From the desk of Rupert Wright: Silver, salmon and toffee

Focus: Anyone who was not busy flicking ink pellets at their pals during school will not be surprised by the turn of events in Europe, says Rupert Wright.

AThose of us who paid attention during our school days and listened to the history teacher rather than trying to flick our pals with ink pellets or gaze out of the window in longing at the playing fields will not be surprised at the dismal turn of events in continental Europe.
This monetary union was doomed to dysfunction, just as it was during the time of the Latin Monetary Union. What's that? Pay attention at the back, Carruthers. I shall explain.
Near the end of the 19th century, France, the Low Countries, Italy and Switzerland clubbed together to create a shared currency based on silver and gold coinage. After a while, the Papal States joined in, and the Greeks managed to talk their way in, too.
And then, disaster. Giacomo Cardinal Antonelli, the Pope's money man, began to mint coins with a reduced amount of silver that he exchanged for gold coins.
As the supply of silver increased, so it began to slew the delicate balance between the silver and gold coins. The final nail in the coffin was when the Greeks were found to be reducing the amount of gold in their coins. They were thrown out of the union in 1908.
A precursor of things to come? One thinks so.
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This week I went along to the launch of the UAE-UK chief executive forum at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi. There was the usual smattering of listless wire reporters, a superb spread of food - the salmon sandwiches were particularly good - and after a suitable wait, 40 or so impressive looking figures.
There was the UAE's Minister of the Economy, the head of a bank, the British ambassador and a former British ambassador, the boss of BP and a number of other captains of industry.
We were told that this was the first of many engagements, "not an event, but the start of a relationship in the months and years to come".
Then everybody filed into a room and sat opposite each other, the UAE team on one side, the British on the other. It was rather like a school dance in England, except that they were all male, and except for one lone figure. That sole advocate for the fairer sex was HE Raja Easa Al Gurg, an executive director of Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group, or at least that was the name on the place marker in front of her chair.
How did she feel being the only woman in the distinguished line-up? Unfortunately, she was whisked away by the men before I had a chance to ask her.
Fortunately, I was able to console myself with a couple of extra salmon sandwiches, which, as I may have mentioned, were rather good.
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How bad can this Great Recession get?
I fear no worse than the latest heartbreaking news that New McCowans, the Scottish maker of the Highland Toffee bar, has gone into administration. Despite making more than 140 million bars of the teeth-sticking stuff, it was not enough to keep the bankers happy.
More than 100 jobs are now at risk, but surely there must be a white knight waiting in the wings?
Couldn't the Qataris cough up for the sweet company that also makes Wham bars (apparently no connection to the bouffant-haired boy band), Pan Drops and Bonbons.
It appears there is less money in toffee than one imagines. The company was founded by Andrew McCowan in the late 19th century (probably about the same time as Latin Monetary Union was sweeping the continent).
It wasn't until the mid-1920s, the Jazz Age or, as the Scots might call it, The Age of Tablet, that he launched Highland Toffee.
By the 1960s, it was sold to Nestlé. I seem to recall it was packaged in rather nifty silver metal tins.
This was probably the end of toffee's salad days, for by the 1980s, there was a management buyout, a trade sale to Phidias, a Dutch company, before another management buyout.
Is there nobody willing to save this great Scottish institution? Surely there must be a dentist somewhere who can see the benefit of a paltry investment to save these jobs that must have scuppered more crowns than just about any other sweet.
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