Ep4 | 32 Belgrave Square

25:36Hey, it's me. Hey. I've got an inventory of assets and funds to be reallocated as part of our talks with the Ruskies. Yeah, I sent that. Yeah, knew that. Appreciate you. My issue, right on page one, the summary, are they going to see that we've got discrepancy? Have we? If the AI has fabricated that or just left it over, then delete it. But yeah, in the bottom, like, tab on the front, it says the total, then discrepancy equals one. What's the one? Can we lose that from the document? Let me see. Cos if I'm them, I'm now looking real hard at everything. I'm looking for something, you know? Can't have that.

26:32We want this, but acknowledge, next step of talks. So this is just where it sinks and decides to match up the confiscated resources versus what we're collecting now. So something is gone, something ain't there that was there when we took it in 2022. Yeah, 2022, a few in 2023. Go to, open this link I'm sending you now.

27:02If it's funds, then we can look at how interest accrued can pay that down, but fuck knows what we say if they ask. Designated holding, restricted asset, property frozen under UK sanctions, regulation. Is this what the Sentinel thinks it is, or is this what it actually is? No. So, this is actually what it is. Classified in 2022. Property, not funds. Pending determination associated claim A. Prutsev Somebody made a claim on it Prutsev Who the fuck is that? Alexei Prutsev Russian billionaire Boghossian ally found dead Jan 2024

27:56So where'd it go? I'll call you back.

28:05Prutsev, London, residence. 32, Bellgrove Square.

28:35Yep. It's me. Prime Minister. A pushback from the Kremlin on one final point. Oh yeah? On what we're handing back, it doesn't match up to what they have as funds we've taken under control. Is that an interest rate fluctuation? No. What is it? It's a property. What property? 32 Belgrave Square. I'm looking at her right now. She's a beaut. Well, let's... Let's include that for now and at least we can move on to the next stage of discussions. We can't. Why? We don't own it.

29:27The End

29:51Luke Jasztal:Sergeant Tom Macduff That's me You're Patrick Zabubo Very good. Sharp hands, sharp mind too. Good to meet you. I want to praise you and to thank you for your efforts during the ADF raid on our facility in Dola. And I also want to welcome you back to Lusaka. Thanks for having me. I am pleased to tell you. Many miles from the DRC border. Of course. And Minister Sabobo, I want to honour the memory of Lieutenant David Zembo, who was struck down just outside my door on that morning. He alerted me to the danger and paid the ultimate price to transmit that information. And to Private Malenga, who valiantly fought his way out and allowed relief forces into the compound.

30:37Thank you. Great servants of Zambia. As are you. Well, I'm here to teach, not to fight, Minister. I want to introduce you to my colleague Mr. Chibwe in the Commerce and Development Department. This is Yang Li from Shanghai's Military Directions Program. Hi there. Hello. They built this state-of-the-art facility. They'll be looking at positions on our DRC border. They also, in fact, made some of the weapons you have been illustrating both to our troops and to our enemies. Good to meet you, Mr. Markdorf. An honor, sir. Thank you for the service to our Zambian friends. Thank you for the gun.

31:31West Oak Hospice. Hi, hello. My name is Adi Azekiwe. I work with Prime Minister Bran. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Don't hear that very often. But yeah, no, I do Amazon deliveries too. You need to sign for this. No, I'm joking. No. I wondered if the legendary Sir Pilgrim Moore was in any state for a visit at all. I'd love to sit with him and talk with him about some of the exciting stuff we're doing in his field. Oh, um, um, okay, um, let me see. Do you want to come and take a seat at reception and we'll see? Great! Great, thank you.

32:23Luke Jasztal:Mr. Azikiwe. Sir Pilgrimmoor. The Bruiser from Abuja. Lagos, actually. Oh, yes. Don't let that get in the way of a good alias. I left Niteria when I was two as well, so... You don't have any monitors or nothing. No beeping, passing or anything like that. Not the way they do things in a hospice. They don't like all that then, eh? No. You're yellow. Even your eyes. All the better to see you with. How is the demolition project? Get in there. Stubborn foundations, I expect. A simple expectation to make. The system would always fire back Ah yes, of course The dreaded system You dismantle it Because you assume It wasn't built for you I don't assume I know How do you know?

33:40I'm young And black

33:42Luke Jasztal:I'm old and yellow You know This This won't help your defiant attitude against your white elders, but, well, I'll tell you it anyway. I owned a cottage in Wiltshire for 15 years, and I was never aware of it. Not a clue at all. My uncle left it to my mother. She'd lost her marbles by then. I ended up with it somehow and it only became known to me when I retired. I took it as a sign. I thought to myself, I deserve a life in the country. So I moved into it. This sodden, pokey little thatched thing in a valley. Big dark beams, long sloping garden that opened onto pastures Beautiful But right in the middle of the lawn there was this ugly, intrusive concrete gully that cut right through the grass I'd be out there mowing it crunch over the concrete, even sheared a blade rolling over this damn thing.

35:13Luke Jasztal:I thought, that's it. I'll smash the whole lot out. Sledgehammer, a few bottles of wine. Glorious sunshine. Best weekend I've had since the wall came down. Out it all comes. I plant new grass seeds over it all, and the lush, fresh shoots emerge by the end of the summer. The following January, Britain had more rainfall in 30 days than it had had the entire previous two years. All the houses in the village were fine, mind you. All except for one. Mine. A foot of water across the entire ground floor. Everything ruined. Everything. The insurance send their fellow round. He goes outside into the garden.

36:07Luke Jasztal:He looks at me and he says, Where's your swale? I said, My what? He says, Your land drain. No. For surface water runoff, he says again. I mean, shit. My heart falls into my arse. I play dumb with the gentleman in my garden. I'm far too proud for all of this. He says it's a valley. Every rainfall causes the water to come down from the fields and pastures, so they have these concrete gullies to channel flood water away from residences. That was that. Man. Fool. Fool. Fool indeed.

36:59Luke Jasztal:Ah, out on my blessed plot on that beautiful long summer, I assumed, Mr. Azakiwe, that the ugly strip of concrete in my garden was not built for me. and that assumption cost me the entire cottage. The footings on which the property was built hundreds of years ago rotted away in the standing water beyond economic repair. The home I never knew I had was gone. Fighting to the end, are you? I'm not fighting, just imparting wise words. Thanks for that. And I've got something for you as well. Oh, yes? What's that? Immunity. From cancer? Oh, tremendous news. From prosecution.

38:16A DPA will grant you the peace and comfort that you need and it gives us, the country, the information that you have.

38:24Luke Jasztal:And this DPA, that would be arranged through the Crown Prosecution Service, will it? It will.

38:35Otherwise, we'd be facing a public inquiry and you'd be under oath.

38:41Luke Jasztal:Oh, I do love the optimism. What way do you want to do it?

38:50Luke Jasztal:You know why there's no monitors in here? Why they're not checking my heart? My blood pressure, my breathing, no? I'm already dead, Mr Azukiwe. Seem pretty a love to me. Heather? Heather? Heather? Yes, pilgrim, love. This is Heather. Angel of death. The last face people see in here before they die. Yeah, thanks. Got away with words, hasn't he? He does. What did you say of my state this morning? What was that phrase? Pilgrim. I'm not afraid, darling. What was it? Well, you're going to give me some technical biological stuff now, but the nurses call it soul glow. Soul glow. Isn't that beautiful?

39:53What's that then, Heather? Enlighten me. It's... I feel bad for saying it in front of him. Before people pass away, they'll often have a day like this, just before. Energetic, enthusiastic, talkative and... Alive. Alive, aye. It can be very confusing for loved ones because it always looks like a sign of improvement. Then they go. Then they go, aye. Sorry. No, no. It's okay. Thank you, Heather. Just a little bit longer, okay?

40:39Luke Jasztal:Of course, darling. I am dead. Just a soul. With a splash of steroids to animate its host. What's Alma? Hmm? A corporate vehicle for some freelance work. Get much freelance work after being diagnosed with terminal cancer, did you? More so than I would have done if it was Alzheimer's. Did it need to be incorporated in the Cayman Islands?

41:19Who gets 32 Belgrave Square, Mr Moore? Hmm.

41:26Luke Jasztal:You best get back to your sledgehammer. Who gets 32 Belgrave Square? One of your old crony mates. Some home county hawk on Times Radio talking out the other side of his mouth about Kremlin corruption. Is that it? Yeah?

41:53You know I'll find out. You know that, don't ya?

42:01Luke Jasztal:Thank you... for coming to see me off.

42:18No, we're not doing that. I'm not saying it's a straightforward point. I'm saying the Russians want sanctions lifted. Okay, fine. Not something we can necessarily do unilaterally, but we can make the right noises. This isn't about sanctions. No, no. I know. I know. This is about frozen assets, which we have categorically put forward and proven to them that we can do unilaterally. Exactly. But in the instance of 32 Belgrave Square, we can't. We can't yet. Yet. But this is either timely for core, for our capital growth strategy with the US, or it isn't Prime Minister. Options, Vince. Options. Options are, we come out, say what it is, blame it on the previous government.

43:09That'll get to the press. If it does, you've got grounds to seize it. If we seize it, the Russians know we have it, so it gets returned to Moscow and that becomes public knowledge. And we say the core initiative puts money back in the British people's pockets. They'll put the Russia connection to us even more so than they're already doing. Let them. Every time they do it. Every time they scream Russia on Question Time or on their podcasts. Your ratings go up. Not down. Let them do it. Next option. Look, we say to the Russians, This property was actually not owned by the Russian state, but by a private Russian citizen in Alexey Prutsev.

43:54Fuck no. Why not? I'm the Russian president. Say that to me. 32 Belgrave Square, Mr. President, is complicated because it was owned by Alexey Prutsev. A traitor? Yes, maybe. But a private citizen of Russia. Are you protecting a traitor of the Russian people? No, I'm saying the means at our disposal... Khrushchev wanted me dead. Do you want me dead? Of course not, but his house... She bought with money stolen from the Russian workers. So not only do your weapons in Ukraine spill our people's blood, you harbour enemies of the Russian Federation, and now you protect the people that wanted me dead.

44:32Boom. He's ripped up our coordination initiative. Americans are on the phone. Journos are absolutely frothing. Opposition is fired up to fuck. Addy, just... Vince, let's hear the next option. Alright, um, we're quiet. But direct line to Moscow, we tell them the situation. That the house has been taken by a shadow organisation. They'll want more than that. We say we're working on it. They'll do that for us and things will get messy. So what? They go after Pilgrim? He'll be dead by the time they track him down. You're right about that, because he died last night.

45:13I thought you saw him yesterday. I did. Died in the middle of the night. Right. If the Russians do this hunt for us, we're going to have another Salisbury on our hands. Maybe multiple Salisburys. Hi, um, Addy, the social data crawler bar has been looking for Belgrave Square mentions and markers. Vince, can you step out a sec? Isn't this regarding... Vince, just two minutes. Thank you. Prime Minister. Carry on. Can I just show you my laptop? Here. So the AI did Belgrave Square by GPS first. So basically people that posted from there, nothing really like that informative. But then it ran the same process on mentions across all platforms.

46:07So this is mentions. and then there's this. Who is that? The original poster, Prime Minister. Just a member of the public. Okay. And who is that in the picture? Alex Curnaway. On election night. Outside 32 Belgrave Square.

46:46שלום.

47:12I fire as the bullet base clears the muzzle, right? It can pick up a tiny bit of yaw, which I've tested about a thousand times this morning. It does with this build. The yaw can knock it off, off the bore line. Microscopically, not a problem at 100 metres, but this is a thousand. After the muzzle, the bullet is going to meet gravity and aerodynamic drag. Yes, Corporal. The lift forces too, like you said. Aye, but that's a good point. But I also said the spin stabilization keeps that tiny. What else did I say? Remember, this shot is over a kilometer. Earth. I'm going to fucking give him that. Fuck it.

48:02I'm feeling generous. Coriolis, the earth is spinning. That bullet is a long way to go. So where I'm from, Northern Hemisphere, I might, with a shot like this, be fighting marginally against Coriolis going to the right. Down here in Zambia, it's to the left, Southern Hemisphere. So let's go to our three lines, bore line, that's where the barrel is actually pointing in relative space, line of sight line, that is what I see and aim at after calibration. Then the final line. Trajectory, trajectory. Bullet trajectory. My bore is pointing by a fraction of a degree above where my scope is looking. So bullet gets a run of distance heading upwards against gravity.

48:46First 100 metres, my bullet is climbing. For about the next 700 metres, it's above my line of sight. Then, on the final straight, that final 200, maybe a little under, gravity gets hold of him and says, down you go. It descends back through my line of sight. to my zero point. Good. Find your body position, test and adjust where your elbows are placed. How do you feel? How do you rest yourself? You could be holding that pose for 24 hours. The position needs to be natural and comfortable. So, think about that. Captain. I believe you met with our friends from China. Ah, yes. Hello again. Everything alright?

49:49What is the United States without Britain? Ask yourself that. And by extension, what is the world? What is the modern world without that secret sauce of the UK and US? You might ask yourself, what modern world? There wouldn't be one, right? We're looking around the world and we're seeing a bunch of organizations and treaties that, you know, maybe aren't treating us so good. Are kind of taking advantage of our good nature. putting rules, regulations, expectations on us, but not others. Now, that righteous world order is going to see how things go when the UK and US has each other's backs once again.

50:49Ladies and gentlemen, I've been the ambassador of this foundational civilization, that is the United Kingdom of Great Britain for three incredible years. And in that time, nothing has got me more excited, more energized, and more optimistic for the future than Merriam Brand's, there she is right there, Merriam Brand's Capital Market Agreement and Coordination Initiative.

51:21Mom. Prime Minister. Excellent. Thank you, thank you. Shared culture. I'll never forget when that liberal loon congressman with the podcast, when he said to me, all red in the face, angry, you'd be speaking German if it weren't for us. And I replied, what language would you be speaking? What language would you be speaking?

51:47Oh, that was good. God, so good. Oh dear, honestly. It probably was. Said some Cherokee fucking Indian shit or something. He may have admonished me for hurting his feelings on stolen land. Right. There's a whole heap of congressmen that want to thank you for joining our Iran campaign. Of course. With the midterms approaching, the more it becomes a global effort, not a U.S. thing by the U.S. president. You know, you get it. I understand completely. People are so fucking weird about war. Suck it up, you know? How's everything coming along with the... No, it's good. It's interesting. I'd rather not work with the fucking Turks, to be honest, but I get it.

52:29It's a coalition side of it. No, I get it. I get it, but otherwise, no snags. Timeframes are solid. Good. Because the... You know, the president's plan with this is to have the inaugural coordination summit. Clash with the G7 summit, yes, I know. No better way to show the world, right? It's genius. The president, he actually, he said to ask you about, he said that he, he said that you said to Secretary Romero that the Russians had their knickers in a twist. And he, I guess he just wanted to know what you meant by that. As a colloquialism? Well, no. I'm not about to talk the commander-in-chief through Britishisms for panties.

53:22No, no. He wants to know if there is a friction point starting to rub between, like, you and... And the Russian president. Right. Not at all. Cool, because that would, like, that would suck. Mark, this agreement is about a new world, new chapters, new beginnings. Without Russia, it simply doesn't work. Of course. Of course! I'm not playing any kind of game. That's good. Right. Because, full disclosure, they... Look, I mean, they kind of reached out about Prutzev and the property. I don't think that it's even a financial thing. It's a principal thing. No, absolutely. And we understand that. We understand that.

54:07Great. Great.

54:23Police! Do you have a duty to tell us if anyone's inside? I think we can grade this, doesn't it? I'll get uniform whilst we're here as well.

54:38Sir Pilgrim Moore served his country in a way that only Sir Pilgrim Moore could. With energy, urgency, and with honour. ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

55:08I remember when he was informed by the palace that he was to be knighted. He reached out and said to me, do you think it would be improper, old boy, to accept such a thing? And I said, why would he think that?

55:28That fucking idiot! That fucking stinks mate! I'll tip this place upside down! Get some of those of the fucking hell! Leave him my keys mate! I see a lamp off! Let's get the lamp off the team! Fuckin' me! And he replied, well, they'd always have something on me then, wouldn't they? He who pays the piper calls the tune. You can take the man out of intelligence services, but you can't take the intelligence services out of the man. Just don't fucking break it. I mean, that don't fucking matter. That don't fucking matter, but what we can't do is piss about the fucking laptop here. Get them to fucking crack it.

56:19Fuck it. Fuck it. Grab the laptop. Yeah? Fuck it, Christmas, yeah? Hahaha!

56:43Hi. Yes, it is Mr. Curnoway speaking. Sorry, can I call you back? Thank you so much. Thank you. Must be your electricity provider. Ah, goodness. Hello? Calling to tell you your bills are coming down, I would imagine. Yes. Russian oil to the rescue. Hello, Alex. Prime Minister. How are you doing? Good, yeah. All right. Hi, Robbo. Mr. Curnoway. Don't need to check the city score with that grin on your face. Back to winning ways. Cruise control at the moment. Absolutely. Scott, could you give us a second, actually? Course, course.

57:33You know he's legally bound by the Official Secrets Act. Yes. Still. Does it feel real yet? Prime Minister? God no. No. When did it start to for you? I think when we lost the Chester South by-election. So two years in. Something to look forward to? Must be the thought of losing it that makes it real, maybe. Who knows? So? Any advice? No, but something may come to mind I'll email you if it does Another thing to look forward to then Sorry about your old chum Pilgrim Ah, yeah, thanks A very difficult diagnosis to beat So, a massive shock but always sad, these things I was talking to Keith Boxall in there.

58:39Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw Keith. He said Pilgrim was your mentor. Um, he was. Well, he sort of whipped me into shape when I was Shadow Foreign Sec. He was someone I just messaged to pick his brain, really. This was when he was out of public service for a bit, and he was just one of those people I just had to know his opinion on everything. Often before I knew my own. took a while to wean myself off it, to be honest. My brother's the same. Father was a piece of shit, high-achieving piece of shit, I should say. And my poor brother has been chasing the approval of senior establishment men damn near his whole life.

59:26Whether he realises that or not, I have no idea.

59:32So, Sir Pilgrim in there, could have talked you into just about anything. Hmm? Would that be a way of looking at it? Um, once upon a time, maybe, but not for many years, I'd say. So he didn't include you in his final venture on this mortal coil? He had a venture, did he? Why doesn't that surprise me? Oh, very much so. Alma. Alma Limited. registered in Grand Cayman. Provision of strategic advisory, risk assessment and compliance support services. Thrilling. I think if we know Pilgrim more, it never was a case of exactly what it said on the tin. Was it?

1:00:25Can't help feel the dead seem to have more of your attention than I do. Prime Minister, if you have questions that need answering, you have one of the best intelligence services in the entire world at your disposal. Yes, and so did you. And that is my concern, Alex. Right. It's just, I would hope that you have more pressing concerns at this moment. Domestically, and in the Middle East, and of course with Pete Nichols in your cabinet. But maybe you're better at the job than I was. Perhaps Britain's problems have finally been solved. What I don't get about you is you have this drab Toyota over here.

1:01:15Thank you. You dress like some fucking rest-is-history Middle-Englander. You live out that box in Hammersmith? Ealing. Christ. Seems quite straightforward to me. It does. And then you set your eyes on 32 Belgrave Square. 20 million in a bad market, marble pillars, subterranean swing pool, Belgravia. It just doesn't seem very Alex Curnaway to me. In fact, it's the total opposite. It is a Curnaway repellent. Yet you took it, gave it to your soon-to-be deceased mentor, and there you were, on election night. 32 Belgrave Square. That's what I don't get about you. I was having an election party, and you were having a little housewarming party.

1:02:08If I'd had known, I would have insisted you left number 10 that second. Would have saved me the night in a hotel. Is everything all right, Miriam? Listen to me. No, I'm serious. None of this makes any sense to me at all. yet you're visibly shaking. No, I'm serious, Alex. Let's be civil, right? Let's be transparent. We can speak when you're not so rattled. I should head back to my Ealing box. We raided his flat, his Fulham flat, Alex. Who's Tiberius? Is that an agent? An operative, Alex? Oh, I do have some advice, actually. it might be sensible to speak with occupational health just to make sure you're getting the well-being support you need completely routine, entirely confidential.

1:03:01Fuck you, Alex. Fuck you! The encrypted Tiberius file on his laptop, Alex. What's on it? What does it mean, Alex?

1:03:21Fuck!

1:03:56Thank you.

1:04:21I love you.