7th September Not quite a knight to remember


In yet another case of 'one rule for Us and another for Them',  Grace Under Pressure might well be the very first virtualy true blog to question whether the cost of buying a place on the NY honours list is now getting out of reach of the average man on the street. 

This follows the revelation that one might need to touch up one of the Prince of Wales' staff should one wish to ascend the slippery pole of peerage and gain a knighthood. Which should not be confused with ascending the slippery pole of a Peer which a very different matter indeed,

With the revelation that Saudi businessman Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz is alledged to have offered 300 camels  and all the sand he could ever want to Michael Fawcett, a man who used to help Prince Charles get dressed, it appears that becoming a knight is less chivalrous than it once might have been.

Man of the people, Barry Smythe explained, "40 years ago, being a member of the local Masonic lodge was usually enough to be guaranteed some sort of leg up. Then it changed and you needed to bung a mate a few quid or do him a dodgy deal to get your foot in the door. Before you knew what was happening it wasn;t about a litte back hander but depended on who you went to school with and what colour tie you wore. Nowadays it seems it's all about how much dirt you have on someone or simply being incredibly vain and with more money than you know what to do with."

At the time of going to press Grace Under Pressure is unable to confirm than if the picture at the head of this blog had been taken in Saudi Arabia then the sight of Mahfouz Marei Mubarak bin Mahfouz kneeling before his leader wielding a sword might have produced a very different end.


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