Flash - Ahh, Ahh (John Hirst Again)

Without even reading reports about the John Hirst case, one can guess at the language. "Shockwaves through the expatriate community", and so on and so on. Of the reporting there has been, some has been over the top. Technically, comparisons with Bernard Madoff may not be inaccurate, but the scale is completely different.

There are many people who stand to lose their savings as a consequence of Hirst's activities. They should have sympathy, but one does have to ask, did they seriously believe an investment opportunity that yielded 20% regardless of market conditions? It would appear that some did. Many of you will probably be thinking that they were gullible and naïve. Maybe they were, but they are still deserving of sympathy, and now is not the time to be haranguing them for a lack of wisdom.

It should be stressed that this is as yet an alleged fraud, and that it is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, but the circumstances of Hirst's sudden flight from Mallorca, having trousered some 20 million quid, were bound to raise suspicions. And these, unfortunately, seem to have been confirmed. There are voices from the south which, disbelieving of what has transpired, think that all might yet be ok. Perhaps all will be, and investors will get their money back. Perhaps it's all been a mistake. Time will tell, but if you look at the footnote to this piece, you might draw a conclusion - or more than one.

More than any criminality, what does this story tell us about the expat community, as it is largely this community that has been apparently taken in? The news reporting is quite revealing and, inevitably, falls back on the default lexicon that gets hauled out at such times. The community is "tight-knit", we are told. Is it really? Or is it isolated, a social phenomenon of convenience?

The picture that is painted is of an artificial sub-society centred on the social world of the cricket club and dinners. Of the Rotary and the English Speaking Residents Association. With the exception of the latter, it could be a leafy Surrey town where the community is that un-tight-knit that home mobility is a means to a better school and that parking the car at the local cricket club is an exercise in one-upmanship. John Hirst, we are told, was not a "flash git". Five-bedroom villa, a Merc, a "state-of-the-art snooker room" and a wedding that went on all weekend. There is flash, and there is flash. It does all rather depend on your point of your view. But the chances are that, by comparison in that pretend tight-knit community, he was not.

Some of you may recall the short-lived "storm" caused by an article in "The Daily Mail" (6 October 2008: The Life Of Riley). This was, in part, a condemnation of the vacuity of expat living, as experienced by some in the more expensive parts of Calvia. The Mail was accused of playing fast and loose, and the article may indeed have been an exaggeration, but the press love this sort of expat exposé stuff as it satisfies a prejudiced and jaundiced impression of the expat which does, nevertheless, have some basis in fact. With the Hirst case, you are getting it all, including some crookedness (allegedly). Jeremy Clarkson will doubtless be feeling vindicated.

Within these thrown-together sub-societies, there emerge the John Hirsts of this world. "A man about town," we learn. Playing the network, playing the scene, and all for his own ends - once again, allegedly. There is one sense in which the community can be said to be tight-knit, and that is its propensity to "do business" with its own. And so you get people willing to hand over their life savings to one of their own.

I sincerely hope that everything does prove to be ok. That it has all been a mistake. But whether it ends up in tears or in joy, the story is far more than one of an alleged wrongdoing. In terms of social commentary, it is one of the more important stories you will come across.


Footnote - John Hirst and Allied Dunbar?
The note about this case yesterday made the visits to the two versions of the blog go ballistic. There have been several comments, which I have held back, related to a Mr. Hirst and a fraud involving Allied Dunbar (as was) in the early '90s. I am grateful to all these commentators, but please do understand why I might hold back what you say.


Edward Woodward
On a quite different matter. Two days ago, I mentioned Edward Woodward. It was perhaps rather unfortunate, as he has of course died. Total coincidence, and a sad one as The Wicker Man stands the test as one of the great films and Woodward was, well, Woodward. Shame.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Chris Farlowe, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNyAzuB1-rE. Today's title - dead easy this one.

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