According to the latest issue of Financial Adviser, a royal personal finance assignment has slipped through the accountancy firm's fingers.Was this advising the Queen on a few Tessas and Princess Diana on the tax implications of divorce? Not at all. Jonathan Martin, the BBC's Head of Sports and Events, said that the decision to pull out of the negotiations was 'a big disappointment, but unfortunately we found ourselves in a 'Dutch auction'. 'Although we offered more than twice the amount we paid for the last contract, Cheltenham's asking price for a new three-year deal was more than five times the current price.'Martin added: 'This contract no longer represents value for money and we have had to say that enough is enough - in the best interests of the licence payer and of the BBC.'Martin's statement does not leave much room for manoeuvre, and while Cheltenham has yet to shake hands on Channel 4's bid, it seems likely that a formal agreement will be reached today.The BBC's contract expires at the end of 1994, and Channel 4 coverage could begin with the New Year meeting on 2 January.In addition to the Festival, the contract includes the Mackeson Gold Cup, Bula Hurdle and Tripleprint Gold Cup. Great Southern's defence document dismisses the 600p-a-share bid as totally inadequate. It's amazing how quickly some women will part with their money when there's a man around Men are such pimps All breeds of them. Taken together, it looks very much as though we will not go back into the ERM until the dollar is steady at around DM1.70, and sterling has climbed back to somewhere close to its former ERM band. (First Edition) AN EMERGENCY compensation fund of pounds 200,000 has been set up for Shetland islanders by the Oslo-based Skuld protection and indemnity club, to which the owners of Braer belong, writes Nicholas Schoon.Shetland Islands Council, which negotiated the fund, said it was for those victims of the spill likely to face financial hardship in the next few weeks. 'Now if the Swedish girl gets through,' he said, 'I'll shoot her full close-up, I'll go for the Garbo look.

Dublin is said to have warned EC partners against backing away from its Edinburgh commitments, pointing out that last summer's Maastricht approval referendum was won almost exclusively on the amount of likely structural fund aid.Ireland's budget strategy and its industrial sector's chances of competing in the single market are also linked to EC aid to secure vital improvements to infrastructure.. The matter led to criticism by the Court of Appeal.Miskin is a sad example of the truth of Mark Antony's words that 'the good is oft interred with their bones'. 'The Fellow is a class horse,' Wilkins 'but he's still got to jump all the fences. Every man and his dog seems to be taking on some kind of advisory role in the pounds 1.45bn takeover scrap between Enterprise Oil and Lasmo. The caretaker was blown backwards by the blast but escaped unhurt.

It is this last element that dominates not only media attention and public opinion, but also the foreign policy agenda of those Western states with the power to intervene. Hooper batted with utter assurance for more than two hours but seemed to completely lose the plot during the tea break and, after he was nearly stumped in Greg Matthews' first over, carelessly hit a short off-break from the same bowler to straight midwicket. Among infantry officers, up to 120 are on the 'special list' - captains to lieutenant-colonels commissioned from the ranks. Its a personal and rather scary dissection of unsuccessful relationships - 'I was ship-wrecked with this frog' - in which Donelly's voice flukes up and down with perfect control. Sparky Irish chanteuse Mary Coughlan has not been well-served by the music industry. But the suggestion that we should burn less fuel in order to combat the problem is rank defeatism, according to the planners of a research programme scheduled to begin in Japan this summer. Then, to be sure, his friends should demand that he get justice.

I mean, if you dropped him on the floor, you'd think, 'Oh well, doesn't matter, I'll have another one.' The day you walk into a rehearsal and say, 'I can do it', you might as well not bother, really.'Steadman's bent towards improvisation seems to reflect her attitude to her career in general. Other contestants are Dr Jeremy Hyde, who fought Windsor and Maidenhead in the general election, Janet Salmon from west London and Zebarnoo Gifford, an activist with a prominent role in ethnic minority politics.While the seat contains the university, it also includes Abingdon, hit hard by the recession and whose voters dislike any suggestion that they are overshadowed by Oxford.Tory fears about losing the seat were highlighted in a confidential report after the general election prepared by Conservative Central Office which said some of Mr Patten's 'fire-and-brimstone rhetoric' on education was not going down 'at all well in highly sophisticated and culturally liberal seats' like Oxford West.. Staff at the University of Bradford's Centre for Continuing Education have decided to draw up the part-time course, covering Yorkshire history, geography, literature and social life. MOST quoted companies pay lip-service to the notion of maximising returns for shareholders. There was blood and possessions all over the place.'All pilots are trained to give first aid so I tried to revive her with the kiss of life - but she was already dead.'I picked up my baby and she was laughing. But Croatian television said Croatian and Muslim troops in Posavina were withdrawing to 'reserve positions' and thousands of Muslims were fleeing. HOME buyers were saved from the prospect of mortgage rates as high as 15 per cent by the Chancellor's announcement that yesterday's second rate rise in minimum lending rate would be cancelled.

Reid claimed Haynes's partner, Phil Simmons, with his fourth ball.Even in such a crisis the West Indies did not abandon their plans for victory. The then Housing Secretary, Ruth Kelly, commissioned a report to answer three specific questions: how social housing could be used to create more mixed communities; how it could be run so as to encourage social mobility and employment; and how it could be made more responsive to the needs of a more geographically mobile workforce. The review of the 21 least-threatened mines made only one deviation from market philosophy - the prospect of subsidy to help British Coal sell coal beyond the 'core' amounts agreed with the two generating companies. Britain has a head start, since most European economies are still wedded to inflexible corporatist models.