Bunhill: Bank Fortnight

AS AN avid fiction reader, I'm a great admirer of in-house company magazines. So it's a delight to see the Bank of England has just launched a second internal newspaper, Bank Fortnight, to complement its quarterly title, The Old Lady.

The first issue of Bank Fortnight came out two weeks ago, with news that the Bank's data processing department was holding a strike ballot - not the normal splash you'd expect from the propaganda department. But the excitement for the 4,500 readers is over by Issue 2, which, in a variation of the Small-earthquake-not- many-dead story, reports: 'No strike at Bank - official'.

The journal, a four-page tabloid printed on pink paper, has yet to provoke the ire of the Financial Times, which got terribly narked when the Evening Standard started printing its City coverage in blushing pink. My man in Threadneedle Street bridles at the suggestion: 'It's not FT pink, it's Houblon pink.' Sir John Houblon was the Bank's first governor, and dressed his liverymen in pink garb, which is still worn by the doormen today. Watch out for his portrait, which is due to appear on the new pounds 50 notes later this month.