No need to know
MINISTERS have now decided to seize the initiative for themselves. Like addled eggs and bad dogs, financial nasties will let them demonstrate the smack of firm gov- ernment. In a fighting press release, the Supernumerary Secretary to the Treasury, Nelson Touch, said, 'It is time to build on the strong foundation we have laid with our work on insider trading. Anyone who buys a share in the belief that he knows anything about it is now liable to go to prison for seven years. Nothing less is required if Lon- don is to remain the financial capital of Europe and see off the challenges of Athens, Poggibonsi and New York. We must cut off the flows of information, and prevent anyone — be he investor or pub- lisher — from profiting by them. The Gov- ernment itself has shown the way with its imaginative handling of the trade figures. For many years they provided clues to this country's relative success or failure in inter- national commerce, clues on which specula- tors might fasten. Now that our competitors have become our European partners, we have agreed on a new statistical basis which show that we export to each other far more than we import — proof of our common success.What people don't know won't hurt them.'
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