Skinflint's City Diary

Little wonder that January is named for Janus, the Roman god of doorways (no, really) who had two heads to see simultaneously the past and future (no, I don't know what that has to do with doorways either): the long midwinter nights at the turn of the year bring out the regrets and prophecy in most of us. Skinflint feels this two-way review is a long if boring tradition which he should also follow. The problem is that for City and business Janus need hardly bother since the view in both directions looks depressingly similar.

Let us for instance cast an eye across the amusing, surprising or interesting events of 1975. In came:

* the British National Oil Corporation to be run by Lord Kearton (presumably after 11 years and at the age of 64, running Courtaulds successfully had become too easy — or too demanding), Lord Balogh (perhaps someone said that having helped to perpetrate it, he ought to take part blame for running it), and — God save us — the egregious public relations man Will Camp (who always felt he ought to be running British Steel Corporation until Lord Melchett removed him to show who did).

* Leyland Motors, looking unlikely to rise from the ashes of British Leyland Motor Corporation, to be run by Sir Ronald Edwards (blooded as chairman of Electricity Council for six years and director of British Airways for the past four years, and running a booming Beecham for nearly seven years, but he too is getting on — 65 — to be taking on such a hiding-to-nothing job), and Alex Park (for whom £50,000 a year will help to soften the impending blow to his reputation).

* the National Enterprise Board headed by the industrious Lord Ryder (reputed to work fourteen hours a day) who thinks he will be independent of government.

* Jimmy Goldsmith to sweep up the mess left behind at Slater, Walker Securities, though heaven knows why he does not concentrate on his own Cavenham Foods (or more accurately, Generale Occidentale) and leave SWS to Kenneth Cork.

* a series of implausible Treasury explanations on how £5,800m more was spent than intended by government departments..

* John Riccardo of Chrysler with a begging bowl and an ultimatum.

* John Stonehouse, brought back by police from Australia.

Out went: * the Scottish Daily News as predicted from the start: Beaverbrook Newspapers and the government's advisers said it was a non-starter, it was a boring paper, Robert Maxwell was involved.

* Norton Villers Triumph as predicted by the government's advisers when Anthony Wedgwood 13enn killed it through supporting sit-ins at rival plants.

• Burmah Oil (and its chairman Nickie Williams though Mr Thatcher is still there), whose shareholders were then taken to the cleaners by the government and the Bank of England in the way they unpeeled the company's holding in BP at a bargain price.

* Alfred Herbert, and car companies Aston Martin, Jensen, and British Leyland Motor Corporation, plus Imperial Typewriters, and Harland and Woolf (there are quite a few companies in financial trouble), * Lifeguard and Nation Life insurance companies.

* United Dominions Trust and First National Finance Corporation — not quite bankrupt but heavy passengers in the City's 'lifeboat', especially FNFC which after losing an impressive £73m is getting £360m of support.

* Malcolm Horsman (a Slater trainee) from Bowater-Ralli which was a merger he had largely engineered, *Oliver Jesell, another City tycoon who at one time seemed unable to go wrong.

* Graham Dowson with £150,000 compensation, his fourth wife, and much general amusement at his public row with Rank chairman Sir John Davis who won a Pyrrhic victory.

* John Payne from Fatstock Marketing Corporation with £205,000 compensation and the National Farmers Union's broken promises. * John Barber from BLMC (seeking £370,000 compensation) with Lord Ryder's condemnation to add to his AEI reputation.

* Lord Stokes kicked upstairs to non-executive president of BLMC with a reduced salary. * Sir Denys Colquhoun Flowerdew Lowson. the crooked ex-lord mayor of London who died — John Roberts at the Daily Express carefullY ignored the nil nisi bonum rule in his obituary.

* Jim Slater from SWS — a sad departure far the once-invincible wizard who now has the police of several countries investigating the share dealings of directors in his companies. You may by now see what I mean. The arrivals will still be with us in 1976, but do Y" really see all the departures as vanished from the business scene for ever. That was such 3 rhetorical question I do not even put a question mark to it. For instance it seems a trifle doubtful that the problems of the motor industry have quite been solved, quite apar`, from the tussle Lord Ryder is still having t° convince the unions to cooperate with hill' And there are the other events like the sagging pound (it has not reached the bottom yet)' record rate of industrial bankruptcies, rising unemployment, restrictions on pay rises, unions fighting rearguard actions again5t, growing realisation that they restrict national wealth, rapid unpredictable and irrational fluctuations of the FT Index, nationalised industries setting new records for losses, demands from the left for more nationalisation' inflation. In fact, though the Stock Exchange looks set to sag further, and though the immediate prospect is fairly bleak, at least there are signs that further ahead will not be so bad. So with the real probability that the coming year will be much as 1975 though only more so the beS jt Skinflint can do is to wish you a very happy an prosperous 1977.