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He told me, only the other day, that it was provided for.
That was Mr Micawber's expression, 'Provided for.'
Charles Dickens: David Copperfield, Ch 28.
The talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Proverbs 14, 23.

Unable to produce a rabbit from his hat, the so-called CEO of IICUS David Brandon let the cat out of the bag on 11th March in an e-mail to his members, modest in numbers if not by nature. Sorry chaps, he said, but we are broke.

Well, that's what he might have said, but you don't reach the dizzy heights of being a CEO - even of an organisation with no real paid executives for you to be chief of - just by coming out with bald unembroidered facts. We should think not, indeed! You have to word these things properly. The news may be bad but it is your job to make it sound good. As if hobbling along without two pennies to rub together was what you had been aiming for right from the start. So, how did he actually phrase it?

"Now, as we look to the future,".....statesmanlike stuff....."we have been re-assessing our position in relation to membership"......sounds prudent....."and have been in discussion with our Trustees".....Trustees? What is there for them to be a trustee of?....."on how best to move forward." All very sensible and dignified, as befits the CEO of such an august body, even if it is only a part of an important, though penniless, consortium. Next came the good (sic) news.

"I am happy to announce, that together, we have agreed".....something earth-shattering coming here, you might think....."to concentrate our resources".....what might they be?..... "and energies towards our core activity".....surely they were doing that before?....."of education and by ceasing the operation of a membership requirement.".....Oops!

Further on, Mr Brandon spelt out more clearly that IICUS had no money coming in, that it could not afford to run "an extensive membership base" - pull the other one, Mr Brandon! - and was unable to pay the £1 per head insurance cost. For a moment the mask slipped when he admitted that. If you wanted insurance you would have to "contact the secretary of your local umpires association." In other words, ECBACO. It was no good looking at the International Institute!

We have come a long way in quite a short time. As with all ventures connected with Barrie Stuart-King, for he was the pea-brains behind this, it has taken just three years for it to hit the rocks and start to disintegrate. It may not be much longer before Companies House wakes up to the fact that it was lied to over the matter of registration. That can be serious, too. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise," says Proverbs 14/ 20, "but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."

30th March 2009.