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ELL, did your teacher friend/relative/neighbour receive a designer handbag as an end-of-term gift this summer? According to reports, teachers at some UK fee-paying schools are being handed extravagant gifts by pupils, in a trend driven by hugely wealthy foreign parents. Witnesses have reported seeing “boxes and boxes of Prada and Chanel” outside the headteacher’s office at one West London private school. Indeed, apart from £1,000 handbags, diamond necklaces and free use of the family villa and even private jet, presents at some of these schools have included cases of vintage wine, tablet computers, Savile Row suits and items from luxury brands like Smythson, Hermès and Fortnum and Mason. One mother admitted that she invested in expensive gifts to ensure her son was “always on the teacher’s radar; I expect him to come home and say he was well looked after.” At schools like her son’s where pupils are the offspring of Russian oligarchs or hedge fund supremos, expensive personal gifts are in addition to the class gift to which each parent is expected to contribute.
OPINION & COMMENT
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An apple for the teacher? Just make sure that it’s diamond-encrusted Nora Johnson
Breaking Views A Costa del Sol resident for a number of years, Nora is the author of psychological suspense and crime thrillers. To comment on any of the issues raised in her column, go to www.euroweeklynews.com/columnists/nora-johnson
So much for gift-giving in some private schools in upmarket parts of the country like London’s Knightsbridge, Holland Park and Notting Hill. All yummy mummy territory. But it’s not restricted just to fee-paying schools. In some state primary schools, teachers and teaching assistants regularly receive end-of-term gifts, many of which go beyond token offerings. Collections among parents have
been known to include vouchers running into hundreds of pounds. Now, in the same way that party bags have become the bane of many a parent’s life, this further instance of the gifting culture is fast becoming a form of competition, of one-upmanship basically an industry, which wouldn’t exist if there wasn’t a market for it. But surely common sense should prevail here. Alarm bells should have rung way back and a policy spelled out to parents that a simple thank-you note will do. After all, there’s a world of difference between a thankyou note or maybe something home-made and a Cartier watch or a wodge of cash
END-OF-TERM GIFT: No longer a box of chocolates. behind closed doors... Wow, when I was at school, the most a teacher could hope for was the odd box of chocolates or pot plant from one of the girls; the boys never gave anything. Ever.
Nora Johnson’s thrillers Retribution, Soul Stealer, The De Clerambault Code (www.norajohnson.com) available from Amazon in paperback / eBook (€0.89; £0.77) and iBookstore. Profits to Cudeca.
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So where did all the money go? Mike Walsh Mike, based in Mediterranean Spain, is an international journalist, author and professional writer.
F
ORMER Libyan President Gaddafi intended to create the African Dinar. Doing so would reduce his country’s trading dependence on the Petrodollar and Euro. His impudence was tantamount to signing his own death warrant. You don’t mess with Wall Street or the energy conglomerates. The Libyan leader was simultaneously negotiating with Russia looking to increase its influence in the Mediterranean basin. Libya, a former US and British responsibility, looked like falling under the influence of arch trading rival Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s state guided energy giant Gazprom had already sunk $10 billion (€7.4 billion) into developing Libyan infrastructure in return for its unique type of oil. From the perspective of the West even tribal anarchy was preferable to such a threat. In North Korean style orchestrated media, at the raising of Wall Street’s baton,
PRESIDENT GADDAFI: His impudence was tantamount to signing his death warrant. suggested the Libyan leader was a threat to the West. The more astute were sceptical but cynicism was overruled. Wall Street, Washington and the Square Mile sent in the heavies. NATO did its job and the rest is history. The question is, where did the gold bullion once in the chambers of the Libyan National Bank end up? There was an estimated 143 tonnes of gold bars in those
vaults. Libya was listed 25th in the top 20 gold deposits in the world. The Libyan leader could liquefy all or part of Libya’s gold as he wished. As reported in The Times, banking houses refused to buy or trade Libyan gold. Cornered President Gaddafi could only make the bullion work by trade barter; bartering gold for hard currency and using the cash to develop infrastructure, build
hospitals, schools, modern highways, subsidise Libyan homes and businesses. Knowing the fate of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, who too had threatened to switch currencies, the Libyan leader is thought to have moved the bullion from Tripoli to perhaps Sebhah. From there it could be easily transferred to the friendly African Republic of Chad. It might be just coincidence but Chad soon after was caught up in unrest. It needs Western help and NATO troops are again sent in to ‘provide assistance and stability’ or an excuse to seek Gaddafi’s gold. There are many happenstance similar in nature. The Sudan and Nigeria are also caught up in unrest and need Western help. Coincidence that they are the only two countries in Africa sitting on enormous mineral deposits. The question remains, where is President Gaddafi’s elusive gold bullion? The Libyan leader was a close confidant of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy; the two worked on many deals. Does Nicolas Sarkozy have the key to the gold’s whereabouts? The former statesman has since been charged with corruption and faces a long term in prison, unless he spills the beans.