This entry was posted on
Sunday, February 11th, 2007 at
11:35 pm and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

Those of you who were here at sparrow’s-fart on Sunday morning may have noticed that I asked a question of Paul Delaire/Delarie Staines regarding tax.

Despite his failure to answer that question today (following several requests that he do so), I dropped that question as a courtesy.

The period of courtesy is now over, because ‘Guido Fawkes’ should know by now that I do not react well to being lied to, threatened, ‘ignored’ and/or fobbed-off.

I have asked Paul Staines directly which version of his pre-hyphenation is correct – ‘Delaire’ or ‘Delarie’ – but have failed to obtain a straight answer.

So, I am forced to do what I always do in such situations; I look at the facts (and I really, really hate being made to jump through hoops like this):

FACT: The ‘Gruadian’ is known as such for a reason. Their version (‘Delarie’) could well be a typo. And who knows what other ‘facts’ they may have got wrong?! (Right, ‘Guido’?)

FACT: Money matters; if someone were to register details for monetary purposes, they would make damn sure that the spelling was correct. (Right, ‘Guido’?)

Here, I offer you this snippet of readily-available IP data:

211.17.152.64 – 211.17.152.71 (MGIFONDS) Staines,Paul Delaire; 3-4-2,Shibaura,Minato-ku,TOKYO 108-0023; JAPAN; JP

And this readily-available Yahoo Profile for Paul Staines of Mondial Global Investors (MGI):

Hobbies: Breathing, meditation, watching the sun set. (Interests: Economics)

Oh, and this snippet from Issue 37 of Free Life (A Journal of Classical Liberal and Libertarian Thought):

Paul Delaire Staines runs a hedge fund in Tokyo. His hobbies are watching the sun rise over Mount Fuji and chasing women.

Sun set… sun rise… there’s a moment of hesitation for me here, but I’m willing to bet that there’s a connection. I recognise that the universe is infinite, but I’m a reckless individual, so I choose to settle on the name Paul Delaire-Staines.

Now, let’s get back to the aforementioned question:

Dear Paul,

Are you a really a self-confessed tax-dodger as this book review (from Issue 26 of Free Life) seems to suggest?

“Offshore investing makes sense if you are rich, so the target market for this book may be limited to the rich and the professionals who serve them, however if New Labour taxes like Old Labour it might be attractive to more of us. Paranoid tax dodgers (like me) will appreciate the advice for the price of the book… What the book lacks, because it is published in conjunction with The Financial Times, is a review of the simple but illegal tax dodges. If as a Libertarian you take the view that the State enslaves and steals from you via taxes, you won’t have any qualms about protecting your property from tax-thieves. Silent Banking, a controlled circulation publication from Scope International used for the training of law enforcement agents to counter money laundering, gives useful tips on how to do it. Offshore credit cards are a good method, untraceable earnings are paid offshore into an account linked to a Visa card! This is simple enough for anyone who is self-employed, if someone is paying you in the black (free) economy by cheque, an offshore sterling account could be handy; spend it untaxed via your offshore Visa card, the back pages of Private Eye advertise this facility. “Silent Banking” is extremely difficult to obtain – sorry, you can’t borrow my copy.” – Paul D. Staines

An honest and straightforward answer would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Tim Ireland

SIDEBAR: Obviously, if there were a massive leftist conspiracy and/or I were a paid-up/hooked-up Brownite (as many contributors to Staines’ website claim that I am), I could have (potentially) been able to do a lot of damage with a private showing of the above quote alone. Mind you, I could have (potentially) been able to do just as much damage by publishing what was readily av…

Oh…

Sorry, Paul.