City & Business: Well, well, well

ERNEST SAUNDERS was let out of prison early after developing incurable Alzheimer's disease, then made a miraculous recovery. Alan Bond has in his time pleaded brain damage and depression to avoid court appearances. His compatriot Christopher Skase has been fighting extradition proceedings for four years. He fled Australia when his Qintex media and hotels empire collapsed in 1989 after he stunned Hollywood by offering dollars 1.5bn ( pounds 960m) for MGM. He now faces charges of misusing Adollars 10m ( pounds 5m) of company money, and has come up with all sorts of reasons not to return. Last week, he made a dramatic appearance in a Mallorca court wearing a respirator, pleading a severe lung disease, and claiming he would die if forced to fly to Australia.

My sympathies to Mr Skase, but it is odd the way top businessmen develop life-threatening health problems when the law closes in.