CBI's wrong numbers
I DO wish that John Banham would disconnect the telephone answering machine at the Confederation of British Industry. He has been director-general there for a year and more, which is long enough for the purpose. The machine makes recorded announcements which get mistaken for an economic policy and do no one any credit. This week, for instance — the week of the CBI conference — the machine says that power price rises should be scrapped and business rates frozen. This, it says, is to help poor old industry, which is being penalised by a rapid rise in costs which are outside its control. Industry is in fact more profitable than at any time in the last quarter-century, and the princip- al reason why its costs are rising is the cost of high pay settlements and benefits — which are squarely within its control. Mr Banham knows this perfectly well, but his answering machine seems to take its mes- sages from his backwoodsmen, who take them from their golf clubs. Another announcement familiar to callers on 397 7400 purports to be the CBI's monetary policy. This favours a stable currency and membership of the European Monetary System, coupled with cheaper money andta competitive exchange rate. As Telecom s clockwork voice prefers to put it: `Sorree, you have dialled incorrectlee.'
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