Portfolio Engels

Door: Roelof Reitsma

Klas: MMC1

The assignment was to write a letter; please change the format so that it matches that of a formal letter (address, date, headings, etc.)

High street retailer in piracy row

Damage control report

Executive summary

Damage has been caused by an illegal supplier based in The Netherlands. Unfortunately, we have sold approximately 50.000 pack of the game for a heavily discounted price.

Introduction

The background to the crisis

The explanation of the actions we have taken

Findings

1 We have sold approximately 50.000 illegal packs of the game Race against Time. We have sold these games to an supplier based in The Netherlands, and they have sold these packs for heavily discounted prices.

2 Titan stores is known for its integrity and high ethical standards. We price our products competitively and offer top quality goods.

3 Titan stores did have had problems in their buying systems recently. This has affected employees morale and efficiency.

Conclusion

Titan stores is very sorry for all the harm that was done by this mistake. We are willing to compensate the losses to the manufacturer of Race against Time

Recommendations

Next time, we will have a closer look at our buying department.

Penny Taylor

Chief executive

24 May 2012

Titan stores

Box 23

Dublin, Ireland

24 May 2012

Damage control report

Dear sir/madam,

The damage has been caused by an illegal supplier based in The Netherlands. Unfortunately, we have sold approximately 50.000 pack of the game for a heavily discounted price.

We have sold approximately 50.000 illegal packs of the game Race against Time. Titan stores is known for its integrity and high ethical standards. We price our products competitively and offer top quality goods.

Titan stores did have problems in their buying systems recently. This has affected employees morale and efficiency.

Titan stores is very sorry for all the harm that was done by this mistake. We are willing to compensate the losses to the manufacturer of Race against Time and next time, we will have a closer look at our buying department.

Kind regards,

Penny Taylor

Chief executive

BES outlining solutions

Box 97

New York

Date: 24 May 2012

Subject: Management Solution

My name is Roelof Reitsma and I am sending you this letter because I have the solution to the problems at BEX outlining.

Firstly I would like to keep Nigel Fraser as manager. I think he is an excellent manager of a “difficult” team. I will send him to a short training course, which helps managers to develop team building skills.

The second change is to fire Martin, because he is rude and upsets other members of the staff. Also, I want to have fewer reports and meeting. They only cost valuable time.

Furthermore, we have to pay commissions based on the performance of the whole tea. The team should be set challenging sales targets.

Lastly, I suggest that we have to look for other suggestions for improving the performance of the team.

Hopefully you will do something with my advice and I look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely

Roelof Reitsma

Advisor

Boycott of Ukraine during Euro 2012 carries risks

By VANESSA GERA | Associated Press – Fri, May 11, 2012...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — It's an ethical dilemma that has Western leaders in a bind: to boycott or not to boycott Ukraine-hosted matches in the European soccer championship over the alleged abuse of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko?

When Tymoshenko launched a hunger strike last month after saying she was beaten by prison officials, several European leaders vowed to boycott Ukraine during Euro 2012 in protest, with even German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatening to stay away.

But many warn that to shun Ukraine could do more harm than good. Leaders, sports officials and even some rights activists argue that using Europe's most prestigious sporting event to punish Ukraine is hardly likely to win Tymoshenko's release. On the other hand, it could alienate Ukraine further from the West, demoralize its people and create a troubling sporting precedent.

For instance, will countries now shunning Ukraine, which co-hosts the tournament with Poland, also be willing to take a hard line against economic giant Russia when it hosts the Sochi winter Olympics in 2014 and the World Cup in 2018? Russia, after all, also has political prisoners and a spotty human rights record.

The United States led a boycott of about 50 countries against the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan — and that was widely seen as a flop that made no difference to the conflict It's no surprise that Russia's Vladimir Putin, who returned to the presidency this week, says Tymoshenko's case and Euro 2012 should be kept separate. "One must not in any circumstances mix politics, business and other questions of this sort with sports," Putin said last week.

A leading Polish analyst, Marcin Zaborowski, argues that talk of boycotting Ukraine "opens up a broader question about whether international sports events should just be for democratic nations.

"If you do that, then you remove an important element in international relations," said Zaborowski, director of the Polish Institute of International Affairs. He argued that major sporting events — including soccer matches between political foes like Turkey and Armenia, and the U.S. and Iran — have helped ease tensions by giving politicians, athletes and fans a chance to interact in a nonpolitical space.

Sports can also be a morale booster for people living in oppressive systems, Zaborowski said. During the Cold War, for instance, participation in Olympic games and other international competitions lifted the spirits and pride of Eastern Europeans by giving them a stage on which their athletes could excel.

Should regular Ukrainians, who are already struggling with poverty and corruption, also have their party ruined due to this political controversy?

These issues are sparking a great deal of debate in co-host Poland, Ukraine's neighbor to the West. The tournament opens June 8 in Warsaw with a Poland-Greece match and ends in Kiev on July 1, with matches in between in four Polish and four Ukrainian cities.

Poland's leading opposition leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the right-wing Law and Justice party, is joining some Western Europeans in calling for Poland to boycott Ukraine, arguing that Tymoshenko's imprisonment is a clear attempt by President Viktor Yanukovych and his allies "to eliminate the opposition leader from public life.

"Such a situation cannot be tolerated" by the EU, Kaczynski said.

But Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Bronislaw Komorowski, while also critical of how Ukraine is dealing with Tymoshenko, strongly oppose a boycott. Warsaw, of course, can hardly act against its co-host in the tournament, which is seen as a chance for the two ex-communist states to prove themselves as efficient and modern. A failure for Ukraine would be a failure for Poland, too.

But the stance by Poland, an EU member, is also firmly in line with a long-term strategy of promoting democratic change on its eastern border by engaging Kiev. Warsaw fears that a punishing approach could push Ukraine closer to Russia.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of office while negotiating a natural gas contract with Russian in 2009. The former Orange Revolution leader charges that Yanukovych, her arch-foe, orchestrated her jailing to get her out of the way during October parliamentary elections. Western leaders also have strongly condemned the case as politically motivated and have been increasing their pressure on Kiev since she began her hunger strike.

Though sports should, many argue, be a space free of politics, there is a long history of politicians using it as a tool — most dramatically with threats to boycott Olympic games. Experts say these have never really done much to change the situation on the ground, though athletes have found their dreams of competing slashed after years of training.

The boycott of the Moscow games, spearheaded by President Jimmy Carter, caused bitterness that lingered for years. "What did it help in 1980 that the U.S. didn't compete? The Soviets still stayed in Afghanistan," said Bill Mallon, a past president and co-founder of the International Society of Olympic Historians. "I don't think boycotts are ever really helpful. All they ever do is deny athletes the chance to compete."

In 1978, the Netherlands led calls to boycott the World Cup in Argentina to protest a military dictatorship and its human rights violations. But the boycott didn't happen.

To be sure, nobody now is talking about keeping national teams from competing in this summer's championship. But EU President Hermann Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and the governments of Austria and Belgium say they will stay away. Merkel vows to do the same if treatment of Tymoshenko doesn't improve.

While many fans probably don't care if one politician more or less is sitting in the stands, all the talk of a boycott is already embarrassing Ukrainian leaders.

"We found the resources, built the stadiums, the airports, bridges, roads, interchanges, renovated hospitals and now they are telling us: boycott Euro," Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Monday. "Is that normal? How should we feel about this? Who do they want to humiliate? They want to humiliate our entire people, our country."

UEFA, the European football association that is organizing the event, not surprisingly also opposes a boycott of Ukraine. Michel Platini, the president, sent a letter in March to a human rights group and the parliaments of the EU, Sweden and Germany acknowledging Kiev's problems but arguing that the matches and other activities planned on the sidelines could help Ukrainian society.

Platini wrote that when UEFA decided to stage Euro 2012 in two ex-communist countries, its goal was to open up to a part of Europe that had never hosted a championship.

"This desire to broaden our horizons is without doubt a double-edged sword," Platini wrote. "But it does have the virtue of opening up nations and favoring exchanges."

Difficult words

Ethical = Ethische

to boycott = te boycotten

alleged abuse = vermeende misbruik

alienate = vervreemden

shunning = mijden

tensions = spanningen

poverty = armoede

firmly = goed

violations = schendingen

interchanges = knooppunten

acknowledging = erkennen

double-edged = Tweezijdig

E3 2012: Nintendo chief says Wii U is shape of future gaming

June 6, 2012 2:40 am by Chris Nuttall.

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s chief executive, did not make his usual appearance at his company’s E3 press conference on Tuesday, preferring instead to tweet backstage about the announcements as he explores social media ahead of the launch of Nintendo’s Miiverse social service for its gamers.

But in an FT interview shortly afterwards, he talked in person about his hopes for the Wii U, the new console launching this holiday season, the concept of asymmetrical gaming it introduces and the early attempts by rivals to match its features. Highlights after the jump:

You seem to be embracing social media with your tweeting, but Miiverse looks closed to Twitter and Facebook and that approach has not been successful for Apple with Ping and it is now talking about better integration of Twitter and Facebook.

Actually I’m trying to see what’s happening in social media myself now. I see your point, but we have not started yet with Miiverse and when we compare Nintendo with Apple the biggest difference is we are producing our own content, like Mario and Zelda. When it comes to the passion for gaming, we cannot really be compared to anyone else. Facebook encompasses our entire daily lives, while, on the other hand, Miiverse is just game-oriented, its social graph in the future will be just game fans

You talk about the importance of asymmetric gaming with the new gamepad controller [where the gamepad player has a different view and capabilities from other players using regular Wii motion controllers] and I thought you were making a virtue of a weakness in that the Wii U could handle only one gamepad originally, but now you have announced today that two are possible, so are you still as keen on asymmetric gaming?

I think it’s going to be really important, it can actually change the face of the gaming world and now we have the Wii U’s game pad, we can create unique gameplay. The reason why we announced today that two gamepads can be used simultaneously is that ever since we announced it last year we have faced that question from people. There were some technical hurdles we had to clear and now we are certain that it is possible. So in games like Madden NFL, if there are two game pads, the players can consider their strategy on the gamepad without the other one knowing that. On the other hand, if we are going to ask people to purchase two game pads we have to ask them to spend extra money, so we have decided we have to focus first of all on game play that requires one gamepad.

Your rivals have been quick to come up with a similar concept this time though – Sony using the PS Vita to control the PS3 and Microsoft announcing Xbox SmartGlass this week .

This is something I should be glad about because only a year after introducing people to the possibility of the controller with a screen, now two other companies are following suit. There is an essential difference in what we are proposing – we have designed both of them as integral components of one system, when the gamepad is going to reproduce the image from the console there is virtually zero latency [ - no delay in the action]. When it comes to other companies’ offerings, each device is produced for a different purpose and between them there is no integral design at all, which is a critical difference.

Will Nintendo Land – the suite of games announced today – be like Wii Sports in introducing the public to what the Wii U can do? We are pushing Nintendo Land like Wii Sports on the Wii, it’s a little bit difficult to show this from a stage though, this is one of the issues we’re facing and we need to find a solution. People often say the Wii was easier for people to appreciate, but I don’t think that was the case back then, only later, when people started to have the hands-on experience, did they do so. So I think the same thing will happen with Wii U, people will have to experience Nintendo Land with a hands-on experience

Difficult Words

Announcements = Aankondigingen

Embracing = Om armen

Integration = Integratie

Actually = werkelijk

Simultaneously = tegelijkertijd

Announced = aangekondigd

Appreciate = waarderen

Solution = oplossing

Proposing = Voorstellen

technical hurdles = technische horden

integral components = integrale componenten

Lotus sacks chief executive after probe

By John Reed in London

Group Lotus has sacked Dany Bahar, its chief executive, throwing fresh doubts over the future of the lossmaking UK sports car maker.

The company on Thursday said that Mr Bahar had been terminated as chief executive after the results of an investigation into a complaint made against him by DRB-Hicom Berhad, the Malaysian holding company that controls Lotus.

The UK carmaker’s owners said they had named Aslam Farikullah, 51, described as a British permanent resident, as its chief operating officer.

Lotus gave no reason for dismissing Mr Bahar who was suspended from his job last month. Some UK media have reported that he was being investigated over his expenses.

However, one company official, who requested anonymity, on Thursday disputed this: “Everything he did he did with the blessing of the board.” Mr Bahar could not immediately be reached for comment.

DRB-Hicom, which majority owns the carmaker Proton – which in turn owns Lotus – said that it still intended to take the company “to the next level to remain relevant in the global automotive industry”.

Dato’ Sri Haji Mohd Khamil Jamil, DRB-Hicom’s managing director, said: “I would like to assure you that we remain committed to ensure the ongoing and future business operations of the Lotus Group.”

He added: “I look forward to bringing mutual benefits to not only DRB-Hicom and Proton Holdings Berhad but also the Lotus Group and its employees as well as [contributing] to the growth of the British automotive industry.”

Mr Bahar’s ouster comes after several months of rumours that DRB-Hicom, which bought control of Proton in January, might sell Hethel, Norfolk-based Lotus.

In the car industry, Proton, which is a mass-market producer, has long been considered an awkward fit for the UK maker of lightweight sports cars.

“When the transfer of ownership came along, it created a lot of change, and the lack of clarity from Malaysia made this worse,” a second person close to the company said on Thursday.

Lotus has a glamorous brand image and fans around the world, but makes more money consulting for other carmakers than it does on its carmaking business. The sports car maker sold only about 2,000 cars last year.

Mr Bahar, who took over as chief executive in October 2009, was in the process of developing five new models in a bid to turn Lotus from a niche manufacturer into a fully-fledged producer of road cars able to compete with Ferrari or Porsche.

The company unveiled prototypes of the cars at the 2010 Paris motor show, where they drew positive reviews. However, many in the industry doubted Lotus would have the wherewithal to finance its business plan.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web

Difficult words

Sacked = ontslagen

chief executive = Algemeen Directeur

terminated = beëindigd

investigation = onderzoek

resident = inwoner

dismissing = Ontslag/afwijzing

expenses = kosten

mutual benefits = wederzijdse voordelen

lack of clarity = onduidelijkheid

fully-fledged producer = volwaardig producer

doubted = twijfelde

wherewithal = middelen

Rolls-Royce buys Goodrich out of venture

By James Shotter

Rolls-Royce, the turbine and engine maker, is to acquire the 50 per cent of shares it does not already own in Aero Engine Controls, its joint venture with Goodrich Corporation, in a deal that could be worth about £30m, including debt.

AEC was set up in 2009 to combine the controls businesses of Rolls-Royce and Goodrich, and designs and manufactures systems including electronic engine controllers, fuel pumps and fuel metering units for a wide range of Rolls-Royce engines.

Such systems play an increasingly important part in enhancing the fuel efficiency and overall performance of modern jet engines, and Rolls-Royce was keen to take full control of the unit.

“This acquisition will give Rolls-Royce full ownership of a critical capability that confers competitive advantage,” the company said.

Rolls-Royce has agreed the deal with United Technologies, which is in the process of acquiring Goodrich, and the deal will not go through until the latter transaction is complete.

Under the terms of the deal with UTC, Rolls-Royce will assume full responsibility for AEC’s external debts of roughly £54m and its pension deficit of about £1m, as well as paying 50 per cent of the audited net asset value of AEC once the UTC’s acquisition of Goodrich is complete. At the end of 2011, AEC’s net assets stood at roughly £8m.

Analysts at Citi said they “would not rule out” AEC’s net asset value being reassessed in the aftermath of a successful purchase of Goodrich by UTC.

But Rolls-Royce said the deal would have “no material impact” on this year’s financial performance.

Shares in Rolls-Royce were down 1.3 per cent, in line with the market, at 817.5p in early morning trading in London.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/be041e74-b148-11e1-9800-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1xCzrSkEv

Difficult words

Acquire = verwerven

Venture = onderneming

Enhancing = Versterken/vergroten

Acquisition = acquisitie

Assume = aannemen

Deficit = tekort

Asset = activa

Reassessed = opnieuw gedaan

Confers = beoordeeld

Metering = meting

The pub that embraces the Facebook age

By Christopher Thompsonnna

On tap and online: pulling a pint at The Thirsty BearIt’s the pub-going football fan’s equivalent of the prisoner’s dilemma: you’re at the local Dog & Duck watching England lose one-nil. With half-time approaching you nervously begin eyeing the bar, which is already three people deep. Do you queue and risk missing England score – or stay seated?“By the time the half-time whistle sounds, the queue has stretched to the entrance – and when you get up to join it someone nicks your table,” says Ali Rees, finishing off a familiar anecdote. “The worst thing is when you spend all of half-time waiting and you don’t even get a pint before the match kicks off again.”Mr Rees and Phil Neale, co-founders of the Robot Pub Group, plan to change that. Their pub in south London, The Thirsty Bear, which opened in January, has been billed as the first “Facebook” pub. Punters can pour their own pints from table-side taps, text for waiter service and use the iPads provided to order food or update their social network profile.“We were hungover on the train, coming back from a mate’s birthday party in Middlesbrough,” says Mr Neale, explaining the inspiration for the digitised pub. “We had spent such a long time queuing in pubs the night before and thought, there must be something we can do about it.”In response, the two IT consultants spent £190,000 buying an old boozer in Southwark, and fitting it out with the requisite technology. Punters now exchange credit cards for electronic tabs at the bar and then swipe them on their table iPads to pour beer or order food. The transformation has attracted a broader, hipper following, from students to City types, as well as the old regulars.“We knew it was a hit when the hardened beer drinkers among them began using the iPads and taps themselves,” says Mr Neale.True to their image as a bastion of traditionalism, British pubs – currently closing at the rate of 12 a week – have been slow to embrace technology, particularly when it comes to serving customers.A decade ago it would have been rare to find a pub in the UK that offered table service, much less bar staff who walk round with iPhones stuck to their arms so customers can alert them by using an instant message app.“With the exception of WiFi, most of the technological change has happened in the back office or marketing,” says Jonathan Mail, a spokesman for Camra, the Campaign for Real Ale. “Most pubs now order their beer using the internet rather than using call-centres and a good deal use Twitter and Facebook to advertise what events are going on.”Since installing the iPads, which allow the pub to analyse customers’ habits table-by-table, revenue at The Thirsty Bear has jumped 78 per cent, boosted by an internet pub quiz and a jukebox app. “If one table is getting lots more revenue than another we can try and figure out why and do something about it,” says Mr Neale.While the self-service beer taps free the bar staff from pouring pints to serve food or make cocktails – which typically make higher profit margins – Mr Rees says pub operators could cut back on bar staff if they wanted.The Robot Pub Group is in talks with other pub companies, cinemas, cafés and restaurants to license its technology. “It’s up to them really how they use it – we could have cut down on staff and passed those savings on to customers, but we decided not to compete on price but compete because we are different,” Mr Rees says.Could we soon see a fully automated pub, with a robot for a landlord?“I’m sceptical,” says Mr Mail. “It would lose the essence of what a pub is – socialising with a good landlord and interacting with other customers.”Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools.Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

Difficult words

Queue = rijDigitised = GedigitaliseerdeBoozer = zuiplapRequisite = vereisteApproachingstretched = uitgerektsceptical = sceptischbastion = Bolwerkqueuing = wachtrijenrevenu = Inkomsten

Gold loses lustre after Fed caution on QE

Tumbled - getrommeld Quantitative - kwantitatiefExtent - omvangDovish - vredelievendeFortunes - fortuinenPrinting - printenCommittee - commissieCaution - voorzichtigheidMerely - slechtsTroy - troje Monetary - monetairSubdued - ingetogenDemand - vraagConsolidation - consolideringCoordinated - gecoördineerdRemains - blijftReawakened - weer wakkerStrategist - strateegAnalysts - analistenNonetheless - toch

Gold loses lustre after Fed caution on QEBy Jack Farchy

Gold tumbled as much as 2.6 per cent on Thursday after Ben Bernanke, US Federal Reserve chairman, failed to give the nod to further quantitative easing.The sudden and extreme move highlighted the extent to which the metal’s fortunes have become linked to the outlook for further money printing by the world’s central banks.

Last Friday, gold had its strongest daily jump in more than three years after weak US jobs data led investors to hope for a new round of QE.Following dovish comments from other members of the Fed monetary policy committee, many investors had hoped Mr Bernanke would give markets a signal the central bank planned a new round of QE.But when he merely said the Fed would be “prepared to take action as needed”, gold dropped nearly $40 an ounce in little over an hour, touching a low of $1,577.90 a troy ounce.Mr Bernanke’s caution on further action followed a similar stance by the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, both of which were expected by some analysts and investors to move more aggressively to restore growth.“The story that the gold market was hoping for – coordinated central bank easing from the ECB, Bank of England and Fed – just hasn’t happened,” said Matthew Turner, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi, the Japanese trading house.The gold market has been subdued in recent months, despite growing fears of a eurozone break-up. Investors have stepped back, preferring to seek safety in US government bonds than precious metals.

At the same time the physical market has been weak as demand from India, traditionally the world’s largest gold consumer, has been muted thanks to the weakness of the rupee and sluggish domestic growth.Nonetheless, many investors and traders expect gold to regain its lustre as the eurozone crisis remains unresolved.Tom Kendall, precious metals strategist at Credit Suisse, said the recent rally had reawakened investors’ interest in gold.However, he added: “A period of consolidation is now probable until we get closer to the Greek elections on 17 June.”Silver was even harder hit than gold on Thursday, sliding as much as 3.5 per cent to a low of $28.38 a troy ounce.

Scotland gets the Disney treatment

Chartered - bevoorrecht Seated - zittendAdorned - versierdContaining - met eenAlighting - uitstappenBagpipers - doedelzakspelersDignitaries - hoogwaardigheidsbekledersScenery - landschapBrave - trotseerArcheress -Agency - agentschapSeemingly - schijnbaarItinerary - reisrouteStereotyping - stereotyperingGrouse - mopperenAvoirdupois -Orchestrated - georkestreerdArchipelago - archipelEnlightened - verlichtIncreasingly - in toenemende mate

Scotland gets the Disney treatmentBy John McDermottOn Saturday VisitScotland chartered a train for about 150 journalists to travel from Edinburgh to Dunkeld in east Perthshire. Passengers were seated at tables adorned with hampers containing haggis-flavoured crisps and single-malt miniatures. At Dunkeld, alighting correspondents were welcomed by three bagpipers. Time was spent on dignitaries and scenery; the town is near Birnam Wood, which provided camouflage for Macduff to attack Macbeth.The junket, which I sadly learnt about in the Times, is part of a £7m campaign to supplement the release of another arboreal drama: Brave , an animated movie from Disney/Pixar. Set “in the rugged and mysterious highlands”, the film stars Merida, a young archeress with Rebekah Brooks hair and Maggie Tulliver chops. “Best of all, this land is no mythical place, this is Scotland,” says VisitScotland. It has launched six itineraries so tourists can follow in the footsteps of Merida and her three brothers, Harris, Hubert and Hamish. The agency seemingly hopes that Brave will to do for Scotland what Finding Nemodid for fish.

There is often a tension between how a place wants to present itself to the world and what the world wants to find when it gets there. Prague is a hip airy tale drenched in stag-night Pilsner. Egypt may soon decide to project more than scuba and the Sphinx. Stereotyping can lead to jolly good fun, if you’re into the jubilee and the like. It can also be lucrative: Diageo announced yesterday it was investing £1bn to keep snifters full in emerging markets. Nevertheless, it’s important to keep some

dignity. Brave will no doubt be a great movie but it’s time Scotland showed off more than just McShtick.I blame the English. In 1822, Sir Walter Scott orchestrated the visit of King George IV to Edinburgh. It was the first trip by a monarch across the border since the 1630s. He spent the first night on his boat in Leith docks, enjoying the somnolent effect of cherry brandy. Once he had lumbered ashore, he enjoyed a delirious week of ersatz highland pageantry. The “Chief of Chiefs”, replete with grouse, veal and pigeon pâté and wearing skin-coloured tights beneath his kilt to hide the impact of avoirdupois on his knees, hosted the first “Gathering of the Clans” before enjoying a bespoke production of Rob Roy.No matter that the real Highland way of life was being decimated by forced clearances of people to make way for sheep. King George’s visit gave royal approval to Romanticism. In doing so it threw a tartan shroud upon the Scottish enlightenment. The country of Adam Smith, David Hume and Joseph Black was increasingly seen by outsiders as the home of a noble savage in a tam o’shanter. Brave is an apt update of this invented tradition; Scotland is being Disneyfied, literally.The cartoon of course makes for a better tourist attraction than Trainspottingor The Wicker Man. I can’t see VisitScotland marketing trips to heroin dens or to the Summer Isles archipelago for a frisky saturnalia. But the problem isn’t outsiders’ kitschy opinions. It’s when Scots start believing them too. The timing is poor – a referendum on Scottish independence is ultimately a question of Scots’ self-identity. So far, it has been a peculiar spectacle.Alex Salmond last month launched the Yes campaign in a cinema, with a sprinkling of Hollywood stardust. Scotland’s first minister, thought by many to be a political genius, was endorsed by two actors, Sean Connery (who lives in the Bahamas), and Alan Cumming (who lives in Los Angeles). This month he will attend the Brave premiere in LA. Around the same time the No campaign will be formally launched, though confusingly it will also be marketed as a Yes campaign, but in favour of continued union.

There is a sad paradox in all this: more Scotland risks making the Scots less Scottish. In the Yes-Yes referendum each side claims to speak for a single form of Scottishness. But at its best, Scottish identity is an enlightened one, worldly, confident, enterprising, without superstition – and at ease with complexity. The pro-unionists should stress there is no monochromatic Scottishness and to suggest otherwise deprives Scots of the liberty to hold multiple identities. Mr Salmond, who has done much to reduce anglophobia north of the border, should recognise that a romantic Scotland is for tourists. Only an enlightened one can make a success of independence. Regardless of the outcome of the referendum in 2014 – 700 years after the battle of Bannockburn – Scotland would do well to be brave and cut the McShtick.

Nigeria’s central bank warns on autonomy

Warned - gewaarschuwdCompromised - gecompromitteerdProposals - VoorstellenContained - dieSubmitted - ingediendInstitutions - instellingenReduce - verminderenTransparency - doorzichtigheidEstablishing - tot vaststelling vanLawmakers - wetgeversIntervention - tussenkomstDeputy - plaatsvervanger Interference - storingExpenditure - uitgaven Excessive - excessiefConcerns - zorgenLegislation - wetgeving Counterproductive - contraproductiefConcerns - zorgenDomestic - binnenlands

Nigeria’s central bank warns on autonomyBy Xan Rice in Lagos

©Bloomberg

The governor of Nigeria’s central bank has warned that its independence will be badly compromised if parliament is allowed to control the bank’s budget and appoint board members.The proposals are contained in two bills recently submitted to lawmakers in Abuja. The central bank under Lamido Sanusi, its governor, is one of the few Nigerian state institutions that enjoys local and international respect.“The importance of both bills is that they reduce the authority of the central bank and bring it under political control,” Mr Sanusi told the Financial Times. “This is not in the interest of the economy or macro stability.”The first bill, tabled in the senate last week, states that it “seeks to compel the bank to submit its annual budget before the

National Assembly to facilitate fiscal transparency and accountability”.Analysts say that the move could be politically motivated. Mr Sanusi’s reformist policies and attempts at fiscal restraint have pleased financial markets but made him enemies among lawmakers and vested interests in the private sector.Speaking at a public hearing on the bill last week, Mr Sanusi said that his staff had looked at the acts establishing central banks in 40 countries, from China to the US and South Africa. They only found one case where parliament approved a bank’s budget – Zimbabwe, where political interference had a disastrous effect on the economy.“We should see whether we are benchmarking against 39 or against the Central Bank of Zimbabwe, and then look at the economy and currency of that country,” Mr Sanusi said.Several cabinet ministers and former members of the bank’s board also spoke out against the proposed legislation at the hearing, as did the country’s biggest trade union.But Ike Ekweremadu, deputy senate president and a supporter of the bill, said “there is no power that is absolute to itself”.Mr Sanusi told the FT that he believed the proposed law would not be approved.“It is counterproductive and the wrong time to even be talking about it, given what’s happening in the currency market.”The naira fell to a five-month low of 162.75 to the dollar this week, despite central bank intervention, as foreign investors sold Nigerian government bonds. While this was mainly part of a global “flight to safety”, international investors have raised concerns about the threat to the central bank’s independence, according to Razia Khan, head of Africa research at Standard Chartered Bank.The second bill, introduced in the lower house last week, proposes that parliament be allowed to replace board members of the bank with political appointees. At present Nigeria’s president chooses the governor and board, but it then operates autonomously for a five-year term.Mr Sanusi was appointed central bank governor in 2009 and immediately led a clean-up of the failing banking system,

pumping in $4bn to bail out nine banks and sacking the heads of eight of them. He has repeatedly criticised excessive spending by the government – recurrent expenditure accounts for more than 70 per cent of the budget – angering some legislators.Ms Khan said that some people were also uncomfortable with the bank’s increasing role in the wider economy under Mr Sanusi.“It’s a real concern that anyone would propose reducing the bank’s independence when the benefits of greater autonomy are recognised internationally,” Ms Khan said. “Politicising it will only decrease the faith in the domestic banking sector and deter foreign investors.”

Ukraine faces UK football boycott

Jailed - gevangen gezetOpposition - oppositieConfirmed - bevestigdeAttending - Het bijwonen vanTriggered - Widespread - wijdverspreidAttendance - opkomstPersuade - overtuigenChancellor - kanselierConcerning - betreffendeAnnounced - aangekondigdCommissioners - commissarissenInfrastructure - infrastructuurNarrowly - ternauwernood Treated - behandeldeAmong - onder

Spokesman - woordvoerderCharges - kostenRevamping - OmbouwPrison - gevangenis

Ukraine faces UK football boycottBy Kiran Stacey in London and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev

©Getty

British ministers will boycott the initial stages of the Euro 2012 football championships as a protest against the treatment of Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed opposition leader in Ukraine, one of the tournament’s host countries.The Foreign Office confirmed on Thursday that no minister would attend England’s first three group matches of the three-week

tournament, which begins on Friday and is being hosted by Ukraine and Poland.

A British official said: “No ministers will be attending group games at Euro 2012 [being played in Ukraine]. We are keeping attendance at later stages of the tournament under review in the light of ministers’ busy schedules ahead of the Olympics and widespread concerns about selective justice and the rule of law in Ukraine.”If the England team progresses, British officials have not ruled out lifting the boycott for the later stages, in the hope that such a promise will persuade the country to improve Ms Tymoshenko’s situation. Ministers will also be free to attend any later games held in Poland.The boycott move has triggered an angry response in Kiev. Oleg Voloshyn, a spokesman at Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said: “We don’t see refraining from football matches as a proper instrument to deliver signals concerning the situation with democracy in Ukraine.“There are lots of other channels to do it. The football championships should be about sport, not politics.”The British boycott follows similar moves announced by other European countries, including France and Germany. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said last month that she would not attend any German games played in Ukraine, while the French foreign ministrymade a similar announcement a week ago.Meanwhile, the European Commission confirmed that none of its commissioners, including José Manuel Barroso, its president, would fly to Ukraine during the tournament.European leaders have become increasingly concerned in recent weeks about reports of human rights abuses by the regime of President Viktor Yanukovych.Ms Tymoshenko, who was prime minister until narrowly losing the presidential election to Mr Yanukovych in 2010, treated was jailed for seven years in October, on charges of abuse of office, after what her supporters say was a politically motivated trial.

She has been on a hunger strike, and is now being treated for back problems while in prison. Ukrainian officials agreed earlier this year to allow German doctors to treat her, after playing down her health problems for months.There have also been concerns about racism among fringe groups of Ukrainian and Polish football fans, although this was not mentioned as a reason for the boycott.The British move is the latest blow to Mr Yanukovych, who has spent almost $8bn revamping the country’s infrastructure in the hope that Euro 2012 will boost his country’s image.

Spain and the final battle for the euro

Be waged - worden gevoerdStruggle - worstelenApproaching - ophanden Explicit - uitdrukkelijk

Struck - verkikkerdBorrowing - lenenConfirmed - bevestigdeAstuteness - slimheidNegotiating - OnderhandelenUnfortunately - helaasStraightforward - eenvoudigDeploying - Het inzettenSufficiently - voldoendeDirectly - directIntegral - integraalLargely - grotendeelsAllowing - Het toestaan vanAgreement - overeenkomstCrucial - beslissendSummit - top

Spain and the final battle for the euro

Luis de Guindos, Spanish finance minister, said last month that the battle for the euro was going to be waged in Spain. But while the outcome of the struggle is still unknown, the final showdown may well be approaching fast.

The latest warning sign came this week, when Madrid made its most explicit plea to date for European help to its banking sector. Although the comments by Cristóbal Montoro, budget minister, were quickly qualified to say that no formal request had been made, they struck a chord with the markets. With at least €40bn of capital shortfall in its credit institutions and facing high borrowing costs, Spain is now widely expected to seek European help.

Mr Montoro’s comments confirmed that Spain’s government suffers from a communication problem. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and his colleagues have repeatedly failed to show the necessary astuteness both when negotiating with Brussels and when seeking to placate markets. But while Madrid should show it still has a grip on the crisis, Europe can do more to facilitate its task.Unfortunately, the reaction of the European institutions has been insufficient. In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank decided yet again to keep its policy rate on hold. Meanwhile in Brussels, the Commission drew up largely useful new banking rules that may help with the next crisis but do little to address the current one.The solution to Spain’s woes would be relatively straightforward, if only there was the political will. The Spanish government should copy resolution laws from Germany or the UK allowing states to create fresh equity for the banks from writing down creditors. This would avoid throwing good money – whether Spanish or European – after the bad money that is inside insolvent banks.If this does not solve the problem, the eurozone should not resist deploying its rescue funds, which are sufficiently endowed to deal with what is a manageable problem. The rescue funds should be allowed to inject equity directly into the banks, rather than burdening the sovereign. And while Madrid should be willing to

accept some conditions, these should be less intrusive than those of other rescued countries, as the Spanish crisis is limited to banks.An agreement on Spain should be the integral part of a broader deal on the future of the eurozone. As European leaders prepare for a crucial summit at the end of June they should be clear that the stakes have never been so high.