"Wet fish and taxi fares"

A sad and disgraceful story that has been stewing since 2006 and back on the radar.

Actually rather humorous in a grim way, I mean talk about euphemisms.

'Mercurial' acquaintance?

'Assist' dear darling Claire with her financial affairs?

I'm just sorry justice will never be done because TT is just too expertly slippery.

I wonder no one got wind of this years ago and led Claire back to the straight and solvent? No doubt there's more than meets the ink.

For the rest of you who don't know Dai Thomas, he was *the* most beautiful young man in his salad days in Hong Kong, a real charmer.

Damn'd good commentator, too. Trouble was, all my virgin school gel pals fancied him rotten, so there's an element of rancid grape pips as I remember back.

Even Ted himself seemed to treat as a joke his congenital inability to keep his body parts out of shady deals or trusting damsels.

As he aged (not well) and got further trapped in his wheeler-dealer weasel ways, his features crumbled into craggy dissolution, defining a nightmare Dorian Gray.

Come to think of it, Thomas increasingly came to resemble Mr Jack Cater ... yes, indeed, those two will have some tales to trade as they toast their infernal crumpets in the Belial Grill and Sports Bar.

That he could cheat Claire of all people leaves me ... well, it leaves me.

God knows how he can show his face in the FCC, perhaps he can't, perhaps he doesn't care.

Bankruptcy Ordinance served.

Ted Thomas: "Carrying on with writing my latest book." You have to know TT to know how screamingly funny that line actually is. What I would give to be at the bar of the FCC when Ted says it out loud to the assembled poker-faced hacks.

Feb 1, 2010 ~ Forwarded hotfoot from Hong Kong clubland comes latest news of the Thomas/Hollingworth impasse  courtesy of Bloomberg.com's admirable Le-Min Lim.

The usual argy-bargy that Ted's always been good at drawing out:

“I’m not paying,” says Thomas, 80, who looks two decades younger. Actually, 'Dorian' Thomas finally looks his age (plus a few) so I don't know why writer Le-min is laying it on like that.

"The Poynton, Cheshire, native says he would rather file for bankruptcy than pay the full sum because the money is “paid to greedy lawyers who keep churning this case.”

Here's something I didn't know and is a bit of a giveaway: TT still

"retains membership at some of the city’s most prestigious establishments such as the Hong Kong Club, which he visits every other day to exercise and play poker.

Thomas says that he had a speaking part in the 2008 film “Largo Winch,” that paid HK$100,000."

Blimey, that's a bit steep even for a wreck of a cad like Ted the Snaffle.

Calling the lawsuit “an act of malice,” Thomas says he won’t bow to pressure to pay the full sum. [Hmm, now I know of what to accuse my creditors when next they pursue me over late debts]