“How'd you do with the rig?” Tater asked. Bubba did the sniff and wipe number again. “Piece a cake. That baby's a real hummer, Tater.”

I was told that the security agencies had determined that in the event of a public disturbance of any kind, three men would be destroyed at once. They were Henry Kao, the present mayor of Taipei, Kuo Yu-shin, an outspoken non-K.M.T. member of the Provincial Assembly elected by a solid constituency in I-lan, and me. The three of us were referred to in security documents by a coded sign, three concentric circles.

Wait a moment, while I lock the front door.

Short term and long term are technical expressions and depend upon how long the asset has been owned before disposal and whether it is amortisable (buildings, plant etc.) or non-amortisable (land and goodwill etc.).