Hand's plight

TAKE OF THE DAY: “It was good to see Simon Walker, the chief executive of the British Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, loyally coming out to bat for Guy Hands' Terra Firma over the weekend. He told a conference that EMI was better off in the hands of Terra Firma and that ‘as a listed company, [it] was going down the plughole.’ That may be the case—still, Hands will no doubt be reflecting that it is a pity the reverse is plainly not true. Terra Firma is certainly not better off for having taken over EMI.” —commentary in The Independent’s Business Diary. (11/22a)