In a separate development it has been disclosed that Cheryl Gillan, the Welsh secretary, sold her home in Amersham 500 metres from the proposed route [of the new HS2 high speed railway line] two months before the project was approved. An aide said the sale, which leaves her without a constituency home, was necessary because her elderly husband had difficulty with the stairs.
Modern retailers receive detailed sales data at the end of every day so Noel "Bob" Robbins, UK chief operating officer at Tesco, surely knew on 4 January that the chain had had a lousy Christmas. That was the day he sold 50,000 shares in his employer at 404.5p apiece. One profits warning later, Tesco's share price is 316p, so Robbins is about £44,000 better off by selling eight days ago rather than on Friday.
