Morris Cargill

AS I have said before I am a great admirer of my colleague Martin Henry, but I am bound to say that he has one fault. He thinks too damn much, and nothing disturbs the digestion more than too much thinking.

Martin asks, "What is man?", and he has a shot from time to time at answering that question. For example, we have the philosopher Rene Descartes, and his famous dictum, "I think, therefore I am." This famous philosopher could be said to have put Descartes before the horse, because his dictum could just as well have been the other way around. Another good writer, Wayne Brown, has speculated that the specialness of mankind is not so much his ability to think, but his capacity to love. Well I have tried that too. And though I am no nearer to any solution to the riddle of mankind, I have found loving a lot of fun.

Martin worries that a computer will soon be able to out-think Man. Perhaps. But there is no point in having a computer unless it has nice legs, and the IBM computer Deep Blue is a long way away from that. Martin adds that to rely on the intellect alone is a philosophy of despair, perhaps leading to insanity or suicide. In the end Martin falls back upon God. I have no doubt that that is good enough to be going on with. But for what it is worth may I offer Martin a solution to our human dilemma? When all else fails, dear Martin, try a cold beer, and have a good laugh. And remember that in 50 years time, it won't matter a damn.

A good reception

The Financial Gleaner, specifically Alex, and Jason Abrahams, have been patting Omar Davies on the back for his recent successful efforts at raising money. I am glad that the Press is pleased with him, for he has been working hard and is a nice man. But for the life of me I cannot see what the joy is all about. Our financial affairs are in as great a mess as ever; our debt-to-GDP ratio must be pretty nearly the world's highest, and the good Omar Davies keeps on borrowing more and more. I do not personally blame him for that, because he has no alternative but to scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Being able to raise the much celebrated Euro 200 million, is hardly a victory.

Moreover the Government, or somebody, is busy jumping into more debt. An admirable man who inevitably will be called Robert Bellyfull is now looking at a proposal for a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for the purpose of bailing out FINSAC, though considering the amount of money FINSAC owes, it will need a lot even to pay its paper bills. To tell the truth, I rather lose track of FINSAC's indebtedness, for the very good reason that I never can figure out whether a billion means an American billion or English billion.

In any case it causes my poor mind to boggle. I have a terrible feeling that it doesn't matter, for the only thing that all those billions (American or English) will do for us, is that some nice country, or group of countries whatever the sum happens to be, will have eventually to come along and pay our debts for us. In the meantime though, I hope that my friendly enemy Omar Davies will manage to remain cheerful. Sadness is not going to help anyone.

One bit of joy

I am glad to put on record that in spite of the woes besetting our Government I take pleasure in recording what ought to the happiness of one Minister. Philip Paulwell has got himself engaged to Kerry-Ann Clarke.

He has hit the jackpot for Kerry-Ann Clarke is a most attractive young lady. She reminds me of the late Bette Davis, when Bette Davis was many years younger.