Don't wish to ofend anyone at all but I went to Cranfield University the other day and even though the University has an excellent reputation, it's a desolate looking place. Shoe box architecture and no mistake. Being situated smack bang next to an airfield makes life a bit more interesting I suppose. I had a massive shock the other day when the desktop opened up with all Windows text (icon titles, title bars in dialogiue boxes etc) all showing Wing Dings rather than text ... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhh! Panic, save all of my latest data files ... called Microsoft and found that somehow, some way, the Fonts entry in my registry had disappeared completely leaving the system with just three or four fonts. Couldn't be a virus since I'm well protected, couldn't be an attacker since I have a firewall, couldn't be the family ... or could it? Oh, the laptop died again. I reformatted the hard disk as advised but it died as I was building up my software base again. Still, for a short time it was nice to see 35 Giga bytes of space available on the hard disk! I'll keep you informed. DW

Want a few tips on what to read to mug up on business events and what they mean? Here's a couple of issues you might look at then: The NHS Eurotunnel The NHS This section is in two parts: pricing and then overall management Pricing A cost accountant's dream come true! The NHS has announced its strategy on average cost pricing today and I have put together a brief review of it. Moreover, the NHS has posted a wealth of information on their various sites. You can find my file here: it’s 291Kb in size. The NHS has also published their NHS Costing Manual that has some excellent real live information for cost accountants and for teachers of cost accounting. There's material enough here for hundreds of case studies and I am available to be sponsored (ie paid) to write at least some of them! There are many implications for economists in this initiative too. Anyway, a fascinating topic that could provide hours of endless mirth and merriment! Management There was a fascinating story in the Sunday Times yesterday (9 February 2004) entitled "How the new money is making the NHS sicker”. Although the author of the article spent 11 months shadowing various people in the NHS, including patients, a lot of the evidence seems anecdotal, in style at least. Still, it’s a chilling reminder that throwing money at a problem does not necessarily guarantee results. I think this is a great article for discussion providing you steer it away from the emotional and political side of things. Concentrate on · management · financial management · management structure · management of change · power shifts · tasks and roles within the NHS · and so on and you could have a cracking debate: you could even try role play! This article is available here and for those of you in London you can join the author at this do on Wednesday of this week: She's Not My Patient! Policy Exchange, Clutha House, 10 Storey’s Gate, London SW1P 3AY. Nearest tube stations Westminster and St James’s Park. 18:30, 11 February 2004 Management of the NHS Eurotunnel Eurotunnel celebrates the tenth anniversary of the tunnel itself this year but there seems to be little to shout about even though In the car shuttle business Eurotunnel had 47% of the market in 2002. The truck shuttle had a 41% market share, and coaches a 33% market share. From the Letter to Shareholders, see link below. The BBC reports Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, has posted a 2003 net loss of £1.33bn after huge asset write downs. The BBC’s report hides the fact that Eurotunnel made a £170 million Operating Profit and a Net Loss of £34 million for 2003. The latest Eurotunnel letter to shareholders can be found here and it is a fascinating mixture of cold, hard business information and this: As you may have heard, a group of French shareholders led by Nicolas Miguet, a financial journalist with a criminal record, and Joseph Gouranton, leader of a small French shareholder activist group, have been attempting to force the company to call a shareholder meeting to dismiss your Board and the Group’s senior management. Good tips for writing endearing letters to one’s business colleagues! Note the barbs: Nationality Criminality Small Activist Forcing Dismiss Take a look at their latest report in PDF/Presentation and easy to read format where accounting buffs can read about an impairment of assets charge in accordance with FRS11 of £1.3 billion. The report explains the effects of the impairment charge and why it came about. Since the company is a British-French joint venture, you can even brush up votre Français as you read along. A bientôt DW