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Peter Mandelson did not anticipate the political risks involved in accepting an interest-free loan of 373,000 pounds sterling from his friend, Geoffrey Robinson, despite it being obvious that he could not afford his extravagant life-style on his salary of 43,000 pounds. Robinson's loan was more like a gift because there were no arrangements made to repay it and it should have been obvious that questions would be asked eventually. A biography of Mandelson contained details of the loan and it became clear to those around him that resignation was the only avenue open to him.

Schroders Investment Management (SIM), the second largest pension manager in the UK, believes in backing the management of a company, unless the long term interests of Schroders clients are in jeopardy, according to SIM's chairman, David Salisbury. SIM manages funds worth 117 billion pounds sterling in 1998, up from 16 billion pounds sterling in 1989. The company has a lot of influence within UK companies.

The stock market remains volatile despite reductions in US interest rates and financial analysts predict that it will get worse before it gets better.

The Express newspaper group has been bought by Northern & Shell which publishes pornographic magazines and celebrity titles such as OK! The Express will now have more gossip and celebrity features.

There is a suggestion that the UK Labour government may bring in regulations to protect soccer from commercialism, following the bid by BSkyB for Manchester United, soccer club. Rupert Murdoch, media magnate and owner of BSkyB has once more outsmarted his rivals. Labour politicians are keen on soccer, and are likely to be keeping a sharp eye on soccer in case of similar moves on other clubs.

UK journalists give their predictions for the UK in 1998. The UK will have to consider its policy on inward investment in 1998. Manufacturers will be concerned about exchange rates. For the media, digital television is expected to be launched, but the newspaper industry is not expected to improve in 1998. Energy companies are expected to promote their services heavily. More financial institutions are expected to merge. There is also expected to be action in the drugs, transport and retail industries in 1998. Government action is expected to have an impact on employment and welfare.

It is predicted that pharmaceutical companies will consolidate to increase their power and there will be major struggles between the companies.

A report by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) criticises the City and banks for continuing to back Robert Maxwell after he was investigated by the DTI.

The article portrays a letter that a merchant banker might send to investors giving them advice about whether to invest in BT or not.

The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by 0.5% and this caused panic selling on the stock market as traders feared that the drop in stock prices would spread from technology to other stocks.

Engineering company, Leoni Wiring Systems, used to supply parts to Rover but it has diversified to cope with the decline in business.

Nick Oppenheimer has taken over the helm of De Beers diamond company and although he is more easy-going than other company executives, he is totally committed to the diamond business.

The article discusses the business dealings between Scottish Investment Trust, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and American venture fund, Sierra.

German television company, EM.TV, owns a stake in Formula One racing and other companies are keen to buy it now that EM.TV is in financial trouble.

Food producer, Nestle, has bid $10.3 billion for Ralston Purina and this will make it the biggest pet food company in the world, alongside Mars Pedigree Petfooods.

Internet company, LetsBuyIt.com, collapsed because it had unrealistic profit projections, it had 350 staff to pay before it sold anything and consumers were not prepared to wait weeks till the goods were available.

Newspaper staff recommend various investment opportunities for 2001 and financial experts also give their recommendations.

Abbey National has rejected a takeover bid from Lloyds TSB and is expected to merge with Bank of Scotland. Lloyds used to be a powerful player in the merger sector but it is now much less so.

The Competition Commission has compiled a report on the acquisition of Bass Brewers by drinks company, Interbrew. Stephen Byers of the Department of Trade and Industry is looking at the report. Details are given.

Allied Domecq has beaten competitor, Diageo, for the marketing rights to Stolichnaya vodka in the United States. Allied has also completed another deal with Destileria Serralles which makes Captain Morgan rum.

Amerada Hess has taken over Lasmo for 2.4 billion pounds sterling. Amerada was set up by Leon Hess in 1933 and he started with nothing. Hess's son John now runs the company.

Business journalist, Jeff Randall, is taking up a post with the BBC as its business editor despite a long-standing dislike of everything the BBC stands for. However, Randall wants to make the BBC take business issues more seriously.

Newspaper proprietor, Conrad Black, plans to continue buying new titles in Europe and the United States so he can consolidate his market share.

The Competition Commission has decided that supermarkets have used bullying techniques to get their suppliers to provide goods at a minimal price. They have been cleared of not passing these prices on to their customers.

Financier, John Gunn, whose company, British & Commonwealth, collapsed, is very critical of the way he was treated by civil servants and bankers. However, Gunn has rebuilt his career and his new stockbroking firm has been bought over for 40 million pounds sterling.

An inquiry by the Competition Commission has found that supermarkets are charging too much for their goods and not paying enough to suppliers.

Details are given of euro trading on the foreign exchange markets. At one point, the euro was worth 84.4 cents but it rose to over 90 cents when different banks decided to buy.

Littlewoods stores are planning to compete at the economy end of the market. However, many think the company needs to get new senior managers because the company's problems are so serious.

An investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry into the business affairs of John Michael Clegg's company, Wace, reveals that Clegg was involved in forgery, lying and false accounting. Details are given.

Swedish company, OM Gruppen, has upset merger plans between Deutsche Borse and the London Stock Exchange by launching an 800 million pounds sterling bid of its own. The City is not taking this seriously.

Vladimir Putin's plan to nationalize the vodka industry in Russia has resulted in an armed siege in a vodka distillery called Cristall.

Diamond company, De Beers, has stopped buying diamonds from war zones to prevent these countries using diamond revenue to buy arms. De Beers has also made bids for rival companies, Winspear and Ashton Mining.

Allied Domecq and Diageo both want to take over Seagram. Allied believes that acquiring Seagram will enable it to compete in America and Europe. Diageo plans to make a consortium bid.

Kevin Jones has been jailed for fraudulent pyramid selling schemes. Jones started several different companies which promised huge financial reward to investors but none was genuine.

Takeovers are expected in the food industry, with Unilever planning to acquire Bestfoods. Unilever has already taken over Ben & Jerry's. Nabisco has 13 companies interested in taking it over.

The ex-chief of investment bank, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is being charged with insider trading after he gave a porn star details about stocks and she made a fortune as a result. The man may get 65 years in prison and be fined $1.25 million. The US has laws which enable investigations into insider trading to be successful and the penalties are severe. In contrast, insider trading in Britain is rarely pursued. The Crown Prosecution Service has not followed up any suspected cases during this government. They usually say they do not have enough evidence.

There used to be a number of people who made a living out of asset stripping companies but the main one at present is Philip Green, who has bought British Home Stores for 200 million pounds sterling. The other asset strippers, such as Jim Hanson, have been deterred by the fall in stock market value of the traditional industries. Younger people who might have taken over from the older ones are now more interested in running internet companies of their own or are working for venture capitalist companies.

The Regional Development Agency (RDA) in the West Midlands is known as Advantage West Midlands and it is to get 152 million pounds sterling from the government to redevelop the site of the Longbridge car factory which has been abandoned by BMW. The chairman of Advantage knows that a major problem will be helping the 50,000 local people who are affected by the closure of Longbridge. The government money was allocated so rapidly because it had already been put aside for BMW. However, the RDA's money for dealing with other social problems has not increased.

Venture capitalist company, Alchemy, has bought the Rover car company from BMW after BMW decided it could no longer sustain losses which reached 725 million pounds sterling in 1999. Over-production has resulted in over 50,000 Rover cars waiting to be sold. Jon Moulson from Alchemy tried to buy Lotus in 1997 and says the company is familiar with the car industry and he is confident they can re-shape Rover into a small, progressive company. BMW plans to keep its car plant at Cowley, Oxford, but the future of the other plants is uncertain.

Members of the Co-operative Retail Society voted for a merger between themselves and the Co-operative Wholesale Society and this will allow the company to become a household name in Britain again. New legislation will help the Co-op to compete against other chains such as Tesco and Sainsbury and will prevent its assets being sold. A new commission is being set up and this should stimulate change within the company.

The Sara Lee Corporation has put in a hostile bid for Courtaulds Textiles. The bid is valued at 100 million pounds sterling. It is unlikely that Courtaulds will find another company to come to its rescue and City analysts predict that the bid will be successful. Sara Lee is worth $16 billion and has diverse interests in 140 countries so Courtaulds will be a minor acquisition. Sara Lee sells products worth 300 million pounds in Britain each year, ranging from deodorant to packaged meat.

Steel company, Corus, has decided to close a plant at Sheldon Bar and the company's chief executive, Fokko van Duyne, says that more cuts are unavoidable because the company lost 167 million pounds sterling between March and Sept 1999. The strong pound is compounding the problems. Van Duyne's speech raises concerns for other steel plants in South Wales and Teeside. He implied that further decisions will be made later in 2000. Union leaders plan to speak to Corus to persuade them to keep an earlier pledge to keep the steel plants open.

Sir Brian Wolfson, the new chairman of clothing company, Fruit of the Loom, ran Wembley for 10 years but now has several business interests in the US and is happy to stay there. Wolfson started off in his family's motor business and then became Granada TV Rental's youngest managing director. Wolfson has been a member of the National Development Council and a chairman of Investors in People. He received a knighthood in 1990. Wolfson hopes that he can stop Fruit of the Loom from collapsing.

Clothing company, Fruit of the Loom, is in dire financial trouble and it has laid off staff from its factories in Ireland and the US. The company hopes that its new chairman, Sir Brian Wolfson, can turn the company around. The company's downfall was being taken over by Farley Industries, owned by William Farley. Farley was an entrepreneur who took risks and his company has debts of $1.6 billion, including a personal debt of $65 million which was underwritten by Fruit of the Loom. Farley has left and Wolfson is in charge of the restructuring.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Serious Fraud Office are to investigate the downfall of engineering company TransTec, owned by Geoffrey Robinson. Robinson has close links with the Labour Party and he is under pressure to explain what knowledge he had about a legal claim for 10.9 million pounds sterling by Ford against TransTec which brought the company into receivership owing 170 million pounds. Robinson signed off the accounts but claims he was unaware of the claim.

TransTec chief, Richard Carr, went into hiding when the receivers, Arthur Anderson, were called in after financial irregularities were discovered. Ford had put in claims for compensation worth 11.2 million pounds sterling and these were hidden during audits. Geoffrey Robinson is connected to TransTec but there is no evidence that he knew about this. Carr had a glowing career prior to going to TransTec and he managed to increase the share price to 120 pence by 1997. However, the strong pound put TransTec under financial pressure and by 1999 it had debts of 65 million pounds.

City traders are preparing for huge Christmas bonuses because of the volume of takeover activity in 1999. A total of 1.5 billion pounds sterling is likely to be distributed amongst traders. Power is in the hands of United States (US) companies such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley rather than the old, traditional merchant banks and in sectors such as the Internet and telecoms, the financial rewards are vast. US companies can afford to pay huge salaries to attract the best people.

A stake in Sainsbury may be offered for sale and the Sainsbury family will no longer have ties with the company. This will expose the company to takeover bids and interest is expected from Europe and the United States. Ahold of Netherlands and Safeway Inc. are likely to be serious about bidding. The Sainsbury family has shares worth 1.76 billion pounds sterling, 760 million pounds of which are held in a 'blind trust.' The family lawyer, Judith Portrait, has asked investment bank, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, for advice on options. The Sainsbury family refuses to comment on speculation.

The board of NatWest Bank has rejected the Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) bid which was worth 26.5 billion pounds sterling because the value of the shares it was offering was not definite. Shares in RBS fell when the offer was made public and this reduced the share offer's value by 1.3 billion pounds. NatWest would have liked to accept the offer because it does not want to be taken over by Bank of Scotland. The next step will not be taken for three months but RBS is expected to increase its bid.

Remploy was set up in 1945 to offer employment and training to people injured during the war and it now has 87 factories across the United Kingdom and a turnover of 175 million pounds sterling. However, its government grant has not been increased for five years, sales are predicted to fall to 157 million pounds and 1,000 staff are worried that may lose their jobs when nine factories are closed before 2002. The company is bureaucratic, badly run and the government has to think about what it plans to do with the company and with the disabled who work there.