_{The Parent Trap.}

This has nothing to do with the legal market, but sometimes one comes across a vignette so fantastic that it just has to be shared. And RoF has a long and noble history when it comes to the Nigerian 419 scam (which my inestimable colleague Jamie has famously made his own - see here).

We lunched with some friends yesterday. They have an eight year old son (we’ll call him Max) who has befriended a little boy (let’s call him Gideon) in his class. Max asked if Gideon might come round for a play date after school one day.

I add here that Gideon attends an expensive London day school along with his sibling, and his father works for the Nigerian government in the oil sector. It’s fair to assume that the family probably isn’t on the breadline. I also add that Max’s mother (who does not even have a nodding acquaintanceship with Nigeria) has only ever spoken to Gideon’s mother for about two minutes outside the school gates.

The day arrives, and Max’s mother messages Gideon’s mother to say that the boys were good and did their homework before playing. And this is the response.

I have to hand it to her - using your eight-year-old son’s play date as a vehicle to attempt to extract / launder cash is an enterprising approach to the cost of living crisis.