Mandelson Again

Peter Mandelson is apparently compiling a list of businesses deemed 'important enough to be saved' in the event of a recession.

My prediction is that not one of them will be British-owned.

In describing himself as a former 'chief courtier of the prime minister', he reveals his true nature very well. He seems to have been Tigellinus to Blair's Nero - the fixing former fishmonger who achieved power and influence, but who never quite got rid of his fishy smell.

The coming collapse of the so-called 'global economy' might be as great a disaster for us as the Great Fire of Rome was in the reign of Nero. We should always be wary of those who, in the midst of such turmoil, seek to make the world anew.