BUNHILL : Copycats in the bank

ISN'T IT STRANGE how employees react to a new boss? Take, for instance, Martin Taylor, chief executive of Barclays Bank.

On his first day, so legend has it, he insisted on leaving his office door ajar. A rolled-up piece of cardboard was placed strategically under it. The following day Taylor arrived at the office to find a whole corridor of doors held ajar with - yes, you've guessed it - pieces of rolled-up cardboard under the doors.

Repairing for lunch to the canteen, Taylor presented himself in shirt sleeves - to the astonishment of his besuited colleagues. Sure enough, the following day he was surrounded by shirt-sleeved colleagues in the canteen. Whatever next?