There’s a lot of silliness currently being talked about building industry sub-contractors being left unpaid following the failure of building companies. Calls for builders to maintain trust funds ignore practicalities.

But let’s get one thing straight. Being left out of pocket through commercial failure goes with the territory of running any business. My company here and abroad would lose on average over a decade, 5 to 10 million dollars through lessee failure. So too suppliers to retailers, and retailers themselves through hire purchase failures, theft, unsold stock and so on. Publishers produce books which bomb, retailers buy a line of goods customers reject, and so it goes. No‑one is immune, even professionals when their clients go belly‑up.

“Stylist who only deals with real women,” headed a British Daily Mail account.
God it’s tiresome. How many times must we endear this “real people” rubbish, usually from leftist politicians.
Reference to “real people” implies the existence of unreal people. Who and where are these unreal people?

Over the last year I’ve argued that currently the world’s toughest job is being a Funds Manager. The money is pouring in but in a highly liquid world there’s nowhere sensible to “invest” it. So in it goes, into the already over‑priced stock markets, relying on the bigger fool principle.

That is that so long as everyone keeps doing this, no matter how irrational, the prices will continue to soar. But history says otherwise and when this bubble implodes as invariably it will, it will be a beauty as everyone rushes for the exit.

The Law Society, backed by the Courts, have denied a qualified lawyer admission to the bar on, wait for it- deficiency of character grounds.

Good Lord! On the basis of past form if that criterion is to be the new order, there’ll be no more lawyers.