"Stone Deaf"
That's what Sir Tony O'Reilly said about the government's hearing so far as calls for a lower regional rate of corporation tax here are concerned. But Gordon Brown showed no sign of giving ground on this score - he insisted that companies often pay a lower rate than the headline 28%, and declared his opposition to harmonising corporation tax rates across the European Union.
The Prime Minister did bring one pressie - telling the Executive they could keep the proceeds from sales of their assets to the tune of £2.2 billion. That's double the current figure. But is this an enormously generous gesture or an injunction to sell off the family silver at a time when the market price is rock bottom?
Executive sources are sceptical about whether they can get anywhere near the £2.2 billion figure. What was clear from Sir David Varney's recent report is that Belfast port is the big plum Whitehall believes can be plucked from the Executive's tree. But Stormont ministers are far from certain this would be such a good idea.
In his speech, urging us to bring down Belfast's barriers, the New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg did refer once or twice to First Minister "Pailey". But third time around he inserted the "s". So not quite a second "Dobbya-ism"..
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