30 NOVEMBER 1991, Page 32

Call me, I'm lonely

POOR OLD Hawker Siddeley went down to defeat, advertising to the last. Ring UP this telephone number, the ads said, and let us tell you what our defence is. WhY couldn't the ads themselves do that? Because it would be a breach of the the Takeover Panel's' hypocritical rule, which forbids contentious advertising in bid situa- tions. The Panel persuaded itself that pub- lic wrangling gave the City a bad name. Wrangling and knifing behind closed doors are all right. So a famous company making its case against a £1,500 million bid was reduced to putting itself forward as a chat" line. It was then knifed quietly, behind closed City doors.