From the ditch to the hedge

If the current board of Johnston Press get their way, Britain's fourth largest regional newspaper group will soon be transferred to a new company, featuring most of the existing directors and the guiding hand of major bondholder GoldenTree Asset Management, of Park Avenue, New York, lead by Steve Tananbaum.

It's becoming a familiar process, and one a less-distracted Government should think about. This pre-pack route into administration allows failing directors to ditch pension scheme obligations, without apparent penalty.

I'm not sure Norwegian raider Christen Ager-Hanssen and his Custos Group could have done better. But they have a fine line in indignation: "This Board is purely self-interested, with a toxic mix of incompentence, arrogance and entitlement added. Their actions today, ensuring their own jobs are safe, but sacrificing the pensions of their loyal staff, many of whom will no doubt lose their jobs under the new ownership of a US hedge fund, is simply a disgrace and a vulgar display of the worst elements of capitalism."