Chunk of the day: on an industrial scale

Chunk of the day: on an industrial scale

On Sunday evening, as I was getting dinner ready for my kids, I listened to a programme on BBC Radio 4 about money laundering – the process of hiding the origin of money that’s been obtained from illegal activities by putting it into legal businesses – and the way that the City of London ends up taking receipt of billions of pounds’ worth of ill-gotten gains every year.

The main focus of the programme was on Maksim Bakiyev – the youngest son of the former President of Kyrgyzstan, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. He is wanted back in his home country, where he has already been sentenced to life in prison for embezzling millions of dollars in state funds. However, Maksim seems to have little interest in returning to Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, as he has been mysteriously granted British citizenship, lives in a £ 4-million mansion in Surrey and has invested heavily in various companies with links to the City. If the allegations against him are true, then this is corruption on an industrial scale.

If something happens on an industrial scale, it happens in a big way – on a very large scale, but interestingly the phrase is not often used to describe things that are business-related. Instead, it’s more frequently used to describe crimes – or things that people somehow see as ‘criminal’ because they think they’re bad or wrong or unfair, so hysterical newspaper articles that are angry about plans to expand Heathrow Airport might describe the building work as vandalism on an industrial scale, meaning they think it’s a deliberate attempt to damage or destroy what’s still public property. A recent report on the buying and illegal resale of tickets for concerts and football matches (by ticket touts) spoke of tickets being “snapped up and resold for profit on an industrial scale”, while many large multi-national companies have recently been accused of tax avoidance on an industrial scale!

Our new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, keeps repeating that the UK is “open for business”. When you hear stories like these, it does make you wonder exactly what kind of business he has in mind – and who stands to benefit from it!

• Can you think of anything that’s happened on an industrial scale where you live?
• What other ways of money laundering have you heard of?
• Have you heard any stories about people embezzling money?
• What do you think the best way to tackle corruption is?
• Are ticket touts common in your country? Where?

Chunk of the day: on the wagon

This Friday I’ll be meeting an old friend of mine called Jon. I’m looking forward to seeing him as it’s been a while since we last met, but I’m also slightly worried as ever since we arranged to go out a couple of weeks ago, he’s been making a big deal about the fact that he’s currently on the wagon – he’s not drinking alcohol at the moment. He’s part of a growing trend because over recent years, more and more people have started doing Dry January.

I don’t know if this happens elsewhere in the world, but here in the UK it means people basically decide not to drink at all for the whole of this month. Of course, I don’t mean that they don’t drink anything; I just mean they don’t drink alcohol. One strange thing about the English language is the fact that when we talk about drinking, we almost always mean alcohol, so if someone has a drink problem, it doesn’t mean they’re ill and are having problems drinking. It means they drink too much alcohol! In the same way, if someone asks Do you fancy a drink? it usually means they’re offering you some alcohol – or seeing if you want to go to the pub with them. . . and if you tell someone that you don’t drink, they automatically understand you mean alcohol.

Dry January may well have started as a response to the excessive drinking (and eating) that often accompanies Christmas here, and is also, I guess, a kind of New Year’s resolution: this year I’m going to drink less – starting right now! Anyway, if you have friends who are doing it, they’ll usually pester you to sponsor them – they want you to promise to give them money (which they will then donate to charity) if they go the whole month without a drink. Newspapers are currently full of articles about the health benefits of not drinking and advice on how to stay off – or kick – the booze (booze is another word for alcoholic drink, so if you’re going to a party here, it’s best to take some booze), and while some boast of being on the wagon and being strong enough not to give in to temptation, others moan about the fact that they only lasted a few days before falling off the wagon and finding themselves back on the booze – drinking again. It’s enough to leave everyone else feeling like they need a drink, I can tell you!

The origin of the phrase on the wagon is quite interesting. In the old days in America, they used to have water carts – or water wagons – that were pulled along the streets by a horse, and the water was sprayed onto unpaved streets in the dry summer months to stop them from getting too dusty. Apparently, when people who’d decided not to drink again were offered alcohol, they’d often respond by saying that they were on the water wagon, and the phrase has just been shortened over the years! The things you learn!

Work in groups. Discuss these questions.

• Do you have Dry January in your country? If so, is anyone you know on the wagon at the moment?
• Do you know anyone who doesn’t drink? Do you know why they don’t?
• Is it normal in your country to take some booze to parties?
• Does the word drink in your language generally mean alcohol – or do you need to add the word alcohol to show what you mean?