Conrad Black

Poor old, weird old Conrad has gone down at last. I feel sorry for him. As with Robert Maxwell, the guilty parties are are those daft enough to invest in such a strange and absurd man. Having met both, I think I can safely say I wouldn't have lent either a tenner. They should have been no more than minor embarrassments at the business party. But both were identified at some point as 'buccaneering' businessmen, as if the word alone were enough to suspend normal judgment and allay suspicion. This confirmed their view of themselves as special, beyond the reach of the ordinary rules by which the rest of us live. It's strange how words can invent characters and, finally, destroy them.