A Merry Christmas, Carefree Kwanzaa, Eid Mubarak, Happy New Year, and Happy Hannuka to all our readers. In our ecumenical mode we are happy to celebrate everyone's festivals, but will pass on the fasts.
Can there be a better way to celebrate than by buying the most aptly seasonal book since Christmas Carol "Rum: A Social and Sociable History" for your friends. One click and your last minute gift-buying conundrum is solved.
And in seasonal mode, check this link to see me on Democracy Now holding forth on Annan, Ban and Rum.
And here is my Christmas Carol, commissioned and then rejected by a business magazine that thought (can't think why!) that its Chinese advertisers may be upset by it. I was accused of China-bashing for my piece on Taiwan, so I thought I may as well put some truth in the rumours.
We three sharks of Orient are
Bearing stocks we travel afar
Field and roadshow, selling an IPO
Extolling yonder share
O share of wonder, share of might
Share of rosy prospects bright
Upward trending, never bending
Guide us to thy dizzy height
Born state-owned on the Yangtse plain
Golden prospects down the lane
Rising forever, dropping never
Over us all to rain
O share of wonder, share of might, etc.
Mind ye not the dodgy loan book
With Chinese banks, best not to look
Stock brokers are such jokers
Keep accounts in a Little Red Book
O share of wonder, share of might, etc.
A prospectus offered have I
The SEC cannot come nigh
Privatizing, launch price rising
Send your cash to Shanghai
O share of wonder, share of might etc.
Your few shares outvoted are
Beijing owns more stock by far
Minor holder gets cold shoulder
Even more than Delaware
O share of wonder, share of might etc.
Beijing rules, so best presume
The Comrades run the board-room
Party blundering, bleeding, plundering
Sealing your stake's doom
O share of wonder, share of might, etc.
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