Saturday, October 27, 2012

Colossus of windbags: Conrad Black's resurrection tour

You have to admire the guy. Where most in his position (i.e. convicted felon recently released from prison) would keep their head down and their mouth shut, Conrad is off on a book tour proclaiming that he is, was, and forever will be innocent and everybody else is wrong.

Long before the hanky panky that put him behind bars Black was a pioneer in the looting of pension plans. His career has been one long exercise in pushing the envelope of what was legally permissible. Questions of ethics never entered the equation.

At every turn he was applauded by a fawning business press who made him out to be a bold visionary. He's not so much a presence in the business pages anymore, having piddled away the lions share of his fortune in futile attempts to preserve his reputation and avoid jail.

The current book tour in Britain is cementing his status as an object of derision. Perhaps we are just meeting the real Conrad after all these years. He's not a tycoon, he's not a bold visionary.

He's just a vain and somewhat silly man.

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