Perhaps the only good thing about a prolonged bout of illness is the opportunity to catch up on some of those TV programmes you meant to watch. Well, one of the more striking ones has been the BBC series ‘House of Saud‘. How reassuringly revolting it is to see so many mega-wealthy individuals, when confronted with the merest whiff of their own corruption, quickly resorting to the time honoured mantra of all fat cats… ” I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Then take the current Carillion scandal… whereby so many employees and other small businesses face extinction, or at least the loss of their pension rights and other financial hardships. But rest assured, the directors are safe in the knowledge that they could continue to receive eye-watering salaries and bonuses extended beyond the period of their natural incompetence; safe in the knowledge that they feel they “didn’t do anything wrong!”

Which only serves to remind me of so many politicians back in the recent financial scandals of duck moats, and paid-for penthouses in central London, who to a man (and it usually is men) were always quick to reassure us they “didn’t do anything wrong!”

So, until we speak again, I intend to get all hypocritical about my lack of interest in new year’s resolutions. For 2018 I unashamedly declare an ambition to “do nothing wrong!” (possibly for all the wrong reasons, if you ‘kerching’ what I mean). With hope and a fair wind my next post will be coming to you from a Caribbean tax haven.