I’m deeply impressed by author, Richard Flanagan. Deeply. He has won both the Booker prize (non-fiction) and now the ‘Baillie Gifford’ for the same book. The latter is worth 50 grand. Which Flanagan turned down. Well done Richard!!! A man of total principle and dedication to the cause.

Which cause? Oh, Baillie Gifford, a massive investment company, are ‘complicit’. He didn’t say that, it’s my word. My new favourite word because it’s the easiest, laziest, stupidest, most vague, wish-washy accusation that any moron can level at anyone/thing/company when you decide to hate them. They’re ‘complicit’ in global warming. The war in Gaza. Ukraine. Wars. Oil. Fucking investment bastards might as well just nuke all the major cities in the world and kill everyone more quickly!!! But if they could do it AFTER they pay out the next round of dividends, that would be really appreciated.

I’m not saying that there aren’t moral considerations when making investments. It’s just how much ‘weight’ to give them, compared to the returns you might make. Ooooh, that’s harsh. And yet we’re at a place where if you invest people’s money in slavery, international assassinations or boats for illegal immigrants, you’re gonna have a few issues with your clients.

And if, as Flanagan said in his condemnation of Baillie Gifford, that it was ‘complicit’ in the war in Gaza by investing in Amazon and Nvidia (both American techno-giants), then I’m afraid you leave the land of ‘making a statement of virtue’ and enter fuckwitland. If you really want to eliminate everything remotely Israeli from your life, just bin all your tech. Phone, computer, pads, everything. Empty your drug cabinet in the bin. Ditch your Sky box and Alexa. Then you would not be ‘complicit’ in any way. In a democratic country trying to protect its people and defend itself. No-one would want to be complicit in that.

And the professional ban-ners, the cancellers, the protestors, all those with red paint sprays, will find the most tenuous of distant links to any of their chosen hate-list at any time. And it’s very very hard to find any bank or financial institution that doesn’t have dealings with Big Oil, or arms manufacturers, and every bit of modern technology can go back at some stage to Israel.

They’re going to make missiles with or without my pension pot’s contribution in share acquisition. In fact, there’s never been a better time to buy. Or not, if that’s not your thing. But essentially accusing companies of ‘arts-washing’ and refusing to accept their money only makes a statement of the most stupid and on-woke-message kind. It makes you look like a dickhead. A 50 grand poorer dickhead.

Happy Thursday

A xxxx