20 JANUARY 1990, Page 23

The Treasury backs...

ALL will be well, though. Where it mat- ters, the Treasury is getting things right. This week sees a far-reaching initiative from the Permanent Secretary, Sir Peter Middleton. It was Sir Peter who gave us Middleton's Law: 'Even if you have a badly functioning economy — which in many ways we still do — it is always possible to make it worse by government initiatives.' Now he is promoting a private- sector merger. On Saturday he and Connie Owen are to be married, Friends all along the Number 11 bus route — connecting Whitehall to the City by way of Fleet Street — will raise glasses to them.