AS THE New York Stock Exchange finally lists on the Big Board, I find myself leafing through Hesiod’s Theogony, as one does at such times, the summary by a half-legendary poet of the Greek creation myths. There is a dreadful portent for the NYSE, which traded for the first time yesterday under the ticker symbol NYX.

Nyx is, of course, the terrible goddess of the night. You have to fear for the NYSE’s future merger partners, such as our own dear London Stock Exchange, who one might think has suffered enough already. “And Nyx bore hateful Doom ‘Moros’, and black ‘Fate’ and death ‘Thanatos’, and she bore sleep ‘Hypnos’ and the tribe of Dreams.”

Don’t let me put you off. And Blame, and Woe, “and the Hesperides who guard the rich golden apples and the trees bearing fruit beyond the glorious ocean”. That’s more like it. “She also bore an egg that was without seed, and from it, was born Eros, the god of Desire.” Yea, verily.

THOSE trusting souls, and I have met a few, who believe Tessa Jowell’s protestations that she knew nothing about anything might take comfort from a survey from W3 Debt Solutions, a consultancy that is part of Begbies Traynor, the corporate insolvency specialist. This found that more than a tenth of people had debts or finance kept secret from their partner. Almost a fifth had lied about their finances. And 13 per cent suspected their partner was secretly hiding spending from them. Tell me romance isn’t dead.

Editorial decision

SOMEONE at The Economist knows something we don’t. Paddy Power, the bookmaker, has been offering odds on the new editor, to replace the departing Bill Emmott. Several punters this week started to put large sums ranging up to £500 on Ed Carr, the business and financial editor, at 6-1.

The bookie yesterday suspended all bets, after even more tried to open accounts. Any of them e-mails with “theeconomist” somewhere in the address? “We haven’t seen anything quite that unsubtle. They’re more intelligent at The Economist. Mind you, when we ran a book on the editor of The [Daily] Mirror . . .”

FULL-YEAR figures from Plus Markets, which used to be the old Ofex junior market, and the operating loss is stated at £1.15 million at the front of the official RNS statement. But look at the P&L and you’ll see it isn’t — this the pre-tax, post-interest figure and the operating figure is £100,000 more. Now it ill befits a humble hack to point out someone else’s mathematical mistakes, but aren’t there supposed to be teams of highly paid accountants and lawyers to check this sort of thing?

On-off briefing

I AM puzzled by the invitation to “an on-the-record, off- camera briefing” by Hazel Blears, the rapaciously ambitious Minister of State at the Home Office. “This will be followed by a non-attributable on-the-record background briefing by Home Office officials. There will not be any opportunity for interviews at the end of the briefing.”

I’m lost. You can talk to her, but not take pictures? You can quote them, but not say who they are? Then you can’t talk to anybody? Which bits are we allowed to mention? And what has this to do with open government?

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