14 JUNE 1986, Page 23

First, the bad news

SACKING the governor of a central bank takes some doing. Israel's government, though, has sacked the Governor of the Bank of Israel, Moshe Mandelbaum, and has sacked the heads of the major commer- cial banks for good measure. (The banks had been tipping their own shares to the customers, and lending the money to buy them.) My intrepid friend Alison Macleod rang Mr Mandelbaum from Euromoney (which comes to market this week, valued at £100 million) and asked if it hurt. 'The punishment could have been worse,' he told her. 'They could have asked me to stay.' I wonder whether Robin Leigh- Pemberton knows how he feels.