Although the WTO has ruled against the FSC regime the Americans say

Although the WTO has ruled against the FSC regime, the Americans say that a new law signed this week by the US President, Bill Clinton, brings it into line with WTO principles. The EU rejects that interpretation but says it will allow an adjudication on the new legislation before taking any action.Officials in Brussels said yesterday’s move does not amount to an escalation of the trade disputes over bananas and beef – worth about $300m. If no application had been made yesterday, the EU would have missed a WTO deadline, probably forfeiting the possibility of imposing sanctions next year.Mr Clinton said the law “will avoid an immediate confrontation” because the WTO will take several months to review it before authorising any retaliatory action. “We plan to continue working with the EU to manage this difference of views responsibly and to avoid any harm to our strong bilateral relationship,” he said in a written statement.. Two of the leading figures in Britain’s biotechnology industry said yesterday that valuations of quoted biotech groups were stretched and warned of a shortage of management talent in the sector.

Two of the leading figures in Britain’s biotechnology industry said yesterday that valuations of quoted biotech groups were stretched and warned of a shortage of management talent in the sector.
Jan Leschly, the former chief executive of SmithKline Beecham who now heads Care Capital, a private equity biotech fund, said biotech shares were “a little overheated”, although the sector’s fundamentals appeared stronger than ever “Valuations are unbelievable,” he said. “There’s so much money available it is scary.”Chris Evans, the biotechnology entrepreneur behind Merlin Ventures, the private equity group, said: “It can’t go on We all pray there won’t be a crash … next year we may see a bit of a downturn.”The comments came during the UK BioIndustry Association’s European conference in London, the largest gathering of biotech chief executives in Europe.Biotech shares have escaped the falls suffered by the rest of the technology market this year, generating fears that the sector is living on borrowed time. However, UK biotechs are less highly rated than their US and European counterparts.. It all seemed so different last Monday when Gerald Corbett, chief executive of Railtrack, stood up to announce his half-year figures.

No, he had no intention of going so long as the board was standing full square behind him. He couldn’t think of a job he’d rather do and was hugely looking forward to the challenge of managing Railtrack through its latest crisis. Either he was putting on a brave face, while all behind it was a turmoil of self doubt and despair, or something happened to make him change his mind. It all seemed so different last Monday when Gerald Corbett, chief executive of Railtrack, stood up to announce his half-year figures. No, he had no intention of going so long as the board was standing full square behind him. He couldn’t think of a job he’d rather do and was hugely looking forward to the challenge of managing Railtrack through its latest crisis.

Either he was putting on a brave face, while all behind it was a turmoil of self doubt and despair, or something happened to make him change his mind.
Did he jump or was he pushed? We may never know the answer for sure – the political steers were that he was fired – but in the end it may hardly seem to matter. Mr Corbett’s position had become untenable after the commuter chaos that followed the Hatfield rail crash. Whether he, the board, or the Government realised this first is now of largely academic interest. It may not have been personally his fault, but the situation had become so bad that public decency demanded a sacrificial scalp.Mr Corbett had his supporters, both within the industry and the Government.