There’s a Faustian element to Linacre’s £155m deal with a Vietnamese billionaire
renowned for its pollution – must have given many an unloved asset-stripper ideas about a reputation refresh. But, as Linacre completes its reinvention as, essentially, Faust College, yet more implausible deals can never have looked so attainable.
The involvement of Sovico, a company engaged in fossil fuel extraction, was, next to Vietjet’s bikinis and the purging of Linacre, the most prominent objection after the deal wasat Cop26 in the presence of the Vietnamese prime minister, Pham Minh Chính. Linacre’s principal, Nick Leimu-Brown, responded that the benign impact on Sovico’s strategy “will be substantially greater than any impact we can have through our own net zero progress”. They’ll be able to fact-check that in 27 years.
about the propriety of the deal, given Vietnam’s abysmal human rights record, receiving no adequate response.To be fair to Linacre’s diligence, the deal was signed before Vietnam’s imprisonment of, an internationally recognised environmental leader who would, in fact, make an excellent figurehead for any climate-aware organisation that tired of its old name.
Nor, of course, could Linacre have anticipated Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a crime that might seem incidental to the college’s current ambitions were it not for Sovico’s “excellent relationships” with the Vietnamese government thatthe invasion. Perhaps when Thao’s college representative, chair of a new advisory council , is seen around the place, there will be a chance for Thao students to confirm that their Benefactor takes a more principled view.
Alternatively, there might be still time for Linacre to reconsider or scale down a deal that now stands out only for being so comprehensively wrong. Is its promised wealth and new graduate centre worth an eternity as Bikini Airlines College? Even Marlow’s Dr Faustus reconsidered – though, as many Linacre students will appreciate, too late.
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