Darius Guppy

Wednesday

Darius Guppy

Farage’s fate shows that cash should remain king

From our UK edition

Nigel Farage’s cancellation by Coutts and Co – a blackballing which seems to have extended nationwide – brought to mind two similar events with which I had to contend a few years ago. First, in the East, where I was fortunate to have a flexible bank manager who allowed me to step behind her PC and spy next to my name the words 'politically exposed' – affixed by an American credit agency which knew the square root of nothing about me, save what some bot had picked up from Google. 'This will be on most banks’ systems in the world,' I was informed, 'and the majority of them will close your account or won’t allow you to open one in the first place.' Thankfully, common sense prevailed and we were able to circumvent the problem.

Saturday

Darius Guppy

The growing case for an independent Western Cape

From our UK edition

A few days ago, the results of a poll conducted in the Western Cape by Victory Research – one of South Africa’s most respected polling organisations – were released. They delivered quite a shock. Like recent Scottish opinion polls, they showed a small majority for independence among supporters of the Democratic Alliance (DA), now in its third straight term as the governing party of the Western Cape (South Africa’s other eight provinces are ruled by the ANC). The party will come under increasing pressure to hold a referendum on secession from the rest of South Africa.

Saturday

Darius Guppy

The true value of cryptocurrency is freedom

From our UK edition

Picture a village. It has a grocery shop and a pub. A little down the road you can find a cobbler and a hardware store. A factory manufactures parts for some large concern in a nearby city and local farmers supply their produce to the villagers. There are a dozen taxi drivers, a priest, a few doctors, teachers, nannies and so on. Crucially, there is also a shared idea of what constitutes the good life, a common culture that enables the inhabitants to trust each other - perhaps the most fundamental and most overlooked component of a properly functioning economy. We are looking, in short, at that increasingly endangered social construct: a community. Now the village also has a bank. Once, a man rather like Captain Mainwaring was its manager and he was known and respected in the community.

Friday

Darius Guppy

Charlottesville to Palmyra: the road is short

From our UK edition

'In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral and political evil in any Country.' So wrote the great Confederate General Robert E. Lee a few years before the outbreak of the American Civil war in a letter to his wife. It is a trite observation that the average American is poorly educated but my suggestion to those in Charlottesville who would remove Lee's statue is that they study the history of their own nation more carefully. By analogy I can see arguments being made, for example, against the Catholic Church. I would disagree with them, but I can accept that there is at least a case to answer. But then point to Alexander Borgia or the Inquisition, not Mother Theresa.

Sunday

Darius Guppy

In praise of walls

From our UK edition

After the verdict of the referendum had been announced, the most interesting comment was delivered by Nigel Farage. The vote had represented not only a victory against an undemocratic and faceless bureaucracy in Brussels but 'against the big merchant banks and big businesses'. Worryingly, neither the majority of the Brexiteers nor their Remainer counterparts - at least among the political and journalistic classes - have grasped what the former Ukip leader understood instinctively; that Brexit is in fact a sub-plot in a much larger, overarching narrative: the battle between international finance and the one force that can realistically check its relentless and apocalyptic march - the nation state.

Wednesday

Darius Guppy

Who points the finger? Darius Guppy offers a defence of Boris Johnson

From our UK edition

Eddie Mair has more front than Harrods. Consider this: a member of the British Media, Mr Mair, berates another former such member, Boris Johnson, for making up quotes! What planet are you living on, Mr Mair? Making things up is what people in your profession do for a living! The Leveson Inquiry focuses on one particular scandal - but hacking into voicemails is among the least of the crimes committed by a metier which is almost single-handedly responsible for the cultural degradation of an entire nation. Next, Mr Johnson, a politician, is criticised for lying to another politician, Michael Howard, all the while his interviewer feigning horror and surprise. Again, Mr Mair, what brand of glue are you sniffing? That’s what politicians do. Yes, they lie. Just like journalists.