The shadows entangling my world….

Occasionally I have a disconcerting feeling of the world around me being a mirage; hiding illicit or surreal pursuits that are tantalisingly glimpsed and sometimes shockingly revealed.

Most of us inhabit a community governed by laws and a social code. We reside — in the main fitting in, modestly law breaking as and when; operating to the moral principles that society urges; trying to progress in our own version of reality. Yet even whilst we naively carry on, we perceive shadowy spheres co-existing with which we have limited or no interaction. Periodically these realms jolt our version of actuality perturbing our sense of how the world functions.

My cost centres have shown a growing awakening towards the performing of society and as children are prone to do ask simple but impossible questions of the adults in their lives. I have exerted to simplify the complex, make real the intangible; play devils advocate to teach them not to assume and have underplayed wickedness. However even as I have sought clarity I am just as perplexed as I grasp the global extent of money laundering, cyber espionage, political corruption, people trafficking and exploitation, on-line mis-information, religious cleansing, the drugs trade….there is so much more to add to this list. My point is we strive in our version of the world, yet others endeavour in alternate realities which employ their own standards, choices and demands as those within them choose to operate on a different legal and moral plain. Oliver Bullough wrote a book called Moneyland on why thieves and crooks now rule the world. Here is a comment from The Guardian on his creation. ‘He conceives of it as a secret, parallel world, almost like something from a fairytale: “The very wealthiest people…have tunnelled into this new land that lies beneath all our nation states, where borders have vanished. They move their money…and themselves wherever they wish, picking and choosing which countries’ laws they wish to live by”.’

But should it matter to us — your average person? Do we need to know and rationalise what occurs in the shadows around us; do our worlds need to mix in what could be futile interest? Some of us are lucky. We are able to live full lives in the sphere we are comfortable in and whether we are any the wiser of these pursuits through personal experience or knowledge has no bearing on our lives. Or so we think. And then there are those who are not so lucky; whose lives are entwined with no option but to exist in a realm and suffer. How often do we hear of those trafficked; those forced to drug run; those trolled with severe consequences. Flies stuck in a web.

It feels that it should matter and we your average person, should take an interest. I’m nudged flippantly to think of the beggar network in the John Wick films. This was a complex of beggars that existed as an intelligence octopus in New York City. Untraceable, anonymous, operating favours as a currency traded for influence on the visible world. Moulding, evolving and distorting. And that’s what these spheres do as they entangle with the reality I’m trying to live in. And to my mind, the impact of the moulding; evolving and distorting is corrosive. These activities — some bordering on the illegal but all definitely immoral; slithering corruption along every avenue ensnaring even the hesitant — culminate in an insidious influence on society whether we choose to ignore or not. There are real world moral and economic consequences to name but a few from stolen tax payer money; forfeiture of jobs, robbing of childhoods, diminishing of human dignity, mis-allocation of resources….when spoken out loud it becomes obvious the status quo should not prevail.

So what to do? Don’t mis-understand. I’m not naive. I know we exist on a grey scale; we have all had to make trade offs and I grossly over simplify the intertwining of these spheres with our regular world. Additionally history tells us we will never eradicate these parallel occupations as greed, selfishness, power, corruption are unvarying facets of human behaviour. Frankly my cost centres are of the opinion I treat them as money mules so to their thinking I clearly have a hypocritical leg in one of these shadowy spheres! But I believe we’d agree that there are many realms that are obviously at odds with our personal morals. And despite the aforementioned reasons, it doesn’t imply we can’t make efforts whether through legislation, taxation, speaking out, physical checks and more to reduce the appeal of such amoral behaviour. In doing so we lessen the wear on the average person and we improve the prospects of meritocracy.

I have been following Bellingcat for a while now who are; according to their website: ‘an independent international collective of researchers, investigators and citizen journalists using open source and social media investigation to probe a variety of subjects — from Mexican drug lords and crimes against humanity, to tracking the use of chemical weapons and conflicts worldwide’. I hail the service they offer, highlighting the shadows. Bellingcat discovered amongst much other labour who was responsible for the downing of the Malaysian airlines plane over Ukraine in 2014; unmasked the poisoners of Skripal in 2018; identified a significant source of child abuse photos and revealed the mis-use of limited partnerships to launder billions of funds through the UK. I applaud their activities as I do independent journalists bravely shedding light on the disturbing even as it brings forth these hidden spheres to clash into my comfortable world.

I thought i would end my scripture with a poem I found in a superb book on money laundering (Kleptopia by Tom Burgis) wonderfully describing the sinister and illicit hidden in the shadows….

Macavity: The Mystery Cat, by T.S Elliot

Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw —

For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.

He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:

For when they reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.

His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,

And when you reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!

You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air —

But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;

You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.

His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;

His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.

He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;

And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.

You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square —

But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)

And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.

And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,

Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,

Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair —

Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,

Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,

There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair —

But it’s useless to investigate — Macavity’s not there!

And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:

‘It must have been Macavity!’ — but he’s a mile away.

You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs;

Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,

There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.

He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:

At whatever time the deed took place — MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!

And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known

(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)

Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time

Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!