Naive and greedy
From Mr Michael Lawden Sir: Thanks to Rachel Royce for her article on the Hearts pyramid scam (`Girls just want to have funds', 12 July). I've always admired the profound insight that the designers of this immoral fraud have into the human weaknesses of their female victims. Rachel listed the baited hooks with precision. One could hear the clink of glasses, the gales of laughter, the illicit thrill, the satisfaction of putting two fingers up to the nanny state, the boredom of those miserable websites which say it can't work, the sense of empowerment and liberation. My heart lifted when I heard about that church roof being mended and that widow being 'gifted'. Gosh! I didn't know that Claudia Schiffer and Lady Elizabeth Anson did it. Wow! It must be OK, then!
One thing that Rachel didn't explain: when you 'win' lots of money from your 'investment' (Gordon Brown!), how do you keep your self-respect? Even Rachel (but not, apparently, Lady Elizabeth) realises that all this fun rests on the misery of 'the suckers too far down the chain to have any hope of seeing the dosh'.
Thank goodness I'm a cynical and greedy man rather than a naive and greedy woman.
Michael Lawden,
Dorchester-on-Thames. Oxfordshire
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