The Friday Round-Up

Chancellor Darling's foisting a panel of crack advisers on the Bank of England to raise the alarm about any Northern Rock-like dangers. The changes, says Darling, are to "restructure it [the BoE] so that one of its core purposes is the maintenance of financial stability". Right.
What's more, the panel will comprise independent City insiders and will be a sort of 'independent MPC'. Isn't that the point of the MPC itself?

Also worth a look:

Hamish McRae praises Michael O'Leary's 'in yer face' attitude to the crunch.

Fellow economist David Smith's becoming inured to bad news.

There's a big blog spat brewing over Sweden, of all places. ASI charts it all for your delectation.

Tim Worstall defends our right to work longer hours if we want.

Since they are far from fiscally neutral and likely to hurt the poorest most, would a government U-turn on fuel tax hikes be such a bad thing, asks Jonathon Porritt.

Surely a first in advertising: the Women's Institute and Sky's knitted billboard.

Apple's shares spike in anticipation of Monday's not-very-secret announcement, iPhone's second coming.

Lost for words? Listen to Dr Bill Lucas discussing The English Project and the evolution of Kitchen Table Lingo on the Today programme.

Chris Dillow finds out that winning money won't make you as happy as earning it. At least in Holland.

French entrepreneurs are less respected than company CEOs and less pushy than Americans, says TechCrunch UK.

Joel Falconer takes on Parkinson's Law -- that is 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion' -- and suggests some productivity tips for cutting task times in half.

Jeff Randall has a go at tale-telling, untrustworthy British bankers.

Robert Peston asks why insurers and pension funds are facilitating short-selling by hedge funds.

Maybe the Chancellor's advisers can tell us.