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Sir Edward George, who governed the Bank of England through those temperature-raising times, consistently offered the most rigorously even-handed analysis. The single currency would always suit international big business, once the changeover dues were paid, just as it would suit those who commuted from London to Brussels or across the Irish border.

Against that had to be set the broader economic interest, particularly the worry that a single interest rate could not simultaneously suit the interests of several very different economies.

Scrupulous as Sir Edward was, most who heard his speeches found the macro-economic threat most convincing. Since those fevered days, as Mr Cho so well explains, the real business case for the euro has faded away, though many a multinational accountant would doubtless still prefer to have one world currency.

The perils of one-size-fits-all, by contrast, grow more compelling by the day. Euro interest rates are so much higher than in the US or Japan that they cannot float Germany back to health. A low rate would, however, imperil the stability that helped small fringe nations prosper in the EU. Only blind dogma could push the UK into the euro for the foreseeable future.

Engineering change at Rolls-Royce

HENRY ROYCE designed his first car in 1904. In its three-day trial run, it performed perfectly. Today, the company he launched no longer makes cars but it is delivering a fine performance.

But when the terrorists attacked in Madrid, Rolls-Royce was one of the FTSE 100 shares hardest hit, as investors panicked over the effect on international travel and thus aircraft sales. The reaction reflected a misconception over the company’s dependence on new engine sales to aircraft manufacturers. Last year Rolls-Royce saw its sales of civil aerospace engines fall by 13 per cent but pre-tax profits bounded ahead, up from £105 million to £180 million. Even stripping out the effects of exceptional items, the move was solidly upwards. Half the money the company makes from civil aviation now comes from servicing the engines it has sold, long-term contracts which keep the income flowing. Engines for the defence, marine and energy markets further lower the company’s exposure to the timidity of international travellers.

Sir John Rose, the chief executive, has spent eight years reshaping the business, investing in efficiencies that are now showing through. Having been scarred once by the dangers of setting targets, he is putting no time scale on the ambition but in the new annual report he repeats his belief that “over time” Rolls-Royce should be able to make a return of 10 per cent on sales.

That means recruiting and training the best people — 30 per cent of the group’s graduate trainees are found from universities outside the UK. Now, as part of the centenary celebrations, R-R is launching a competition to encourage science teaching in schools. It is a direct response to the difficulty the company encounters in finding the top class engineers it needs in place of the grimy-overalled mechanics who were once to be found in the Derby plant. Henry Royce’s partner, the impeccably dressed Charles Rolls, never seen without a high, stiff, white collar, would have approved of the change.

WHEN he was running the Department of Trade and Industry, Lord Young of Graffham was as enthusiastic as the Chancellor about enterprise. He still is, and the serial entrepreneur has just emerged as chairman of a newly AIM-quoted company, Accident Exchange. It provides hire cars for those whose vehicles are damaged by others and is joining the market via a reverse takeover of a defunct internet recruitment business. A flow of income from insurance companies is a much safer line of trade.

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