Red Robins, Grey Gordons
THE Fiera game was a triumph for the Grey Gordons, not only over their nominal oppo- nents, but over the Red Robins. With a fine show of sustained awkwardness, culminating in a last-minute switching of blame to the Austrians, the Treasury has seen off Europe's threatened withholding tax, which would have driven the international markets in money and capital out of London and into friendlier climes. It is a score over the For- eign Office, which approached this tax in its usual spirit of give and — er, what was the other thing, Algy? The tax that now threat- ens London's competitiveness is stamp duty, which is levied at the highest rate in the developed world, but the markets may have to live with it or work round it. There are limits to any chancellor's political capital and to a New Labour chancellor's willingness to spend it on the City.
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