15 JUNE 1996, Page 27

Big hitter

REINVENTION of another kind is under way at Barclays de Zoete Wedd, which, needing a new chief executive, has hired Bill Harrison away from Robert Fleming. Under his robust leadership, Flemings advised ING on buying Barings and Dresdner Bank on buying Kleinwort Benson. A friend likens his appointment to making Gazza captain of the England croquet team.

Another hand varied what I wrote last week, so that the last decade of the first Christian millennium was translated from the 990s to the 1090s. The lessons of the two decades are wholly different. By the 1090s we were already experiencing ever closer union in the Norman Common Market.