Its takeover bid for the London Stock Exchange, which has just converted from a gentlemen's club to a public company, should at last force some clarity on the complex issues at stake.There are only three issues at stake in running Europe's capital markets and they are efficiency, efficiency and efficiency. OM thinks it can run the biggest whelk stall better than Mr Cruickshank, the man who used to regulate BT. From the London Stock Exchange's recent history of systems foul-ups, let alone BT's continued fleecing of its customers by virtue of its dominant position, the evidence favours the Swedes.OM's intervention will either cause the iX merger to collapse or force the managements of the London and Frankfurt exchanges to revise their plans to explain clearly how they will provide a better service than at present.The Swedes have given us Abba, better furniture and safer cars. Now they might have given Europe more efficient capital markets We have a lot to thank them for.. What makes the British different is our sense of humour We haven't got one No, only joking It's actually our talent for self-deprecation, you see.
Self-mockery is what distinguishes us from the rest of the world, according to Professor Christie Davies of the University of Reading in his paper on "The Nature of British Humour", delivered at the International Humour Studies conference in Japan What makes the British different is our sense of humour We haven't got one No, only joking It's actually our talent for self-deprecation, you see. Self-mockery is what distinguishes us from the rest of the world, according to Professor Christie Davies of the University of Reading in his paper on "The Nature of British Humour", delivered at the International Humour Studies conference in Japan. We find doing ourselves down funny. Hilarious, isn't it? Only the British would find it amusing to pretend that our national football team couldn't pass its way out of a paper bag. Only the British would find it oh-so-funny to suggest that we invented cricket, tennis and rugby and are useless at them.Or that we invented computers, wind-up radios and certain steel-making processes, only to let everybody else make money out of them.It is just typical of us to run our country down, complaining that our transport system isn't as good as those anywhere in Continental Europe, that our health service might not be up to scratch or that our streets might be strewn with more litter than most places in the world Very funny Ha ha.. Newcastle or Bristol: it could be you.
The giant US airline Continental is checking out possible destinations for its next new route from New York to the UK. If either airport gains a non-stop link with America's largest city, it will be big news for the regions Newcastle or Bristol: it could be you. The giant US airline Continental is checking out possible destinations for its next new route from New York to the UK. If either airport gains a non-stop link with America's largest city, it will be big news for the regions. The reason? Look no further than the Official Airlines Guide, not the most gripping airport paperback, but as tourism enterprises outside London and the south-east tot up another summer of dismal earnings, its contents will heighten their gloom.
The hieroglyphics about flights to and from the UK speak volumes about a Britain that is deeply divided. In terms of international travel and everything that flows from it, the south-east is booming while the rest of the UK travels in its slipstream.The air-travel disparity is more marked than any other index: even with Concorde grounded, there are more than 30 flights each way, each day, between London's airports and New York. In contrast, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow - collectively representing a population base far greater than the capital - can muster only half a dozen departures between them to America's biggest city.Why should this matter, except to a plane-spotter keen to select the most promising venue? Because, in the eyes of the rest of the world, the shape of Britain is decided by how easy each part of it is to reach. For the Japanese tourist, the French student learning English, or the billion-dollar multinational seeking a European headquarters, Britain increasingly means London.The vast majority of visitors land at one of the capital's airports, bestowing it with an instant lead in the tourism stakes. Our conventional image of the assiduous tourist is of someone treading a well-worn trail from London via Windsor to Bath, then heading north: through Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick to Chester or York (with a side-trip to Liverpool for Beatles fans, or to Haworth for Brontë devotees), ending up in Edinburgh.But when you actually look at the numbers, the south-east is way ahead; Windsor Castle attracts more visitors than its counterpart in the Scottish capital, and Kew Gardens is more of a draw than the Pump Room in Bath.And this year, London's traditional big-hitters - Madame Tussaud's, the Tower, the British Museum - have been joined by three more. The Dome, the London Eye and Tate Modern have distorted the map of the UK still further, adding to the gravitational pull that makes it tempting for the tourist to venture no further than the capital.Your cash and mine has in effect subsidised each visit to the Dome to the tune of £100 per person. The Greenwich attraction has failed dismally to meet its visitor targets, but enough money has been thrown at promoting the place to make it the nation's most popular tourist draw.In a move that demonstrates the organisers' desperation to avoid utter ignominy, from tomorrow, the price of tickets sold through agents is to be cut.