Compared with the alternatives of closure or continued public ownership, the decision to sell Railfreight Distribution “provided the best option for securing the future of the business”, according to a report by the National Audit Office.

Constructionline, the government’s list of approved building contractors and consultants, has lost nearly half of the firms on its database. By the end-of-year deadline to remain on the register, fewer than 6,000 of the previous 11,000 firms had rejoined.

The most significant book I have read this year, without a doubt, is The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie. I say that advisedly as perhaps I have been in danger, like all the other supply chain academics, of taking my subject too seriously, too narrowly. We all know of writers and lecturers of whom it is whispered they only have one message (which they keep repeating).