Schlock'n'oooerrrr

It is a comforting paradox that the clever artifice of Yorkshireman Damien Hirst ** in getting the gullible arrivistes to shell out £110Mn. plus for his trinkets and baubles as the Financial world implodes.

These sales to the mega -rich act as a counterpoint to the signs of distress showing in sales merely to the rich or wealthy. Half of the German / Bentley workforce of 3,500 are on a three-day week, whilst night shifts have been abandoned at the (now Indian owned) Range Rover plant.

Jaguar has been cutting back production levels as demand hs dropped dramatically in the UK and the US.

UK August car registrations were the lowest since August 1966 and were down 18.6% to 63,225 compared to last August.

UK jobless claims jumped by 32,500 to 905,000 - the worst in more than 15 years. Unemployment (the officical highly fiddled figure heavily understates the actual level) inched up 0.1% to 2.8%.

** Damien lives in some splendour in a Gloucester mansion for which installation of the UK's second biggest Photovoltaic Panel system (PVA) is nearing completion . He is investing up to £1.5Mn on a 310kw 1,800 sq. metre solar power system. This system is so large that it will account for almost 2% of the UK's installed solar power. Poer will pricipally be for the hosue and studies, warehouses - it's unclear if any power will the feed the National Grid and also feed back some income.