 80s and 90s, regardless of whether he was invited or not. Signing in was Stephen Kulik of Royal Mail Health, undoubtedly one of the most underutilised UK business operations, and @Andy Palmer of Aston Martin, who is keen to support the death of the British motor car industry under the guidance of the Bacon butty munching Ed Milliband.
My breakfast of low-fat thin air, sweetened with the thought of a spoon of low-cal sugar, was interrupted by the pinging of my Ferrari Drivers Club app, telling me that a mechanic had taken an F40 - valued at £2½m - for a spin and managed to hit a lamp post. Pictures suggest the car needs more than a respray, even after it has been righted and all the panels repaired. I suppose it could have been worse - but that would have been a tricky phone call for the garage to make.
Talking of costly journeys with the potential for an embarrassing conversation at the end of the day, here are my selections for Saturday.
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