Britain, frankly, don’t you think your forefathers would be ashamed of you.

Sir, I refer to Mure Dickie´s “Battle for Britain”, September 18.

As a professional, with an MBA, I left a very good paying job in my homeland Venezuela, and with the financial support of my father in law, spent a whole year with my wife in London, as an intern at Kleinwort and Benson, and studying corporate finance at London Business School, and International Economic at the London School of economics.

Now, why on earth would I do a thing like that? If I had to explain it, besides of course being alone with my wife, and the English music groups of the 60s, it would be because of Winston Churchill, the traditions of English merchant banks, and British stiff upper lips.

And therefore it has been so sad to me to observe over the last decade, how for instance the Financial Times, the paper I then eagerly read and now just read, does not care one iota about the fact that bank regulations, with credit risk based capital requirements, is making Britain into just another run of the mill risk-adverse nation.

Frankly, don’t you think your forefathers would be ashamed of you.

And then, same day, I read John Gapper admonishing “Scotland has to be braver to build strong banks”, and my reaction is… is this a joke? What about Britain recovering some of its own brave banks?

PS. How is it possible that FT finds nothing wrong with banks being able to leverage so much more their equity for what is perceived as absolutely safe than for what is perceived as risky, when those credit risk perceptions have already been cleared for with interest rates (risk premiums) amount of exposure and other terms? If you absolutely must distort with capital requirements, would it not be better to do so with a purpose, like the creation of jobs or the sustainability of mother earth?

PS. FT has been squarely in favor the NO with respect to Scottish independence. Can you imagine what we could have achieved if FT had taken a similar position on allowing some unelected regulators to distort the allocation of bank credit in our economies?

On Companies International, November 17

Whistling in the dark forest?

Sir Robert Anderson and Christopher Mason in reporting that “Newspapers face fresh pricing pressures” they quote a spokesman for Norske Skog (Norway’s forest), the worlds second largest newsprint producer saying “We see a momentum now for increased prices”. Surprising. Is that how one whistles in a dark forest?

82 percent of pirates?

Sir Kathrin Hille and Mure Dickie reporting on how “Chinese consumers flex their muscles in Microsoft piracy flight” they mention that according to Business Software Alliance China’s piracy rates are 82 per cent, and not the world’s worst. Can we really talk of piracy when 82 per cent of a country does it? Neverland? What do we call the other 18 per cent, law abiding Chinese? When might it be better for Microsoft to go underground and start to cater to the pirates? Has Microsoft analyzed what would happen to their worldwide income if they priced their Microsoft Office at $ 9.99 per year?

Whistling in the dark desert?

Sir Simeon Kerr and Robin Wigglesworth report on “UBS fund in $500 Mideast joint foray” November 17. Steve Jacobs of UBS tell them “clients had already expressed an interest in the Middle East, which is expected to outperform most other regions as the global slowdown deepens”. Surprising. Is that how one whistles in a dark desert?

Who gets the money?

Sir Jonathan Soble, (in Tokyo?) reports on an “astronomical fine” of $1.75bn levied on some glassmakers, because they “conspired to fix prices of windscreens and other automotive glass between 1998 and 2003.” Who gets the money?