Dog bites Prof...
THE dog called Rover is biting the hand that feeds it, and Roland Smith, the dog- loving Prof, must rue the day he gave it kennel-room at British Aerospace. He can't say I didn't warn him. For decades, Rover has bitten every hand — and ear within range. Before the Prof, it was the taxpayers, and before them it was the shareholders, who 20-odd years ago could still be persuaded to put up more money Just like Aerospace's shareholders now. Rover, alias Austin Morris, British Motor, British Leyland, and BL, proves that it is no use giving a bad dog a good name. When the Prof took a fancy to it, Lord Young, then in charge, can hardly have believed his luck, but went through the motions of bar- gaining. He was then abused for giving this supposedly valuable beast away, or suggest- ing that a packet of sweeties went with it. I maintained, to the contrary, that finding a new home for Rover was a public service, even if it had been given away with van-
loads of sweeties. We shall be told in due course how firm but gentle handling would have transformed its nature — as Sir Michael Edwardes and its other handlers used to say. 'The dog recovered of the bite, the Prof it was that died.'
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