I'm no prophet.....

I knew nothing of the Mandelson talks with the owners of Tata/Jaguar when I argued yesterday against individual and selective intervention and aid to particular firms.

I do not change my mind. Jaguar and Land Rover are now foreign owned firms and hardly vital to the British economy as a whole. Why should they be helped when so many others are not being helped? Is it some kind of perverted national pride?

Or is it that government pride is at stake, or more likely that there are some marginal constituencies in the Birmingham area, where some money would not harm Labour's re-election chances? If I sound cynical, it is probably because Labour has form and such an advantage would be natural to them.