Jim Armitage: Equine abuse from Ryanair's O'Leary

Outlook The hospital operators were predictably squealing about the Competition Commission's report. Thankfully, however, they did not resort to the kind of abuse Michael O'Leary spat out following the regulator's assessment of his bullyboy tactics on rival Aer Lingus. The commission's Simon Polito and Roger Davis had presided over a "corrupt and politically biased charade", he claimed.

In fact, their report's findings seem reasonable and fair. Mr O'Leary's hounding and harassing of his tiny, and at times sickly, rival over the past seven years has been unedifying. Ryanair's near-30 per cent stake is clearly a poison pill to prevent rivals either buying the business or collaborating to offer better competition and cheaper fares. This, the regulators have been saying for years.

Mr O'Leary gives the business world much-needed colour, but his latest outburst makes him seem a bitter, bad loser. Move on, Michael. A successful bloodstock owner like you should know when to stop flogging a dead horse.