13 FEBRUARY 1971, Page 27

Cod piece

Lord Robens (whose face reminded Ber- nard Levin in his Taper days here that he must buy a cod's head for his cat on the way home, has now been appointed Chair- man of Vickers Limited. It is hard to imagine a worse choice, since his first duties must be to protect creditors and share- holders by a ruthless liquidation of unpro- ductive divisions, the sale of property and the particularly sad task, just now, of mak- ing large numbers redundant.

The only reason for choosing Lord Robens that occurs to me, is that the in- stitutions and bankers behind the board may think that the Company is following the track of Rolls-Royce and that they might as well be ready with the right sort of Chairman for the nationalisation that now comes after trouble.