Keep it sane and sensible!

Above, a young woman who describes herself as an “escort” and who trades under the name of “Saskia”.
The meaning of acronym “KISS” is “Keep it simple, Stupid!” in the manner of a stern rebuke to a person embarking on a very complex explanation rather than a straightforward easy to understand explanation.
For this country’s and other countries politicians, I think, “Keep it sane and sensible!” would be better. Happily for once the politicians in this organ’s immediate line of fire are Dutch not British!
This because the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office is preparing criminal charge against Royal Dutch Shell PLC in relation to the OPL245 licence in Nigeria.
This action by the Dutch officials is a very silly thing to do is because bribery is the normal way that business is carried out in third world countries. If Western companies feel compelled to avoid those practices, there will be no shortage of Chinese companies willing to take their place!
Now of course, no sensible person would suggest that there should be no laws proscribing bribery! If let us say a salesman for Royal Dutch Shell PLC was to bribe a planning officer in Greater London to allow the construction of a petrol station in a certain part of Epsom the authorities should and would prosecute!
What is ridiculous was to make the Bribery Act 2010 c. 23 extra-territorial – making it apply outside the borders of the UK!
Of course Royal Dutch Shell PLC is not the only company affected by these stupid laws. A particular victim in the UK is BAE Systems plc. BAE is one of the companies making the Eurofighter Typhoon. Saudi Arabia is a good customer. BAE has had problems relating to allegations of bribery in relation to these sales. This is ridiculous!
Allow us gentlemen to describe with an analogy to illustrate just how naïve and idiotic our (and other) politicians are. Imagine that you are on a business trip to Germany and you meet up with a very important German who is your firm’s customer. This fellow wishes to have a meal (and other things) at a certain establishment outside Stuttgart. This one:The above is in fact a brothel.
As you can see from it’s size and prominence, it is legal to operate such in Germany. Now let us say that this fellow persuades you to enter this establishment and he pays your entrance fee and you have a meal together. At the meal you are joined by two attractive women and let us say that “Saskia” is working there for a period. After the meal this fellow and the other woman leave to facilitate a business transaction of an intimate nature. The woman calling herself “Saskia” has proved to be engaging company and you decide that there is no harm in facilitating a business transaction of an intimate nature with her. After this business transaction you leave. A few days later you are back in England and after morning service on a Sunday you feel that you should “fess up” to your good lady wife! You explain that this woman should be regarded as nothing more than a meaningless business transaction. You do not know her real name. You have no feelings for her and she has no feelings for you. Therefore your good lady wife should not be too bothered about the business transaction of an intimate nature!
How stupid are you?
Gentlemen, we KNOW the reaction of your good lady wife! She will start screaming, crying and probably start throwing things in your general direction. You will find yourself spending that night in the garden shed!
Expecting a different reaction is like expecting the planet Earth to suddenly change direction around the Sun! It is NOT going to happen!
Let us face FACTS: The world works in certain ways. Humans operate in certain ways. Expecting them to be otherwise is stupidity!