And when you accuse him of being a vigilante or an arm of the state, he snaps “You must be joking” with an exasperation too withering to be fake. He wants to get the bad guys: “Occasionally you meet one who comes into the likeable rogue category, but they’re still a big bastard.” His politics keep changing, he says, “but I haven’t lurched to the Right as I’ve got older.”The problem with Cook’s work is that his well-intentioned ends and populist means can become a kind of righteous malice against the people he’s decided are public enemies. A considerable operational “pragmatism” (Cook’s word) stems from this; in the case of Scargill, the ends seemed to justify almost any means. The Cook Report were so convinced the Libyans had paid Scargill’s mortgage that they never actually asked him about it directly. More generally, the visual grammar of The Cook Report, unintentionally slapstick as it is, shows its subjects through a guilty filter – because we’re used to seeing “crooks” being shown that way, largely by The Cook Report. In the era of Neighbourhood Watch and police tracking travellers and security cameras everywhere, it seems that we increasingly share Cook’s tendency to depict people as guilty until they can prove their innocence.The Cook Report is very British, with its voyeurism, its mild have-a- go hero and, crucially, its moderately violent context. An American version never got off the ground because Cook thought he would quickly get killed.

This middle-Englishness is one reason why some people in the media dislike him; yet his style of journalism is actually very modern. “The Cook Report pioneered the way mainstream documentary is going: towards a brisker pace and a flashier look,” says John Corner, Professor of Politics and Communication Studies at Liverpool University.OFF-SCREEN, Cook does indeed live at a secret location “somewhere deep in the country”, with security precautions and the watchful eye of the local police. In 1936, a famous coup attempt known as 26 February narrowly failed to bring about direct military rule. In 1970 the writer Yukio Mishima disembowelled himself in a Tokyo barracks after a spectacular attempt to bring about an uprising. As recently as October 1992, a GSDF officer earned himself a swift discharge after publishing an extraordinary article in a right-wing magazine.

“It is no longer possible to correct injustice through democracy,” wrote Major Shinsaku Yanai “The only means left is a revolution or coup d’etat.”. NM ROTHSCHILD, the merchant bank, has come under attack from management and institutional shareholders in the Telegraph group, which owns the Daily and Sunday Telegraph newspapers, following the collapse of Conrad Black’s proposed buy-out of minority shareholders. Rothschild, the Telegraph’s financial advisers, acting on behalf of the independent directors, advised against recommending an offer of up to 470p to shareholders, claiming the stake was worth at least 500p a share. In the event Mr Black, who had warned in an Independent on Sunday interview that he would pay “nowhere near” 500p, withdrew his offer completely.
A source inside the Telegraph said Rothschild’s advice was “arrogant”. Don’t say you weren’t warned, Salmon is saying.Second, he seems to have created something close to a level playing field.

Neil Record, of Record Treasury Management, one of the longest established and highest regarded derivatives specialists, wrote to 200 blue chip chiefs soon after the collapse. The dark horse is Green Arrow, headed by the former Bank of England governor, Robin Leigh Pemberton, now Lord Kingsdown.The successful construction of a high-speed link joining the mouth of the tunnel to London and the rest of the inter-city network is crucial. The entire network then has the chance to compete against airlines and cars Without it the railways are crippled. Getting it built quickly and run properly is just as important to the future of the railways as the deliberations of Opraf.Stand by for son of BaringsHOW much have companies learnt from the Barings affair? Not much, I fear. In the next fortnight the Government is due to shortlist the preferred bidder or two from four applicants to build and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The two favourites are London & Continental, a consortium put together by Virgin, Warburg, National Express and Bechtel, and EuroRail, a joint venture between BICC and Trafalgar House, chaired by Lord Parkinson.