Before Mr Papandreou’s death last Sunday Mr Simitis was tipped to win if only because it made sense

Before Mr Papandreou’s death last Sunday, Mr Simitis was tipped to win if only because it made sense to give his government the political clout it needs to follow an energetic policy programme and prepare for elections some time in the next year.. STEPHEN VINES

Hong Kong
A year from this weekend, if all goes according to plan, Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, will be standing on the bow of HMS Britannia with Prince Charles at his side, taking a last look at skyscraper-rimmed Victoria Harbour, the focal point of Hong Kong.Sitting in his office in Government House after yet another week of being told to keep his mouth shut by China’s various supporters in the territory, he was in reflective mood yesterday, contemplating his departure from the territory, which ceases to be a British colony a year on Sunday.”I’m not a complete mutton-head,” he told the Independent. He sees his own accountancy training as a priceless asset – “it does make you not in any way frightened of numbers.”Lord Sheppard recalls that he first considered accountancy at grammar school, when his father, an engine driver in east London, told him a friend knew someone who was an accountant and “he had made a lot of money” .Great news for couch potatoes looking for a new job No need to tramp around agencies and headhunters any more. The water boys might even like to pop over to congratulate Asda – their head office in Leeds is right next to Asda’s, on the opposite side of the River Aire.Lord Sheppard of Didgemere, former chairman of Grand Metropolitan, has described his management style as “a light grip around the throat” and “orchestrated anarchy”.He is now offering advice for young people embarking on a career in management – get an accountancy qualification as quickly as possible, and then get stuck into marketing. Lord Sheppard says: “everybody today needs to be a good marketeer”. At least it showed the match on big screens.Ruefully, Mr Redwood began: “I get a definite impression of the relative importance of politicians at this moment, given the time that’s been allotted to me to make my speech is during the half-time interval.”The Dalek continued ominously: “I know that it is common at these events to place bets on the length of the speech. I had planned to speak on the subject dear to all your hearts – the pros and cons of European Monetary Union [loud groans from the audience] but decided that it was probably better to focus in this speech on the pros.”He promptly sat down without a further word – to cheers and applause.The latest gimmick from Archie Norman’s Asda – bottles of mineral water named “Great Yorkshire Water”.

The bottles will only be sold in Yorkshire, marked “While Stocks Last.”No doubt the Yorkshire Water company, still smarting from last year’s drought, will find the joke hilarious. After the match ended the subdued crowd returned to their tables for the awards. Mr Paxman announced the “Best Individual Investor Relations Officer” of the year award – Steve Webb of Argyll Group!The band struck up a rousing crescendo, the lights dimmed, a spotlight played on the stage – but no Steve Webb.Yesterday an unrepentant Mr Webb, quizzed about his film-star like non- appearance, said: “I couldn’t possibly comment. Obviously I’m delighted that I won the award – but very disappointed England didn’t win.” And yes, he was watching the match Sensible chap.More England match malarkey. John Redwood MP, former challenger for the Tory leadership, knew he had his work cut out speaking to over 1,000 people at the Fund Manager of the Year awards at the Albert Hall. As the black-tie dinner progressed, in tandem with the England/Germany match, the diners grew increasingly restive.

Finally, during “golden goal” extra-time, all restraint was thrown to the winds and the hordes defected to two television screens at either end of the bar. Compere Jeremy Paxman could only look on as the cheering mob urged England on – to no avail.
The whiff of anarchy did not end there. A series of strait-laced events were disrupted by the triumphs and tribulations at Wembley the other night, not least the Investor Relations magazine annual awards at the Hilton International, Park Lane. He also refused to give any information about the copper stocks still held by Sumitomo.Wildly varying guesses about how much copper Sumitomo has to sell have led to big fluctuations in the copper market, with some traders claiming the company faces losses of pounds 2.6bn rather than the pounds 1.2bn to which it has admitted.In London, copper prices shot up after a bad week.. They are treating shareholders with contempt, ” Mr Yuoka told reporters afterwards.Far from resigning, as the chairman of Barings did last year, Mr Akiyama was elevated from president to chairman by a shareholder vote during the meeting, which also unanimously approved all the other proposed changes in personnel, including the reappointment of several executives in the copper trading division.Speaking on the day investigators from the Serious Fraud Office and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission arrived in Tokyo for talks with their Japanese counterparts, Mr Akiyama insisted that company officials did not know about the losses until Mr Hamanaka told them, and that he was a lone trader who had no inside help.