‘The moon is made of green cheese’: a statement of folkloric motif widespread among many of the world’s cultures. It is both a proverb and metaphor for credulity with roots in fable referring to the perception of the simpleton who sees the reflection of the moon in water and mistakes it for a round cheese.
I was reminded of the metaphor very recently when faced with the government’s new stance on the Banking Code of Practice on taxation. The new Code governance protocol seems to needle further an already bristly relationship. The protocol sends these clear messages to banks: the law is what HMRC says it is and all bets are off regarding the previous application of the Code; doing anything that comprises...
