Planet Business

A round-up of today’s other stories in brief

Shop talk

They’ve already laid out their Christmas shop offerings, but with the passing of Halloween this weekend, the retail sector’s seasonal frenzy will step up a level or 12. In the US, retailers have pushed forward “Black Friday”, the day on which retailers, both physical and online, offer steep discounts as a trigger for shoppers to do a headcount of nephews, nieces, boyfriends and girlfriends. This usually takes place deep into November on the Friday after Thanksgiving, but this year shops are sticking up the sale signs early. Here, there is a rather more gloomy timing issue. Campbell Bewley chief executive John Cahill is among many in the Irish retail sector to lament the annual timing of the budget, which this year falls on December 7th – rather too close to the last shopping day before Christmas for comfort.

Hard currency

When JRR Tolkien shook his nib and began writing his vision of Wargs and wood elves, he probably wasn’t thinking too hard about how his creation might affect the fortunes of the New Zealand dollar in the next century. And yet, when it looked like the country might lose the production of Peter Jackson’s $500 million version of The Hobbit due to a labour law wrangle, the uncertainty was blamed for the currency’s drop. RBC Capital Markets attributed pressure on the kiwi to the dispute, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Tim Kelleher said the currency “might hold up if we get good news on The Hobbit ”. Sadly, currency traders in New Zealand have since dismissed the idea that the travails of filming Middle Earth had any impact.

The question: Do airport security measures need to be revised?

In a move likely to endear him to airline passengers everywhere, British Airways chairman Martin Broughton has announced that it is time to abandon some “completely redundant” airport security checks such as forcing passengers to take off their shoes and screening laptops separately. Broughton criticised the US for imposing increased checks on US-bound flights, but not on its domestic services, saying airports should stop “kowtowing” to US security demands.

The chief executive of airport operator BAA, Colin Matthews, agreed, noting that that if airports “could start from a clean sheet of paper and design a coherent overall process, then we would be in a better place”. Coincidentally, BAA was this week accused of being a little over-zealous with security measures when it came to the screening of Irish peroxide pop duo Jedward. The airport operator has had to apologise to the 19-year-olds after they complained of “rude and unprofessional” behaviour by security staff at Heathrow, who allegedly continually pulled them up for extra screening for their own amusement. Classy.

Being the target of incidents like this is just one of the many flying-related fears faced by passengers, although clearly this is outweighed by the fear of sharing in-flight elbow space with a shoe bomber. But according to aviation security analyst Chris Yates, metal detectors should be able to pick up anything that might be hidden in a shoe heel.

Interestingly, what Broughton was objecting to were the more obviously inconvenient security measures that cause time delays and push up staff costs. The more intrusive ones in terms of civil liberties – fingerprinting, for example – did not appear to be on his agenda.

Status update

Marijuana mogul:Billionaire investor George Soros, aka the man who broke the pound, has donated $1 million to a Californian campaign for the legalisation of cannabis.

Desert island debt:Dubai World, the massive Middle East firm that built the notorious Jumeirah islands, has agreed a deal with creditors for a $23 billion debt restructuring.

Unlucky strike:British American Tobacco, maker of Dunhill, Kent and Lucky Strike cigarettes, saw sales volumes fall in the third quarter everywhere except in Asia.

"It's time to come back down to Planet Earth"

Vince Cable, UK business secretary, wants executive salaries to be somewhat less astronomical

£10

– sum that Cherie Blair raised from auctioning an autograph of her husband on eBay