11 AUGUST 1984, page 16

City And

A magic circle - Ft is time to break the magic circle — the 'merchant banks which have cornered the market in sellin g the state's assets. There are barely half a dozen of them.......

Oh Wall, Oh Wall . . .

T he City loves its buzz-words, and bui- ziest of the moment is the Chinese wall. This ima g inary fortification is built across people's offices, or in extreme cases inside......

Jumping Jaguar

T o be fair to the merchant banks, it would be hard to do better than Hill, Samuel has done in settin g off a stampede for Ja g uar. The last time a maker of q uality cars came......

A Voter's Market

T he City, as is well known, wears it heart in its pocket. In City terms, therefore, a failure is an offer for sale which can be refused, except by the under- writers, who......