Game Of Drones

In the House of Lords, peers of the realm have been droning on about drones.

In particular, the drones that hover over Haydock or fly around Ffos Las, bringing live pictures of races to punters wanting an edge in the in-running markets.

There is a general feeling of resentment that the pesky whirring things can’t be shot out of the sky like pheasants, but the truth is that any Lord or Lady taking two barrels to these weird-shaped space invaders would have to explain themselves to Scotland Yard.

It is not (yet) against the law to invent something better or more efficient than that which currently exists

Looking through metallic remotely-controlled eyes can mean the viewer is aware of race-changing moments up to a full second before the rest of us, including the bookies. That small sounding margin can be huge in terms of gambling profits.

The drone industry itself is cut-throat and somewhat unregulated. This looks set to continue. A drone with a single owner is more expensive to run than a super-drone syndicated to 10 owners, so the latter has become fashionable. The super-drone will soon, it is felt, give way to a super-duper drone with possibly 1000s of subscribers.

In this rapidly changing new business, what is state of the art today may be obsolete tomorrow.

‘This is foul play and it must be stopped’, thundered the worldly Lord Lipsey of Tooting Bec.

The Baron is an ex-chairman of the Fabian Society, a not-entirely disreputable organisation founded in the 19th century to advance socialist principles by attritional rather than revolutionary means. However, his views on this subject resemble the standard knee-jerk left-wing reaction to anything entrepreneurial and clever.

Viscount Astor wondered when the government would be amending the law to suit his opinions. As a member of the Astor family he is used to getting his own way.

His perspective is interesting. The original Lord Astor made his money by amassing profits as a fur trader (he had been born in Canada in 1848), then from shipping, then from property on Manhattan Island. The present Viscount owes everything, including his position in the English aristocracy, to this risk-taking entrepreneur.

Isn’t it likely that John Jacob Astor pursued ruthless tactics when smuggling opium in and out of China, for example; or that his status as ‘the landlord of New York’ and reputation as the first multi-millionaire in US history was gained by pushing (and even exceeding) the boundaries of what was considered acceptable by the then authorities?

Viscount Astor was informed by the minister responsible, Lord Callanan, that amending the law of the land on his whim was not on the government’s agenda and added that if Astor, and others of his view, remained concerned, it would help if they made a better case ‘backed by persuasive data’.

Astor has yet to reflect that his own ancestors very probably earned their prosperity by sharp-elbowed tactics, not unlike those employed by the wide-boys now jostling for supremacy in the clouds above our racetracks.

It’s a drone-eat-drone world.