Coming into view
I LIKE Eddie George's story about the Japanese banker who, on meeting a delega- tion from British Invisibles, said: `Ah — it is so nice to see you.' I suspect, though, that it is nearing its tell-by date. Kenneth Clarke at the Mansion House praised Britain's invisible earnings — the City is good at them — but said that the expression was ridiculous. He and his statisticians were going to think of something better. They could always try Lord Limerick's definition of an invisible export: one that you can't drop on your toe at a dockside. He was chairman of BI, which was established to foster these exports and would have changed its outlandish name years ago if the members could ever have agreed on one that they preferred. Now Mr Clarke has put them on the spot, and BI is offering a magnum of champagne for the best sugges- tion for a new name, designed to make its efforts and its exports more visible. I shall be glad to act as postman, but since BI is the nearest thing we have to a City Export Board, I think it should settle for that.
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