If Chelsea were to fall foul of profit and sustainability, they would be expected to cite unforeseen circumstances, much as some clubs have claimed Covid writedowns: their books would have been sound but for the pandemic.

[W]ould there not be a ſerious danger, that while theſe innovations were proceeding, rival European powers might ſeize the occaſion, renew their commercial efforts, and divert into a new channel thoſe ſtreams of commerce which rendered London the emporium of the Eaſtern trade?

“She said she had a date later!” “The hell!” exclaimed Crane.

Before that, students and professors could date whomever we wanted; the next day we were off-limits to one another—verboten, traife, dangerous (and perhaps, therefore, all the more alluring).