Yorkshire Almanac 2026

Unedited excerpt

If an excerpt is used in the book, it will be shorter, edited and, where applicable, translated.

50. As I have already said, Mrs Katung was interviewed by Mr Coles on 11 March 2020. She was asked to explain how funds in Nigeria (in the local currency) were transferred to the UK (in sterling). Mrs Katung said the following:

“… but, like I said to you, in 2015 as well, we’d just had a new takeover of Government in Nigeria. So, all the banks, there was this policy, the Central Government were not transferring funds from Nigeria directly from the Central bank to any foreign country. So, if you needed to exchange, you had to go through the black market. As this was me, obviously, I had already moved house and I had only moved with £40,000. I meant to move in with £400,000. So, my husband said, “Well we’ve got the money now, so we have to look for ways in which to transfer the money from Nigeria to England. So it was at that point, almost every local bureau de change that you can think of around the country, I was calling any Nigerian who needed money to send to their home country, I was … I just, you know, word of mouth to people, “I will give you the naira” because that’s what the currency’s called. … “I will give you the naira, you give me pounds” and I paid everything, I said, “send it through to my business consultancy account.”

51. Mr Coles sought clarification of this answer and he put to Mrs Katung the following: “so essentially, you’ve put, for want of a better word, feelers out around the Nigerian community for anyone who wants sterling, the equivalent amount in naira, back in Nigeria, you would effectively buy the sterling off them and you would have the money transferred back in Nigeria, to whatever account they …”

52. Mrs Katung agreed with Mr Coles’ interpretation of her answers. She also agreed with the proposition that she was operating a money service bureau.

53. Finally, towards the end of the interview, we see the following exchange:

“AC: so, basically, your husband has sold the naira to the …?
KATUNG: that’s correct …
AC: and ultimately, your bank account has been given to all these random people.
KATUNG: that’s correct … that’s what happened.
AC: but you can see the danger here, can’t you?
KATUNG: I, I do, yeah, I do. Cos normally, we’ve gone through, like I said to you, er, we had to go through the, erm … the private, instead of going through the Central Bank.”

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

The incoming government in 2015 under Muhammadu Buhari campaigned on an anti‑corruption platform, and after the election authorities such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission began to investigate and indict high‑level officials from the previous ruling party. However, there is no evidence, and it would be outrageous to suggest, that the house purchase apparently agreed on 1 April 2015 was in any way related to Goodluck Jonathan’s concession of the election on 31 March 2015 – studies of capital flight in Nigeria (and more broadly) show that the major determinants are macroeconomic, such as interest‑rate differentials, exchange‑rate instability or depreciation, poor domestic economic performance, investor risk perception, and weak financial markets. The vendor, Mansoor Hussain, subsequently forfeited most of his property empire following a NCA investigation, but I know of no evidence that Hussain was aware of the investigation at the time the sale was apparently agreed. Here’s a profile of Andy.

AMK was last seen speaking to the Money Advice Liaison Group:

Opening speech at the MALG conference this morning is the fabulously passionate Cllr Abigail Marshall Katung #malgconf2025 #debtadvice pic.twitter.com/hdKfYHYWHH

— Financially Included (@FinanciallyIncl) November 13, 2025

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Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• 2015 Nigerian general election (1), held 28 and 29 March 2015, Muhammadu Buhari (APC) defeated the incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan (PDP) W/G ·
• All Progressives Congress (1) W/G ·
• Civil recovery (1) W/G ·
• Corruption (13) W/G ·
• Goodluck Jonathan (1) W/G ·
• Leeds City Council (34) W/G ·
• 📌Leeds (249) W/G ·
• List of mayors of Leeds (1) W/G ·
• Little London and Woodhouse (ward) (1) W/G ·
• Marshall Katung, Abigail (1975-) (1), Nigerian-British Labour Party politician W/G ·
• Marshall Katung, Sunday (1961-) (1), Nigerian politician (PDP) W/G ·
• Money laundering (1) W/G ·
• Muhammadu Buhari (1) W/G ·
• National Crime Agency (1) W/G ·
• Nigeria (5) W/G ·
• Nigerian naira (1) W/G ·
• Organized crime (1) W/G ·
• Peoples Democratic Party (Nigeria) (1) W/G ·
• Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (1) W/G ·

All tags.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

The incoming government in 2015 under Muhammadu Buhari campaigned on an anti‑corruption platform, and after the election authorities such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission began to investigate and indict high‑level officials from the previous ruling party. However, there is no evidence, and it would be outrageous to suggest, that the house purchase apparently agreed on 1 April 2015 was in any way related to Goodluck Jonathan’s concession of the election on 31 March 2015 – studies of capital flight in Nigeria (and more broadly) show that the major determinants are macroeconomic, such as interest‑rate differentials, exchange‑rate instability or depreciation, poor domestic economic performance, investor risk perception, and weak financial markets. The vendor, Mansoor Hussain, subsequently forfeited most of his property empire following a NCA investigation, but I know of no evidence that Hussain was aware of the investigation at the time the sale was apparently agreed. Here’s a profile of Andy.

AMK was last seen speaking to the Money Advice Liaison Group:

Opening speech at the MALG conference this morning is the fabulously passionate Cllr Abigail Marshall Katung #malgconf2025 #debtadvice pic.twitter.com/hdKfYHYWHH

— Financially Included (@FinanciallyIncl) November 13, 2025

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Similar

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Comment

Comment

The Commissioners of Patents’ Journal records the seal on 1873/09/16 for:

1081 MARTIN TOBIN, of Leeds, in the county of York, Gentleman, for an invention of “An improved means or mode of ventilating rooms or apartments and in the apparatus employed therefor.” Dated 24th March, 1873. (Patent Office 1873/09/16)

I can’t find the volume for the first half of 1873.

John Whitehurst came to similar conclusions in the late 18th century (Whitehurst 1794).

I am sure that the devil was in the detail, but how good were Tobin’s Tubes really?

The Tobin tube (a vertical shaft, open at the top, and communicating with the outside at the base) was popular in Victorian times (c 1878). One such had a water trough at the base of the shaft, ostensibly to trap dust from the incoming air. The Tobin tube was not a success and, shortly after its introduction, Edwards stated flatly that either the free area was too small or the incoming air immediately spilled over the top onto the floor. Worse, the provision of lids meant that all too often they were permanently closed. Yet the Tobin tube remained in use for 30 years or more, and was even recommended by an early 20th century architect.

[…]

In 1894, Professor Jacob, a pathologist, held the architect in contempt:

In most cases architects are content to introduce an occasional air brick or a patented device called a “ventilator” … Real ventilation is so uncommon that the architect usually thinks this object has been attained if some of the windows can be opened. Some think that the presence of “ventilators”, especially if they have long names and are secured by Her Majesty’s letters patent, ensures the required end. We may as well supply our house with water by making the trap door in the roof to admit rain.

(Billington 1982)

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