Muscovites are too preoccupied with the hardships of daily life to have much interest in their fate but the plotters manage

Muscovites are too preoccupied with the hardships of daily life to have much interest in their fate, but the plotters manage to keep themselves in the headlines anyway One has become a poet. McAlpine is buying their 40 per cent minority stake in its housing division for an initial payment of pounds 5.5m in cash and pounds 3.4 million in shares.Yesterday morning those shares were worth pounds 4.2m; by the evening, they had slumped by pounds 800,000 Mr Grove is lucky. The case was settled out of court.Sir James, 68, who lived in Hampstead, died from acute bronchial-pneumonia in June, 12 days after being knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours.He was admitted to the St John and St Elizabeth private hospital, St John's Wood, north London, for a routine hernia operation. Gullit scored with a dipping volley, while Papin netted after cleverly lobbing Valerio Fiori, the Lazio goalkeeper.So outclassed was Van Basten's marker, Gregucci, that Zoff ended his misery after only 35 minutes, replacing him with Mauro Bonomi. Police believe they thwarted a loyalist gun attack in Belfast. In plain language that means investment, jobs, competitive advantage all put at risk.'Warning against 'forging weapons' for French and German competitors, Mr Heseltine said: 'What possible gain is there for us if they can parade the antics of the House of Commons week after week - bogged down in a rerun of arguments that we as a party resolved in our commitment to the British people just 11 months ago.'In a further damage limitation exercise after the Prime Minister's hasty repudiation of seemingly anti-Thatcher remarks in this week's Independent interview, Sir Norman said that week in, week out, Mr Major had been 'wiping the floor' with John Smith at Prime Minister's Questions.At the earlier press briefing, Sir Norman insisted there was no 'mood of depression' among delegates. And as for dropping them in the right country - pure luck, obviously.Although he deals with some of the most unlovable sections of humanity, O'Connor's book suggests that hope and salvation are always just around the corner, and the novel's denouement is delicate, unflinching and deeply moving..

After five years of debate, the new Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday called for an end to the protracted arguments about the disclosure of life insurance commissions. But they have done daily duty outside the factory for the past 33 weeks, after being dismissed for rejecting pay cuts of as much as 38 per cent, a week's reduction in holiday and the abolition of sick pay. None of the nine was seriously hurt, though four were taken to hospital. Since 1991, there have been more than 50 losses of large ships. Valuers might then compete for this business rather than see it wrapped up by the lenders..

He was neither disappointed nor surprised by the take-up.A spokesman for the Stock Exchange said that Listing Book rules made it clear that any public offer of more than pounds 50m had to include an offer to the public of at least 50 per cent of the shares. (My only reservation here was that soprano Catherine Bott seemed rather underpowered, especially in the first half.) Members of the audience familiar with the NLC's recent recording of this repertory might have been a little disappointed not to have been treated to the glorious 'mused band' effects to be found there, but then that's the economics of live music-making coming into play.The more economical (in every sense) combination of fiddle, lute, recorder, organistrum and percussion is, in any case, probably truer to the Middle Ages. In a recent interview with Esquire, the shadow employment spokesman described his prospects of acquiring the top job thus: 'If all the likely candidates were run over by a bus, I would do it to the best of my ability and probably make a good job of it. Unemployment will be reduced by increased flexibility of wage rates and lower non- wage labour costs, like employers' social-security contributions.As a result, the OECD offers little support for statutory minimum wages. True, Mr Major, who has staked his personal honour on seeing through a treaty he signed, might go; but the Government could survive.Labour leaders have not finally resolved this issue.