A story about Uncle Phillip

Your Auntie apologizes that she has not spoken to you in a few days, but she has been very busy attending meetings and gathering information for you to be revealed, all in good time.

To make amends, Auntie would like to tell you an amusing story, for entertainment purposes only.

"Uncle Phillip" by Auntie Alibi (no relation)

Uncle Phillip was a well off, well adorned and most generous man; one who gave financial support to the king of the land and to his exclusive club. But he also shared his largess with the rebellious prince and the prince’s supporters in the Parliament. (The rebellious prince did succeed in becoming King.)

Some of the Parliamentarians who benefited from the generosity of Uncle Phillip were: Little Lee, who for a time actually worked in Uncle Phillip's employ; Katie Bonjour, who discovered that she LOVED being in the limelight and thought it was safe to do so; and one who was new to the Parliament, Barry Chewy, an unknown and not particularly remarkable fellow, but one who did what he was told and therefore, useful.

Uncle Phillip had an architectural/engineering firm and wanted to be hired for a big project in the land: the rebuilding of the palace.

Now this wasn’t Uncle Phillips first dance at the ballroom in the land. He was also involved with a “good government” group that volunteered to provide research for the princes and local governments, in a “non-partisan”, independent fashion. Uncle Phillip did not see a conflict in providing financial support to certain government officials and their political party then still making the claim of objectivity. He also did not see a conflict in providing finances to the very people who made the decisions regarding his project. Even though the magic news outlet (which is called “the internet”, probably named after fishermen) for his group CGR, the Center for Gradual Reliability loudly proclaims:

“We work with government, nonprofit and business leaders who drive public policy action and organizational change. We inform and empower leaders by providing fact-based, objective research and analysis and by making recommendations that are achievable. Our clients value the quality of our work, our pragmatic approach and our commitment to remaining independent and non-partisan.”

And this “good government” group, CGR, also provides services to a quasi-government agency called the International Doughnut Association or IDA.

Dear Uncle Phil, how can one be non-partisan when one financially supports a political party? How can one provide objective research when one has a company the will directly benefit from the projects decided upon by the very people in power, ones he financially supports? And just exactly how many projects are you juggling in our land? How many balls in the air can one have and still be “objective”?

We want to know.

And the story does not end here. 

Your Auntie is very glad she is not related to Uncle Phillip.