I Don't Feel Comfortable With Luxury, And

The Real Problem At The Moment Is That The Banks - Because Of Their Existing Culture, Which Is Frankly Anti-business, Obsession With Short-term Trading Profits, Not Focusing On The Long Term - Are Throttling The Recovery Of British Industry.

I Made Friends With A Boy Who Was A Communist When I Was 13 And That Broadened My Political Views, But It Also Brought Me Into Conflict With My Father Who Was Very Right-wing.

My Job Is To Support Businesses, That Means Promoting British Commerce In The Big Emerging Markets That Have Been Neglected In The Past. It Means Keeping Britain Open To Inward Investors, Trade And Skilled Workers. It Means Cutting Red Tape Which Is Suffocating Growing Companies Which Create Jobs.

The Economy Has Become Seriously Unbalanced. Its Growth Has Not Been Driven By Investment Or By Overcoming Britain's Long-standing Weaknesses In Investment And Productivity, Particularly Skills. Instead, There Has Been A Binge Of Debt-financed Consumer Spending.

I'm Now Happily Remarried To A Good Cook, Which Encourages Me To Be Lazy. I Like To Think That I'm A New Man, But Perhaps I'm Not. I Offset It By Doing The Ironing, Though. She Has A Small Farm In The New Forest With A Herd Of Cattle, So She Serves Up A Steak And Kidney Pie Made With Her Own Beef.