Image of the week: Boris bluster
The UK's foreign secretary (at the time of writing, which we will now be inserting into all references to the British government) had a busy diary on Monday, which will go down in history as a day of high farce in the fuselages of power between Brussels and London.
After a bilateral chat with his Norwegian counterpart Ine Eriksen Soreide, Boris Johnson officially unveiled the giant Christmas tree that is Norway's annual gift to the United Kingdom. Here's hoping that, amid the festivities, Soreide had a chance to impress upon Boris the merits of still being in the single market despite not being a member of the EU, aka the "Norway model". Sadly, listening to sense is not exactly the top priority of the Conservative government at Christmas or any other time of year.
In numbers: Malibu mansion
$120 million Sum paid by Canadian pharmacy and ice hockey billionaire Daryl Katz for an oceanfront house in Malibu in what is reportedly the most expensive house ever sold in Los Angeles.
22,000 Square footage of this cosy, bijou, boutique snippet of real estate, which includes artworks by Ed Ruscha and Damien Hirst.
$750,000 Monthly rent that was previously being charged for the seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion. A snip by Dublin standards.
The lexicon: Regulatory alignment
Phrase of the week was “regulatory alignment”, which was to have been a key principle in the EU-UK deal set to be unveiled on Monday, before the DUP played its unhelpful hand.
Essentially, regulatory alignment would mean Northern Ireland continuing to follow at least some of the rules of the EU’s single market, the idea being that this would avoid a hard border. After a chorus of “me too” from all the other parts of the UK that would rather stay in the single market, Brexit minister David Davis later went on to suggest this alignment with the European Union could apply in general across the UK, not just to Northern Ireland.
But the DUP – not a fan of regulatory alignment between the North and Britain on issues such as reproductive rights and same-sex marriage – saw a border in the Irish Sea that it did not like and shouted stop. Does Brexit still mean Brexit?
Getting to know: Yvon Chouinard
Yvon Chouinard, billionaire owner of outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Patagonia, is not sitting on any fences in his plan to sue Donald Trump. "This government is evil and I'm not going to sit back and let evil win," he told CNN.
Now clearly any number of events could have prompted this statement, but the one in question is Trump’s executive order to reduce the size of two national parks in Utah by some two million acres to allow for drilling.
Five Native American tribes have joined in a lawsuit against the White House and now environmentally conscious companies are shouting loud: “The President Stole Your Land,” read Patagonia’s website earlier this week.
Chouinard is a rock climber first, businessman second. As a teenage member of the Southern California Falconry Club, he abseiled down cliffs to falcon nests, later developing hardened steel pitons (spikes) for use in the Yosemite Valley.
The list: Tax havens “grey list”
The EU has published its first blacklist of tax havens (excluding its own member states), describing 17 countries and territories as “non-cooperative jurisdictions”. A number of other countries that escaped the official naughty step were put on notice.
1. Switzerland: The corporation tax haven escaped the blacklist despite previously being named the fourth worst company tax haven by Oxfam International.
2. Isle of Man: The British territory has been in the news lately for its thriving register of tax-efficient helicopters.
3. Jersey: Apple's new favourite offshore haven also did not make the blacklist cut.
4. Cayman Islands: Another tax regime well-practised at facilitating offshore structures that "attract profits without real economic activity". Hmm, sounds familiar.
5. Vanuatu: The Pacific island nation, as well as being an offshore banking specialist, would make an excellent answer on Pointless.
