Private and Public Knowledge.

Before I post a piece on Tax Havens and Offshore companies,  this is a little prologue.

As I state in the heading of this blog, I make no moral judgements. Moral judgements easily become absolutes, and I'm nervous of absolutes.

All the information in the Sark piece is in the the public domain for the whole world to read. In fact, I stumbled across it quite accidentally.  One of the great bonuses for a writer is the amount of information one acquires unexpectedly on the internet when searching for something completely different. I was actually searching for more detailed architectural information on Fort Brecqou, (which I absolutely love, and three cheers to the twins for conceiving and creating such a glorious building - and for those of you who are scathing about it, treat yourself to a good book on architecture and see what the experts say).

(I've posted photos of the castle on the two previous posts, so here for a change is the landing stage at Brecqhou - one of Ningaloo's excellent photos on Flickr. It's a bit small because my  system for some reason wouldn't enlarge it.  The notice board reads 'Private Island, No Mooring or Landing").




When I came across this stuff about the Larkers, I was intrigued. Especially as it fits in with a point I make over and over again.  In all matters in life, unless you're actively marketing a product, a low profile is a good thing.  If I was renting myself out as a company director I would,  unlike some people, make very sure I knew the people I was getting into bed with, and what business they were in.  But, even if it were all above board,  if I discovered that the information about what I was doing was on line, I would feel uneasy.

 Especially at this present  time when, because of the Birkenfeld case and the tricky footwork of the OECD on tax havens, a lot of very sharp eyes are on the world of offshore companies.

The fact of present-day life is that almost any information can be acquired within minutes by someone sitting at home with a computer and an on-line connection. And any of it can be transmitted in a matter of minutes to the whole world.

I'm afaid times they are a-changing, Sark  . . .

But moving on from this outpost of a bygone age, my next piece is going to be about the Birkenfeld/UBS storm and the OECD.

But let's remember one thing before any further discussion of tax havens and offshore companies - these are not illegal.  Rules may vary from country to country, but the concept of tax havens and offshore companies is not illegal.

In this supposedly free Western world, we are still at liberty to try and protect our own hard earned cash from the greedy incompetent hands of our politicians (and in the UK, we now know the high moral ground  on which these noble men stand!) But that protection is under fierce attack.  I, in my miniscule way, would like to offer a defence of freedom. 

More to follow . . .