30 JANUARY 1988, page 19

A Good Thing

IN the Treasury the other day I experi- enced a time warp. I was listening peace- ably to the Chief Secretary, John Major, being asked about the undershoot — which is Mandarin......

Howard's Beginning

ALREADY we begin to hear the next Chief Secretary tipped: Michael Howard. Mr Major, it is said, could be promoted (poor chap)to take over from John Moore, and here is just the......

City And Suburban

Goodbye to the long bull market, and don't blame the little green men CHRI STOPHER FILDES F ildes's Law of Financial Crisis says that a crisis will happen at the time whel there......

Illumination

TIMES are now so hard in the stock market that a broker friend buys his light bulbs one at a time, in the Earl's Court Road. There he has found illumination. The dollar and the......