This is the first blog of 2021 and the first I have released with a newsletter, this blog and the blogcast all on the same day.

In this issue:

Out-going PoTUS and the time-bomb he left behind
The media myth about the USA’s latest legislation
Radiogate
Sherlock Holmes and the money launderers.
London’s financial crime kingpin in the 1700s.

I have a newsletter in preparation but there's stuff still to do. But, sometimes, it's worth jotting a few notes mainly for myself but perhaps of some interest or use to others. In any case, there's a thing about writing. If you can't write what you want, write anything, no matter how random or rubbish, to get the "I'm a writer" part of the brain going. So, here are meanderings (and that bit was written after the rest of the page so it's worked. Ish). And if you think it's a waste of your time, stop reading. Or learn the technique because it might help you when.... Read on to find out when.

It all started when I was looking at the visitors' logs for this website.

Actually, it all started when I got up this morning and wanted something in particular for lunch. That was impossible, and that's why I was looking at the visitors' logs.

(There will be no blogcast of this article because it's got nothing to do with financial crime!)

One of the most quoted sayings of Sun Tzu ("No plan survives the first contact with the enemy") isn't by Sun Tzu. But there is at least some evidence that an ear-biting, wife-beating boxer said "no plan survives the first punch in the face" (although even that is told in several different versions). So I feel entirely justified in coming up with my own variant on the original misquote.

No plan survives the first contact with the Year of the Rat (or 2020 - take your pick)

It sounds like a letter on an agony aunt page, doesn't it? But no, it's actually a series of sensible questions from someone who is bamboozled by the jargon in the financial sector. Here it is, with my replies.

When Des Hellicar-Bowman referred to a 19th Century book, "The Theory of the Leisure Classes" by Thorstein Veblen, I knew it would be good because Mr Hellicar-Bowman and I take a similar view of financial crime in that it the only way to understand it and therefore to effectively counter it is to make a broad study of everything to do with it, including those things that appear to be only peripherally relevant. The book is obliquely applicable to financial crime but it is directly relevant to how we view assets and source of funds and source of wealth. Here's what I found....

As the dust continues to swirl around the US presidential election much media mileage is being made of the USA's "first black woman vice president."

There's just one issue: Kamala Harris isn't "black."

Good morning. I seem to be having some difficulty working out how long a month is, as it seems that my last monthly newsletter was on 25th August. That's as close to two months ago as no matter.

In that two months, much has happened in the world and a lot of it has a direct, or indirect, impact on the world of financial crime risk and compliance.

We are, once more, seeing unprecedented times as country after country sets records for daily infections with CoVid-19. But there's a forgotten, perhaps unrecognised, group of people who are deserving of attention.

UPDATE: Due to increased restrictions due to coronavirus infection rates, this event has been postponed. A new date will be published when more information is available. Until then, please do contact the organisers to make sure you are kept up to date.