If I had known of the British Council’s history of deliberate obfuscation for financial gain, I would have had nothing to do with the organisation, and I imagine that assessment applies to many others – not least their troubled teachers. We have already reported on the Moscow closure, and how the Council, obliged by the Russian authorities to put their house in legal order, preferred to walk away from English language teaching there rather than compete on a (slightly) more level playing field with other providers. Having been burned in St Petersburg because of having to pay something called “tax”, and now obliged to operate legally in Moscow as well, they had had enough. It was, as we said, nothing to do with any supposed mission, nothing to do with “building trust”, and all about money, and the Council's policy of making it as easily as possible in as many places as possible. As the local British Council director admitted, it was a purely commercial decision. At least we have now got that straight.
Here now is a record of what was reported in the Spanish press, when a few years ago the Spaniards started to get restless about the British Council.
El propio Consejo Británico ha admitido en una nota confidencial del 11 de febrero de 1992, firmada por su director Brian Vale, que la enseñanza del inglés supone 17,5 millones de libras esterlinas (unos 3.500 millones de pesetas) para el Instituto. El memorándum añade: «Durante años el Consejo (en España) ha podido vivir en las sombras, manteniendo su condición intencionadamente confusa, haciendo sus negocios a la vez que gozaba de un estado libre de impuestos. (...) A menudo nos vemos obligados a detener las peticiones/reclamaciones de las autoridades invitándonos a contar la verdad y declarar con exactitud nuestra condición y nuestras fuentes de ingresos».
The British Council has itself admitted in a confidential note dated 11 February 1992, signed by its Director Brian Vale, that English teaching generates £17.5 million for the (British) Institute. The note adds: "For years the Council (in Spain) has been able to live in the shadows, keeping its position intentionally unclear, doing business at the same time as enjoying a tax-free status. (...) We often find ourselves forced to parry requests for information or claims from the authorities which invite us to say plainly what our status is and what are our sources of income".
…and on the following day, El Mundo reported:
«OCULTANDO CIFRAS».- Según la nota firmada por el actual director, Brian Vale, «recientemente hemos tenido que presentar cifras explicando (o para ser más precisos, ocultando) nuestra situación financiera con relación a la enseñanza del inglés. El problema estriba en que no podemos ganar. Si hacemos ver que tenemos beneficios, podemos despertar el interés de los inspectores de Hacienda. Y si no lo hacemos, se verá justificada la «Denuncia» (sic) del sector privado de la enseñanza del inglés por nuestra competencia desleal. Se trata de un enredo complicado que requiere discreción sutil y astuta así como economía para con la verdad financiera».
"Hiding Figures" - according to the note signed by the present Director, Brian Vale, "we have recently had to present figures explaining (or to be more accurate, hiding) our financial situation in relation to English teaching. The problem is that we can't win. If we let it be known we make profits, we could awaken the interest of the tax inspectors. If we don't let it be known, the private sector's “denunciation” [sic] of our unfair competition will be seen to be justified. It is a complicated web which requires subtle and cunning discretion as well as economy with the financial truth".
Read that last sentence again for a better understanding of the culture and values, and of the hypocrisy of claims to integrity and transparency, of this seriously unpleasant and parasitical organisation. A "charity", for goodness sake, that unlike any we might be inclined to support voluntarily we donate to compulsorily through our taxes. Let 2007 be the year when that outrage at least is brought to an end.
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