This is a foolhardy, if heartfelt, request, and perhaps the season of good will is the time to make it. I am seeking a patron – a wealthy person (or indeed persons), perhaps an oligarch or a plutocrat, one at least to whom my modest requirements seem puny – who could help to place Hooting Yard on a sound financial footing. There are readers and listeners who are very generous – you know who you are, and I thank you – but in this instance I wonder if there is a devotee of sufficient riches who could help not only to keep the wolf from the door, but to keep it penned in some distant wolf-prison. If you think you may have sufficient sense, and wealth, to support an impoverished scribbler, please drop me a line (address here). Or, if you cannot help but count among your friends and acquaintances an oligarch or plutocrat or, say, Damien Hirst or Richard Branson, please draw this to their attention. And do not forget there is always that Paypal ”Donate” button to your right.