Boris Berezovsky claimed he held a sizeable stake in the younger oligarch's oil and aluminium companies, and was bullied into selling those shares at a knock-down price after Roman Abramovich threatened that the Kremlin - with which Mr Berezovsky had fallen out - would seize them.

BBC: Uncovered: Trial of the oligarchs

Nevertheless, even this writer (in his younger days) would expose himself to sun with baby oil at the same time he was studying for college-level toxicology classes.

FORBES: If Tanning Beds Were A Drug, They'd Be Illegal

The younger Thompson's politics is vinegar to his brother's Republican oil.

ECONOMIST: Oddball politicians

According to the Dallas Morning News, on September 8th, a former speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, Ben Barnes, was about to testify in a lawsuit that Sidney Adger, a close friend of Mr Bush's father and a prominent Houston oil-man, approached Mr Barnes in 1968, seeking help to get the younger Mr Bush a spot in the National Guard.

ECONOMIST: A little draft difficulty