Money Flies In

Hardly a day goes by without Ai Weiwei popping up in the news. According to a Tweet by his acolyte Liu Yanping, almost 20,000 people have so far handed over money to help pay for Weiwei's tax bill of 15m yuan (£1.4m, $2.3m). Some local fans have even sent money over the wall of Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd by means of paper aeroplanes (title link). Donations so far have topped 5m yuan (£490,000, $790,000). That's a third of his tax bill. He says he is "very grateful and very touched by their actions", but he still hasn't decided whether to pay his bill or not. I reckon it all depends on how much more self-publicity he can milk out of it. I can't help wondering how many Brits would donate to a fund for Bob Diamond of Barclays Plc if he were to refuse to pay his taxes. Not a lot, I guess.