EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS - I feel better knowing that you care.

You may have seen that John Prescott’s environment department is preparing a quality of life indicator – a so-called “euph index”. The component bits include such measures as the purity of rivers, the quality of housing and the number of birds (presumably, to calculate our “grouse” domestic product). All well and good. But we feel that we need some indicators that reflect the quality of an FD’s life, measuring things like the number of satisfied City analysts or monthly management accounts that are completed on time. What about the Tweedie index to reflect the bulk and complexity of accounting standards? Or the Hector index to record the number of times the Inland Revenue admits to making a mistake and offers an immediate tax rebate? An appropriate reward is on offer to readers with the best suggestions!