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《大学英语》课程综合教程教学资源（外刊选读）Financial Times -15-05-25

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Monday 25 May 2015 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 11 BUSINESS EDUCATION nents of the oath themselves admit that prospective MBAs begin their journey to business school thinking about maximising the returnon theirinvestment. So, long before the oath is taken, an attitude is formed which will be hard to change. Perhaps this iswhy not all MBA graduatesarewilling to take theoath. To start with, the application process to business school favours the ambitious individual. Schools want to admit students who have the best chances of landing high-paying jobs, because it makes their programmes more attractive in the long run. It also improves the school’s rankings. The cultureof the business school further contributes to this go-getter attitude.Prestigious schools encourage students to believe they have the magic solution to business problems. Employers at the end of the tunnel endorse this attitude. They seek to employgraduates whom they believe are best prepared to manage the businessin away that delivers the most value to shareholders. While MBA graduates seek employmentin sectors that payhigh salaries. Employment statistics from business school websites show that more than 25 per cent of graduates go to work in consulting or financial services respectively, compared to just about 3 per cent in non-profit or social enterprises.It is a viscous cycle. To exacerbate the problem, the very content of a management curriculum is believed by some scholars to have a harmful effect on students. When not properly guided to see a broader view of human nature, MBA students are likely to graduate believing that the model of economic man (rational and self-interested)adequately describes everyone. Business schools must strive instead toinstilin their studentsa senseof social responsibility. A course in managerial anthropology, for example, would set the foundation for moral intelligence. Thisiswhatwe haveat LBS. I fear the MBA oath might become a badge of prestige, rather than a badge of honour. A public declaration may attempt to keep managers bound to its principles, butif those principles are not ingrained, it is unlikely that managers will remember them when faced with critical decisions. In my view, pledges such as the MBA oath are ineffective because they do not necessarilylead to the desired changein behaviour. While I agree that some measures need to be taken to make managers more accountable, I doubt that a pledge at the time of graduationis the best way of achieving this. Propothoughtful consideration of the complex dilemmas that lie at the heart of business and finance are part of the new normal in a world that expects much fromorganisations. We need a set of habits that will keep the oath alive over a career. Butitwould also be good if the key takeaways from the classroom laid the groundwork. To set the conditions of success for graduates destined for a complicated world, we need to integrate the elements of the oath into smart, strategic, high quality decision-making — a new “bottom line” for the finance and strategy classroom. I say, yes. Like a marriage vow or Girl Scout pledge, the MBA oath invites the participants to set good intentions. It can’t be bad, even if the execution is imperfect or the promise unfulfilled. The real challenge now is how to make the MBA oath useful. Like resisting that carton of half-eaten ice-cream, it requireswill powerand practice. The oath is a good idea in principle. It even has the potential to be life changing.However,without a clearregimenof habits, incentives and protocols to enliven it and convert good intentions to better behaviours, it becomes the stuff of talk shows — fun to think about, but mostlyanobjectof ridicule. Business schools are masterful at creating networksto sustain connections to their almamater and set their graduates up for successful careers. What if these networks were tweaked to sustain the intentions of the MBA oath? What if every graduatewere to signitwith his or her best friendor study partner— someone they might use as a lifeline in momentsof uncertainty? In the real world, ethical decisions aren’t coded black orwhite— they come in shades of grey. Serve the client or serve the planet? Swing for a home run to secure my children’s future or stay within safer conventions of risk? A trusted partnerwho helps you parse the pros and cons at moments of uncertaintyor temptationwould help put real meaton the bonesof theoath. Special opportunities to reinforce the oathcould also exist at class reunions or other markers of time. What if, each year, every MBA was expected to post an ethical dilemma he or she faced over the past 12 months? As we have learnt from 12-step programmes that help alcoholics stay sober, regular habits of reflection build the ethicalmuscle. A structured programme to promote habitslike thesewould support continuous learning and send the message that the oathis animportant part of being an MBA graduate. It would remind us that Head to head Is the MBA oath still relevant? Four to watch Our pick of marketing professors onthe rise Jennifer Argo With research that focuses primarily on when, why and how consumers acquire products, Prof Argo wrote eight articles that counted towards the University of Alberta’s research rank in the Financial Times 2015 Global MBA ranking. Jonah Berger Prof Berger teaches at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and is a visiting professor at Cornell Tech. He has spent more than 15 years studying how social influence works and how it drives products and ideas to catch on. Darren Dahl Some of Prof Dahl’s most recent research explores how consumers ascribe moral value to food choices and how people relate to brands by which they feel rejected. He teaches at the University of British Columbia Sauder School of Business and will be co-teaching an online class through edEX in June. Derek Rucker As the professor of entrepreneurial studies in marketing at Kellogg School of Management, Prof Rucker’s research aims to understand the psychology of conviction and the role specific emotions play in the persuasion process. Source: FT MBA 2015 ranking ‘The oath is a good idea in principle. It has the potential to be life changing’ Judith Samuelson ‘Long before the oath is taken, an attitude is formed which will be hard to change’ Enase Okonedo No Enase Okonedo Dean of Lagos Business School, Nigeria Yes Judith Samuelson Founder of the Business and Society Programme at The Aspen Institute Live Q&A Join a debate with Judith and Enase on Thursday 28 May 2015, 2-3pm ft.com/experts MAY 25 2015 Section:World Time: 24/5/2015 - 18:44 User: tosicc Page Name: BusEd2, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 11, 1

12 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES Monday 25 May 2015 ’ Last Thursday, for the first time in my life, I had my shoes shined. I sat on a stool outside St Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside and a man crouched at my feet and got busy with the Kiwi polish, rags and brushes. It had never occurred to me to do such a thing before. This is partly because I don’t notice scuffed shoes until they are shamefully tatty, when I generally turn to and polish them myself. More than that, there is something disagreeable about the idea of someone prostrating themselves at your feet. When I worked on Wall Street in the early 1980s, I remember seeing lines of men in suits sitting on high chairs loftily reading the Wall Street Journal while men in dirty aprons toiled away below them. My liberal north London soul winced at the sight. But then last week a colleague told me he had just had his shoes shined by a man who struck him as one of the most contented workers he’d ever met. Intrigued, I decided to pay him a visit. Earlier that week I had been at a formal dinner and sat next to a woman who held down a senior job in a large City bank. I asked her if she liked being a banker — and got an earful of disillusionment and misery. Anyone planning on a career in financial services, she said, was quite mad. First, the weight of regulation was making life impossible. Then there was the politics, and the endless need to show off. Sexism was endemic. And bureaucracy and the culture of back covering were so entrenched that change was impossible. She had made enough money in her two decades in the job never to have to work again, and was feeling gleeful at having just handed in her notice. At around the time she joined her bank, a young French graduate turned up at a church barely 100 yards from the glass and marble headquarters where she worked, and sought permission to shine shoes in its courtyard. For nearly 20 years he has turned up at 11.30am each day, put up a green umbrella, and applied himself to the shoe leather of the City lunchbreak crowd. This work, you might have thought, would be as bad as it gets. Shoe shining is what children in Mumbai do when they have lost a father and need to do something to avoid starvation. It is even worse than going up a chimney — that doesn’t require grovelling at the feet of another person. But Marc tells another story. When he came to London in the early 1990s he was hoping to work in media. But as the company he interned for paid nothing, he financed that work with shoe shining. After a while he discovered that the media company was phoney; he found greater satisfaction with a can of polish and a brush. As he rubbed and scrubbed at my black ankle boots, I asked precisely what it was about the job he liked so much. “I don’t have to be clever,” he said. “I can be as dumb as I like. I’m not trying to impress anyone.” This is an excellent point. I spend half my life trying to impress people — and it’s exhausting. The only thing worse than pretending to be clever yourself is working with people who are pretending even more effectively than you are. Which is what my dinner mate was up against. The next good thing about the work, he said, was the satisfaction in the job itself. You take a pair of dull shoes and eight minutes later they are sparkling. I can relate to this too. One of the great things about being a journalist — as opposed to being a banker — is the satisfaction that comes from producing work that is finite and that you can see. Third, and possibly most important of all, is that shoe shining, in marked contrast to banking, gives its customers pleasure. As I walked off with my boots gleaming, I felt better, smarter, more in control. Making someone else feel good is always a reliable source of happiness. That is why hairdressers and beauticians are higher up the list of happy professions than management consultants and corporate lawyers. As a journalist, I try to give readers pleasure too, but I never witness people enjoying my articles. With the shoe shine the pleasure is instant and right under your nose. Fourth, the chat is nice. According to Marc most people in the City are starved of decent conversation, and longing to tell their shoe shine man all sorts of interesting — and sometimes scurrilous — things. Finally, he chooses his own hours. So he shines shoes at lunchtime when trade is brisk, and works as a translator the rest of the time. There is no management, no politics. There is only one thing that is better about being a banker than shining shoes and that is the money. Marc charges £4.50 for a shine, which means he gets about £30 an hour. He hasn’t made enough money to retire. But that is OK because he doesn’t really want to. lucy.kellaway@ft.com Twitter: @lucykellaway I would rather shine shoes than be a banker Lucy Kellaway Onwork F or his latest automotive venture, Anand Mahindra has turned Asia’s conventional industrialwisdomonitshead. Instead of assembling the product — the new GenZe electric scooter — with low-cost factory labour in Asia and exporting it to the US, India’s Mahindra & Mahindra has opted for what it calls an “all-American product”. It was designed in Silicon Valley and will be made in Ann Arbor, Michigan under the supervision of 60 relatively expensive engineers, with components from acrosstheglobe. “This is the new animal that a global new product manufacturing set-up is goingtobe,”saysMrMahindra,theHarvard-educated billionaire who took the helm of the $16bn Indian conglomerate aschairmanthreeyearsago. “We really felt that India didn’t have the start-up atmosphere . . . We had a number of people join us from [US electric carmaker] Tesla Motors, for example, because they were excited about this and the Valley allows people just to migrateandtotryoutnewthings.” The GenZe is a modest project for the time being. The $3,000 scooter with a computer touchscreen and power sockets for cellphones and laptops is aimed at students and young professionals and is expected to launch in Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon in a few months, with initial annual production capacityof20,000units. But the plan exemplifies the challenges facing the business models of traditional Indian manufacturers such as Mahindra, and illustrates the difficulties Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, will have in creating millions of jobs through his “Make in India” campaign of promoting the country as a lowcostalternativetoChina. The Mahindra conglomerate’s existing US businesses are based largely on the competitiveness of Asian manufacturing and services: the group is the world’s largest tractor brand by volume and sells the vehicles made in India, Japan and South Korea through 525 American dealerships aimed primarily at smaller enterprises and hobby farmers. Tech Mahindraprovides IT services to360oftheFortune500companies. Interviewed in his Mumbai office, Mr Mahindra is as cheerful as ever under his trademark shock of white-streaked hair, but he is grappling with an upheaval in global manufacturing that has seen the rapid rise of automation, more demand for high-tech products, and intense competition in an Indian domestic automotive market beset by economic uncertainty and unpredictablemonsoonrains. “We [in India] are not where China waswhenitmadeitsdecisiontogoinfor labour-intensive manufacturing. It was in the right place at the right time. It became the world’s supplier and grew rich on the back of that. I don’t think India has that opportunity — that is our biggestproblem,”hesays. “The world is moving away from simply low-cost elements. Products today are products which require a brand, which require innovation, and which have a very strong element of both IT and services involved in them.” Mr Mahindra explains this in terms of Barbie dolls. In the old days, it was just a doll, but in the future it could be something robotic that walks and thinks: “intelligent Barbie — it sounds like an oxymoron”,hesayswithasmile. India in general, and companies such as Mahindra, are by no means excluded from this new, high-tech manufacturing world. It is true that India suffers from poor education and a desperate shortage of skills, but it also has well-known strengths in IT in geographical areas that overlap with those of the motor industry: in Chennai, Gurgaon, Pune and Mumbai, for example. The two sectors are closely connected too: while the core of Mahindra’s Indian motor business is SUVs for the price-conscious local market, Tech Mahindra’s international work includes producing softwarefordriverlessvehicles. “When people think of manufacturing, it is no longer a very simplistic framework that you can apply, a very binary one that ‘I need to make something low-cost so I go to China . . . Now China’s place in the sun is gone, go to India’,” he says. “That’s not how people are going to have to think. They’re going to have to create a footprint which might be like a neural network which involvesnodesinvariousplaces. “You incubate a product in an atmosphere where that product is best incubated. So, for example, we incubated our electric scooter in California. Because it’s low-volume manufacturing but high-intelligence, intensive manufacturing, we are starting in Michigan. At a point where the volume is going to be much higher and labour is a much higher component, we will pick a differentpartoftheworld,mostlikelyIndia.” As well as struggling to devise a profitable manufacturing strategy for the future, Mr Mahindra is grappling with the need to make sense of a highly diversified conglomerate of the sort often unpopular with focused investors and financialanalysts. With its origins in a quintessentially Indian family enterprise built in a protected post-independence economy, Mahindra not only sells IT services, tractors, trucks, cars, three-wheelers, twowheelers and small aircraft, but is also involved in defence, renewable energy, banking, insurance, retail, real estate and holidays. Mr Mahindra, a member of the third generation, whose own wealth is estimated by Forbes at $1.2bn, is not shy of acquisitions. He bought Ssangyong Motor and the scandal-hit Satyam Computer Services among others — and is constantly on the watch for thechancetobuyahigh-endautomotive brand. “We don’t call it a conglomerate, we call it a federation,” he says. “If you look at a spectrum between General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway, GE is a conglomerate, one single monolithic company with divisions, Berkshire Hathawayhasmultipleinvestments.” Mahindra, in short, is more Berkshire Hathaway than GE and the bossis in no moodtoabandondiversification. “If I was sitting here and I had only one unit — an SUV diesel business — even if I was making a 25 per cent return today, your question would be, ‘Anand, are you going to survive?’ Right? Here I am.I’mseedingotherparts. “I’ve got an electric vehicle business. If the world moves, in [big cities], away from vehicles and they say only twowheelers, and battery two-wheelers, are going to be able to survive, guess who’ll have a product? If they say electric vehicles only in Delhi tomorrow after banning 10-year-old diesel vehicles [this was announced in April by the National Green Tribunal, but the ban has been suspended for the time being], guess whohasaproduct?” With a hint of defensiveness, Mr Mahindra rejects criticism by analysts of his moves into new markets and product categories. “The moment I say I’m going into scooters, they say ‘you’re crazy’. Six months later when BMW comes out with an electric scooter, it’s fine. But when Anand does it, because he’s some small guy in India, it’snotfine.” Mahindra, of course, is notsmall—it has operations in 100 countries — but Mr Mahindra the conglomerate chief still describes himself as an entrepreneur, despite, or perhaps because of, the multitudeofbusinesseshecontrols. “Our performance has borne out the fact that the model seems to work. I have been facing this question now for the past two decades and I’m still around, still have my job, so something mustbeworking,”hesays. CV Born Mumbai, India, May 1955 Education Harvard College, US; and Harvard Business School MBA. Career: 1981: Starts as executive assistant to finance director of Mahindra Ugine Steel Co, part of the family business empire 1980s: Helps establish Kotak Mahindra Finance (which becomes a bank in 2003) 1989: Appointed president and deputy managing director at Mahindra Ugine Steel 1991: Becomes deputy managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, the automotive holding company and maker of tractors 1997: Appointed as managing director 2012: Adds role of chairman Family: Married, two daughters Interests: Movies, sport (kabaddi) Monday interview. Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra & Mahindra The American connection The Indian manufacturing group’s head tells Victor Mallet and James Crabtree there are strategic reasons for designing and making its new scooter in the US BUSINESS LIFE When in 2013, a 21-year-old Bank of America intern died in London after working long hours, Professor Peter Fleming of Cass Business School was prompted to think about “the way working culture has got out of hand and taken over everything else”. His research forms the basis of this new book The Mythology of Work, in which he argues that “work has taken on a life of its own”, having become detached from its true economic value and consuming vastly more of our lives than it needs to. Professional workers especially have fallen prey to the “myth” of work. They feel a compulsion to look as though they are working round the clock, even when this overwork is neither productive nor necessary, because they want to “look the part” and impress their peers and themselves. This sorry state of affairs, says Prof Fleming, where an individual’s output is no longer even measured by the value they create for the organisation but by the number of hours clocked up, emails sent and meetings attended, must change. From the heights of his ivory tower, he advocates nothing less than the toppling of the “neoliberal capitalism” that underpins this unhealthy obsession. “If work is done for its own sake then we ought to seriously rethink how employment is arranged in society.” Instead, everyone should work no more than 20 hours a week and earn no more than £95,000 a year, no matter what they do or how hard they work, so that the financial motivation to ratchet up hours in the office is removed. Prof Fleming’s radical manifesto for a society where work is reduced to its minimum will strike many people as bonkers. Yet the sentiment behind his critique that overwork is neither necessary nor productive may also strike a chord. “The sad irony is that we often don’t need to be on email 15 hours a day to be productive, or be present at the desk for marathon-like lengths of time. In fact, the opposite,” he argues, citing research that shows productivity soars when email is disabled. “There is a fundamental law to the relationship between work hours and productivity. If given 10 hours to complete a task, it will usually take 10 hours. If given three hours, it will typically take three hours,” he says. “That email sent at 11.45pm often causes more damage than good. The world beyond work needs to be reclaimed and enjoyed for its own sake and for the sake of productivity.” The practical lesson from Prof Fleming’s provocation is to ask ourselves how much of the work we do every day is simply posturing and bad habit. He argues for the institution of a three-day working week. Any longer makes no sense, since creativity and concentration cannot be sustained at a high level for five or six days, he says. While it is true that a growing number of professionals are curtailing their working week, because of the benefits to their performance and their personal lives, many ambitious, work-obsessed yet happy business owners, social entrepreneurs and corporate professionals might scoff at Prof Fleming’s revolutionary plans. workingsmarter@ft.com Working smarter Email off: an attempt to demythologise work EMMA DE VITA Emma Jacobs wrote about consultants who are paid to get infants into the “right” nursery in a Working Lives feature earlier this month. Some commenters were aghast but one A-level student — “mattiechan” — had a different take: I am very pleased that my parents pushed me when I was younger. Many of my friends wish their parents had pushed them harder. Ultimately, it is difficult to say what a child truly “wants” when they’re so young. I think we should respect different parenting methods, especially since these are often intermingled with our cultural context/ traditions etc. We shouldn’t be so quick to say “poor kids”. Going to a top nursery or having tutors does not automatically mean your life is “out of balance”. Also, another thing to bear in mind is the international competition. I have family members in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. Over there, the norm for parents “pushing” their children would be seen as quite excessive over here! The application process for internationally competitive universities made me even more grateful that my parents pushed me like they did. Disclaimer: I did not go to prep school. I live in a council house and have free school meals. I was fortunate to get a scholarship to an independent secondary school. Feedback Operating against a background of manufacturing upheaval: Anand Mahindra Bryan van der Beek/ Bloomberg Anil Sharma, principal analyst at IHS Automotive, a consultancy, notes that Anand Mahindra is unhappy at how his company is marked down for being a conglomerate. “Mahindra is in fact a very good example of a conglomerate structure working well,” he says. But the structure of the holding company is “very confusing”, he adds. “It’s the holding company for a lot of group companies, but some of them in turn have stakes in the parent. These family-owned conglomerates do this in India.” An analyst’s view Marc has not ‘ made enough money to retire. But that is OK, because he doesn’t really want to Second opinion Video Anand Mahindra talks to Victor Mallet about the government of Narendra Modi, India’s future as a manufacturing hub and the structure of his company ft.com/mahindra ‘I have been facing this question nowfor the past two decades andI’m still around’ MAY 25 2015 Section:Features Time: 24/5/2015 - 16:45 User: allenk Page Name: BusinessLife, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 12, 1

Monday 25 May 2015 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 13 ARTS THIS EVENING’S TELEVISION There’s an escapist flavour to tonight’s viewing. While Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic 9pm) delights fans with increasing nastiness (pictured: Kit Harington as Jon Snow), the strangely underrated Gotham (C5 9pm) ends the current series with typical rococo flourishes and the hint of darkling plot curlicues to come. After a promising series start, Episodes (BBC2 10pm) has settled into an awkward plod in its now cliché Brits-in-America sitcom about a sitcom. Matt LeBlanc takes his cue from all around him, which is how his idiot character got away with Friends. Here he struggles in arch facetiousness. Midnight Cowboy (Sky Greats 10pm) won plaudits for Dustin Hoffman’s ferrety conman, but Jon Voight’s naive hustler faced the bigger challenge — making innocence interesting — and was triumphantly moving. MARTIN HOYLE Pick of the day BBC 1 6.30 BBC News. 6.50 BBC Regional News Programmes. 7.00 The One Show. 7.30 EastEnders. 8.00 FILM Avengers Assemble. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Hulk join forces to defend Earth from an alien invasion. Superhero adventure, starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth. 10.15 BBC News. 10.35 BBC Regional News and Weather. 10.45 Have I Got a Bit More News for You. Comedian Frank Skinner hosts the satirical quiz with journalist and author Jon Ronson and comedian Cariad Lloyd. 11.25 The Football League Show. Middlesbrough v Norwich City. Manish Bhasin presents highlights of the Championship play-off final from Wembley Stadium. Other channels BBC3 7.00 Great Movie Mistakes V: Revenge of the Fifth. 7.30 Top Gear. 8.30 Sherlock. 10.00 EastEnders. 10.30 Family Guy. 10.55 Family Guy. 11.15 American Dad! 11.35 Family Guy. BBC4 7.00 World News Today. 7.30 Great British Railway Journeys. 8.00 Inside the Medieval Mind. 9.00 One-Hit Wonders at the BBC. 10.00 Country at the BBC. 11.00 Kate Bush at the BBC. Channel 5 6.00 Criminals: Caught on Camera. 6.30 5 News Tonight. 7.00 Cricket on 5. 8.00 Furious & Funny: Caught on Camera. 9.00 Gotham. 10.00 Big Brother: Timebomb. 11.00 Big Brother’s Bigger Bit on the Side. More4 6.50 Grand Designs: Most Challenging Builds. 7.55 Grand Designs: Most Challenging Builds. 9.00 A Place in the Sun: Home or Away. 10.00 One Born Every Minute. 11.05 24 Hours in A&E. Film4 6.45 Self Portrait. 6.50 One Day. 9.00 Welcome to the Punch. 11.00 Mr Nice. Sky Atlantic 6.00 House. 7.00 Without a Trace. 8.00 Blue Bloods. 9.00 Game of Thrones. 10.00 Thronecast. 10.35 Silicon Valley. 11.10 The Newsroom. Sky Sports 1 7.00 Farewell Frank. 8.00 Premier League 100 Club. 8.30 Premier League 100 Club. 9.00 Championship Play-Off Final. 10.00 Countdown to the O2. 10.30 Ford Football Special. Sky 1 6.00 Futurama. 6.30 The Simpsons. 7.00 The Simpsons. 7.30 The Simpsons. 8.00 Modern Family. 8.30 Modern Family. 9.00 Hawaii Five-0. 10.00 An Idiot Abroad 2. 11.00 A League of Their Own. Sky Arts 1 6.20 Beat Beat Beat. 6.30 Cirque du Soleil: Kà. 8.00 The Mikado. 10.30 Playhouse Presents: The Cruise. 11.00 1992. Sky Arts 2 6.15 André Rieu: My African Dream. 8.00 André Rieu: Live in Maastricht. 10.30 André Rieu: Romantic Moments. 11.30 André Rieu: Waltz with Me. Channel 4 6.00 The Simpsons. R 6.30 Hollyoaks. 7.00 Channel 4 News. 7.30 Food Unwrapped. Revisiting some of the series’ most surprising investigations, including Jimmy Doherty sniffing out fresh supermarket fish. 8.00 Damned Designs: Don’t Demolish My Home. A man takes drastic steps to save his luxury log cabin, before another faces a dilemma over whether or not to demolish his straw house. Last in the series. 9.00 Benefits Street. 10.00 The Night Bus. One unlucky passenger has her phone stolen while on board as the final episode of the documentary series looks at the growing inequality between rich and poor. Last in the series. 11.00 The Island with Bear Grylls. R ITV London 6.00 Off Their Rockers. R 6.25 ITV News London. 6.45 ITV News and Weather. 7.00 Emmerdale. Debbie is shocked to realise just how much is riding on Ross’s big fight. 7.30 Britain’s Got Talent. 9.00 Coronation Street. Tracy breaks Liz’s heart by spilling the beans about her affair with Tony. 9.30 Britain’s Got Talent Results. 10.00 ITV News at Ten and Weather. 10.10 ITV News London. 10.15 Carry On Forever. Martin Clunes narrates the story of the comedy franchise. R 11.15 FILM Carry On Cowboy. A timid English sanitation expert is mistakenly made sheriff of a lawless Wild West town. Comedy Western, starring Jim Dale and Sid James. Regional variations apply BBC 2 6.30 Beat the Brain. 7.00 A Cook Abroad: Tony Singh’s India. R 8.00 Springwatch 2015. New series. Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games present the best of the season’s wildlife from the Suffolk coast. With badgers, otters, avocets and puffins. 9.00 Churchill: When Britain Said No. A look at Winston Churchill’s unsuccessful battle to be elected prime minister just weeks after VE Day. With Sir Max Hastings, Juliet Gardiner, Anthony Beevor and Dave Douglas. 10.00 Episodes. Comedy, starring Stephen Mangan. 10.30 The Many Faces of Les Dawson. R 11.30 Armada — 12 Days to Save England. Dan Snow explores the events that led to conflict between England and Spain. R Girlish: Patsy Ferran as Portia with Nadia Albina as Nerissa in ‘The Merchant of Venice’. Right: Ana María Martínez in ‘Poliuto’ Hugo Glendinning Tristram Kenton Ian Shuttleworth Makram J. Khoury’s smile in his early scenessumsuphisinterpretationofShylock. It is broad and unstinting, but utterly hollow; there is no active hostility, but a complete absence of sympathy. Nor does one need to speculate how far this portrait of the Jewish moneylender might be informed by the actor’s own identity as a Palestinian: such an unsympathetic Shylock is entirely in keeping with the world of Polly Findlay’sproduction. The question of the play’s antiSemitism subsides here into a world comprehensively devoid of warmth. Technically this is one of Shakespeare’s comedies,butIhaveneverseenitsosuccessfully given a hard edge without getting caught up in its own earnestness. Yes,theVenetiangentilesrepeatedlyspit on Shylock and manhandle him; even Portia herself, in male disguise in the climactic court scene, half-spits at him the lines by which she thwarts his contractual demand for a pound of Antonio’s flesh. But no one cares unselfishly about anyoneelse. Shylock’s daughter Jessica soon realises that she and the bag of money with whichsheelopesaretrophiestoLorenzo. Antonio’s melancholy is clearly because he allows himself to be used by his beloved Bassanio to finance the latter’s wooing of Portia. She in turn seems to be goaded into her final trick, cozening a symbolicringfromBassanio,byjealousy afterseeinghimkissAntonio.Aromcom Merchant with a cold, dark heart THEATRE The Merchant of Venice Royal Shakespeare Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon, UK aaaae Sarah Hemming It looks, as you might expect, beautiful. Yukio Ninagawa is a master sculptor of stage space and for his new Hamlet(his eighth staging of Shakespeare’s enigmatic tragedy), the Japanese director conjures an intense spectacle, part period piece, part dream-play, that rolls across the set — a courtyard surrounded by poor 19th-century wooden houses — like the fog that envelops the earlyscenes. It’s a point in history seen, with hindsight, as pivotal to contemporary THEATRE Hamlet Barbican, London aaaee Japan’s national and theatrical identity in a production that constantly impresses,butrarelymoves. The setting harks back to the time when Hamlet was first introduced to Japan and the country began to open up to the west. And here Hamlet’s inner conflict seems to radiate out through the staging, which fuses theatrical styles and costumes to juxtapose east and west, age and youth, naturalism and stylisation,traditionandrebellion. The play within a play is exquisitely delivered, with the actors arranged like ornamental china dolls on a tiered platform, from which they descend to depict the murder. But when Claudius, realising the import of the action, stops the performance, formality crumbles, an all-out brawl ensues — and Claudius is next seen, stripped of his ceremonial dress, scourging himself as he confronts his own sin. The role of theatre in challenging authority feels intensely significant. Visually the staging (performed in Japanese with English surtitles) is sumptuous, with Motoi Hattori’s expressive lighting drawing out the patterns and contrasts in the play. Claudius and Gertrude, swathed in scarlet and crimson robes, are bathed in a ruby glow; the ghost is accompanied by sapphire blue; Hamlet’s isolation is highlighted in bright white: he delivers his soliloquies either spot-lit or, in the case of “To be or not to be”, progressing diagonally across the stage in a shaftoflight. It certainly makes you see the play afresh. But what you miss is the wit and the psychological nuance that the play invites. There’s no space, for instance, for an interesting or intricate reading of Gertrude’s character. Tatsuya Fujiwara’s Hamlet, dynamic, physically supple and always arresting, rattles through his soliloquies and his challenge to his mother is hysterical. This intense pitch expresses his alienation, but it sacrifices close engagement with him and with his agonised inner journey — and, with it, the fundamental and enduringquestionsheraises. The rare moments of emotional engagement come though Hikari Mitsushima’s Ophelia, piercingly fragile in her madness, and Mikijiro Hira’s Claudius, suddenly vulnerable when hisconsciencestrikes. barbican.org.uk Richard Fairman It is not only in the television news that religiousissuespredominate.Foritsnew productions this year Glyndebourne has picked three works that bring religious conflict to the stage — Handel’s biblical Saul, Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail,acomicface-offbetweenChristian and Muslim values, and for the opening nightDonizetti’srarely-seenPoliuto. Hopes were high. The prospect of an Italian composer tackling a story about Christians being thrown to the lions in ancient Rome held out of the promise of an opera red in tooth and claw. Unfortunately,the neglectedPoliuto came across hereasgloomyandformulaic. Mariame Clément’s production is dark,empty,downbeat.Abstractslabsof wall glide across the stage. Her centurions are Nazi-era guards. Her Christian martyrsaremembersofacoweringsect. If this was a show at the Colosseum in ancientRome,theemperorwouldsurely havegivenitthethumbs-down. What energy, colour and passion it has is concentrated in the singing. The lead role, unusually, is the tenor, Poliuto, an Armenian nobleman and Christian convert, sung with uninhibited fervour by Michael Fabiano. What he lacks in bel canto grace Fabiano makes up in intensity and ringing top notes. Ana María Martínez offers a neat foil with sometimes acidic, sometimes touchingly inward singing as Paolina. Igor Golovatenko sings with impressive strength as the baritone proconsul Severo and Matthew Rose makes an imposing High Priest of Jupiter. All get first-rate support from the Glyndebourne Chorus and London Philharmonic Orchestra underconductorEnriqueMazzola. Glyndebourne has scored some hits with unfamiliar 19th-century Italian operas in the past — Rossini’s Ermione, forexample—butthisisnotoneofthem. At the bloodthirsty denouement, nothing happens. Were there no tasty morsels on hand for the lions? Couldn’t Clé- ment and her production team at least bethrowntothemasanhorsd’oeuvre? glyndebourne.com OPERA Poliuto Glyndebourne, East Sussex, UK aaaee this ain’t. It is a world which is alienating but, when one sees the complacent, wealthy Venetians rollicking among themselves,alsoalltoofamiliar. Patsy Ferran is an appealingly girlish Portia, actively supported by Nadia Albina as her maid Nerissa. Jamie Ballard is a convincing sack of woe as Antonio; Findlay stands him alone onstage as theaudienceenterforeachhalf,sobythe end of the run Ballard will have had time toconsideralotofprofoundquestionsin great detail. Emotions in general are pitched high, but they are never emotionsthatinviteustoengagewithanyfigure.ComparedtotheRSC’scurrentcompanion production of Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, which at least has a strong current of black humour, this is a world just asunyieldingandseveraldegreescolder. rsc.org.uk MAY 25 2015 Section:Features Time: 24/5/2015 - 17:46 User: tosicc Page Name: ARTS LON, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 13, 1

14 ★ Monday 25 May 2015 MONDAY PRIZE CROSSWORD No. 14,939 Set by DANTE 6 7 5 $ 7 ( * < 3 2 : : 2 : / ( 2 ( 6 5 $ $ 2 1 3$3( 5 $ 5 % , 7 ( 5 * 2 6 0 1 , ( 3 $ * 5 ( ( $ 8 ' , 7 2 5 , $ 1 7 & 1 : / , ' 5 (66 , 1 **2 : 1 6 * ( + & $ 2 7 & $ / / 7 + ( 6 + 2 7 6 $ $ 3 & ( * 3 5 $ ' , &&+ , 2 & 5 ( ' 2 ) 5 + ( 8 5 1 5 $ 0 $ 7 ( 8 5 5 ( $ / , 6 7 & * $ ' 6 6 8 , ( 5 6 $ 7 = % ( 7 + ( 6 ' $ ACROSS 1 His father is in the pop business (6) 4 Persons confused by egghead’s reaction (8) 9 Bill returns with new coil of fabric (6) 10 Regular lay preachers take it (8) 12 Something you may want to catch, call in the army (4,4) 13 Different conclusion for a capital goddess (6) 15 School that epitomises English style (4) 16 Revised report is one I deal with as more important (10) 19 One of the 19th century acts to improve the police? (6,4) 20 Driver, perhaps, in a black suit (4) 23 Desire a new T-shirt (6) 25 Start of play (5,3) 27 Feel a bit upset by a trifling annoyance (8) 28 Carried out enquiry – many put inside and charged (6) 29 Class of good scholars left going over the same thing again? It’s not on (8) 30 Turned to authorship in captivity (6) DOWN 1 In France, she can ascend in balloon gondola (7) 2 Eliminate European cricket side (6,3) 3 Welcome break for a prisoner? (6) 5 Grudging admiration of diplomat with nothing to lose? (4) 6 Hairstyle adapted plait on youth’s head (8) 7 Nozzle has nothing in it – it was used for the last drop (5) 8 Avenger about to give chase (7) 11 Attribute that makes a writer (7) 14 Pick up is part of the service (7) 17 Where the flag flies three feet off the ground? (4,2,3) 18 Upset over ban on bicycles (8) 19 Showing someone pity could be hurtful (7) 21 Joined in, harmoniously (7) 22 Falsely disloyal (6) 24 That is a date in Rome – September the fourth (2,3) 26 Let it be one sort of square inside another (4) SOLUTION 14,927 The winner’s name will be published in Weekend FT on June 6 A prize of The Good Word Guide by Martin Manser and How to Sound Clever by Hubert van den Bergh will be awarded for the first correct solution opened. Solutions by Wednesday June 3, marked Monday Prize Crossword 14,939 on the envelope, to the Financial Times, 1 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HL. Solution on Monday June 8. . . Wind speed in MPH Temperatures max for day˚C at 12 BST 12 11 4 14 14 16 14 14 15 13 14 16 14 16 14 15 13 8 15 W i nd speed s in K P H 21 29 26 27 16 14 21 20 26 22 21 14 26 18 26 24 30 26 21 16 20 16 20 23 25 29 35 17 16 19 32 9 18 1 16 13 HIGH LOW LOW LOW 1020 1020 1010 1010 Abu Dhabi Sun 43 109 Amsterdam Cloudy 14 57 Athens Sun 26 79 B’ham Cloudy 14 57 Bangkok Thunder 36 97 Barcelona Sun 23 73 Beijing Sun 35 95 Belfast Cloudy 13 55 Belgrade Cloudy 18 64 Berlin Fair 21 70 Brussels Cloudy 15 59 Budapest Thunder 19 66 Buenos Aires Sun 19 66 Cardiff Cloudy 16 61 Chicago Cloudy 27 81 Cologne Drizzle 16 61 Copenhagen Drizzle 13 55 Delhi Sun 43 109 Dubai Sun 40 104 Dublin Cloudy 16 61 Edinburgh Cloudy 15 59 Frankfurt Cloudy 18 64 Geneva Shower 20 68 Glasgow Cloudy 14 57 Hamburg Cloudy 14 57 Helsinki Sun 16 61 Hong Kong Thunder 29 84 Istanbul Sun 23 73 Jersey Fair 14 57 Lisbon Sun 27 81 London Cloudy 16 61 Los Angeles Fair 20 68 Luxembourg Cloudy 16 61 Lyon Fair 21 70 Madrid Sun 26 79 Manchester Cloudy 13 55 Miami Cloudy 31 88 Milan Sun 26 79 Montreal Shower 21 70 Moscow Sun 21 70 Mumbai Fair 34 93 Munich Shower 20 68 New York Cloudy 27 81 Nice Sun 21 70 Paris Cloudy 19 66 Prague Cloudy 19 66 Reykjavik Rain 8 46 Rio Sun 30 86 Rome Sun 22 72 San Francisco Cloudy 18 64 Stockholm Cloudy 14 57 Strasbourg Shower 20 68 Sydney Fair 20 68 Tokyo Fair 27 81 Toronto Rain 24 75 Vancouver Cloudy 19 66 Vienna Cloudy 20 68 Warsaw Shower 20 68 Washington Fair 31 88 Zurich Shower 20 68 Today’s temperatures Forecasts by Explore more sports data analysis and visualisation in our series at ft.com/baseline About halfan hourinto theopening clashoflastwinter’sSixNations rugby union tournament, theWelshman GeorgeNorth dived to the ground to wrap hisarmsaround the ballasit bobbledon the ground.At that moment, theEnglish forwardDave Atwood swung his right bootat the same object but connectedwithNorth’s face instead, knocking himout cold. Amere eightminuteslater, following a briefmedicalassessment,Northwas backon the field.On the hourmark his teammateRichardHibbard, travelling at full tilt, smashed hisown headinto North’sas they bothwent to tacklean England player. For the second timein thematchNorth fellon his face, eyes closed,limbs floppinglikea rag doll’s. Incredibly,whenNorth came toafter this secondincident hewasallowed to finish thematch.He thenwent back to play for hisEnglish Premiership club Northampton untilamatchinlate Marchwhen the right shinofoneof his opponents smashed himin the sideof the headas hewas scoringa try.North rolledoveron to his back, hisleftarm bouncingon the turf,andwentlimp oncemore. WithNorthampton having beenin the running towin theEnglish Premiershipafter having topped the league table,andNorth beingoneofits stars, the clubwas right not tolet him playinSaturday’s semi-final,whichit lost toSaracens.Thisis not becauseit couldjeopardise his chancesof appearingin thisyear’sWorld Cup (as theWales coachWarrenGatland has called for). Itis becauseit could save his life. In theUS, the debateover thelongterm effectsof repeated concussions has boiled upover the past fewyears thanks to some grisly stories concerning American football—a sportinwhich,as with rugby, sucking up the pain, thumping the chestand declaringyour readiness to get backout thereis partof the culture. Afteralonglegal battle, thisAprila federaljudge gave finalapproval toa class-actionlawsuit settlement between theNational Football Leagueand thousandsof former professionals,with up to$5m per retired playerwho suffered seriousmedical conditions associatedwith repeated head trauma. A careerof constant blows to the head,whether the recipientloses consciousnessor not, can resultina condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTEisa progressive degenerationof the brain tissue associatedwithmemoryloss, aggression, depression, personality changesand even dementia. It has also beenlinked toa numberof early deathsand suicidesof ex-proswho could nolonger take the constant headachesand toxicmixtureof dread and helplessness. Rugby hasitsown distressing tales, among them the fateof former internationalShontayneHape.Ayear agoHape told theNew ZealandHerald how repeated concussionsmeantloud musicand sunlight had become torture, that he could not remember simple thingslike the pin code for his bank card,and had startedlosing his temper with hiswifeand children.Onlywhena specialistin France explained that “my brainwas so traumatised, had swollen so big that evenjust gettinga tap to the bodywould knockmeout” did hequit. Itwould be unfair to claim that rugby is disregarding theissue. For example, this season playersatSaracens have worn sensors behind their earlobes to measure the forceand directionofany impact to the head.The device, called thexPatch,was designed byaSeattle company calledX2Biosystems, demonstrating how rugby canlearn from theAmerican experience. Itisalsoa smallmeasureof progress thatin February theWelsh teamwas castigated forlettingNorth playon— though notwhen they brought him back for the gameagainst Francejust three weekslater. Butitis fair toassume thatitwon’t be long beforeanother top rugby teamwill be takinganother risky gamblewitha player’s health thatwill not endwell. In rugby, bruises, broken bonesand blood areoften considered badgesof honour, but thereisa difference between being toughand being stupid. If retired rugby players end uplike someof theNFL’s most damaged cases, theimplications for themand the game could be devastating. barney.thompson@ft.com It’s time to tackle rugby injuries George North lies hurt during a Northampton game, having suffered head injuries playing for Wales — Tony Marshall/Getty Images JOHN BURN-MURDOCH AND GAVIN JACKSON Professional footballis not renowned for altruism. Yet a quirk in the Uefa coefficient system may call for exactly that, at least if the English Premier Leaguewants to keep holdof its coveted fourth Champions League (CL) spot. The coefficient system sees each national association awarded points based on a five-year average of its teams’ results in the Champions and Europa leagues, the latter of which a Premier League player last week said hewas “relieved” to havemissed outon. The top three countries by this measure are each awarded four spots in the Champions League. England will finish this seasonin second place, but Germany are on course to overtake them next season and Italy are rapidly gaining ground. And Europa League (EL) success has provided 12.1 of Italy’s 19 coefficient points this season. No country has secured even as many as 10 points from the tournamentin recent years, despite all the biggest leagues beginning each season with the same numberof participants. In fact Italy’s EL coefficient contribution thisyearisalmost three-times England’s 4.2. So far this season Italy has gained 5.4 coefficient points net on England across both tournaments, and a Juventus win in next month’s CL final would increase that to7.4. Some at Premier League clubsmay like to think Europe’s less glamorous competition is little more than a distraction from taking a tilt at the top four or securing a greater share of the vast broadcast revenues. But if they’re not careful, that fourth spot may havelostitsappeal. The solution is for altruism to prevail: instead of bemoaning the late Thursday night flights across Europe, clubs would do well to consider the indirect benefits both to future fourth-place finishers and to the English game as a whole of an extended runin theEuropa League. The Baseline Spain - overall 99.4 Source: UEFA.com FT Graphic 0 5 10 15 20 25 2010 11 12 13 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 2010 11 12 13 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 2010 11 12 13 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 2010 11 12 13 14 Europa. Lg Champs. Lg Germany - overall 79.4 Italy - overall 70.5 England - overall 80.4 UEFA country coefficients Points awarded by tournament BarneyThompson MAY 25 2015 Section:FrontBack Time: 24/5/2015 - 17:29 User: vickersj Page Name: 1BACK, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 14, 1

Monday 25 May 2015 ★ 15 © The Financial Times Limited 2015 Week 22 Companies AT&T.9 Aldi.20 BASF.17 BNP.19 BNP Paribas.15 Barclays.15,16,18 Berkshire Hathaway.12 Bibby Line.20 Booker.20 Burberry.17 Chanel.17 Citigroup.15,18,19 Commerzbank.17,19 Costcutter.20 Credit Suisse.15,16 Daimler.17 Deutsche Bank.16 Deutsche Telekom.24 EE.24 Expedia.9 Facebook.9,24 Fastjet.20 General Electric.12 GlaxoSmithKline.15,20 Goldman Sachs.9,16 Google.9,24 HSBC.17 Hanergy Group.16 Hanergy Thin Film Power.1,16 Home Retail.20 Imperial Tobacco.15 JPMorgan Chase.15 Jaguar Land Rover.24 Kingfisher.15,20 Lidl.20 Lufthansa.17 Mahindra & Mahindra.12 Marshalls.20 Microsoft.9 Monte dei Paschi di Siena.19 Nisa.20 Novartis.20 Orange.24 Palmer & Harvey.20 Patek Philippe.17 PayPal.9 Pfizer.20 Phytotech.18 Quicksilver Resources.15 Royal Mail.15 Ryanair.24 Samson Resources.15 Samsung.24 Satyam Computer Services.12 Severn Trent.15 Siemens.17 Sky.24 Ssangyong Motor.12 TalkTalk.24 Tata Motors.24 Tate & Lyle.24 Tech Mahindra.12 Tesco.20 Tesla Motors.12 Tiffany & Co.24 Topps Tiles.20 Travis Perkins.20 Tyman.20 UBS.16,18,19 Vivendi.17 Walmart.9 Whitbread.15 Wm Morrison.20 Yelp.9 easyJet.15,20,24 Sectors Automobiles.24 Banks.3,4,16,18,19 Gen Financial.17 Gen Retailers.20 Leisure Goods.17 Mining.18 Pharmaceuticals.20 Travel & Leisure.3 People Ahmed, Javed.24 Witty, Sir Andrew.20 Brotherton, James.20 Carter, John.20 Coffey, Martyn.20 Fitschen, Jürgen.16 Gerstenlauer, John.15 Hejun, Li.1 Jain, Anshu.16 Bibby, Sir Michael.20 O’Leary, Michael.24 Williams, Matt.20 Winter, Ed.20 Companies / Sectors / People ALISON SMITH — CHIEF CORPORATE CORRESPONDENT Most of the UK’s largest listed companies still have boards where women comprise fewer thanone-quarterof the directors, suggesting the government’s push for greater diversity has yet to changemanagement culture. Analysis for the Professional Boards Forum,which seeks to raise the number of women directors, shows that in midMay, fewer than halfof FTSE 100 groups had boards in which women made up more than 25 per cent of the members. In the FTSE 250, only three out of 10 boards met that target. Twenty still had all-maleboards. The target was set in 2011, when a government-commissioned report from Lord Davies stated that FTSE 100 boards should be at least one-quarter female by the end of 2015. Just five groups accounted for one in 10 of the 269 blue-chip female directors. Once the target has been met, campaigners say the next stage should be to increase the number of senior women executives, as the 25 per cent representation rate mainly reflects the appointment of non-executives rather than the riseofwomen bosses. When Alison Brittain becomes head ofWhitbreadin January, shewill beonly the sixth current female FTSE 100 chief executive. The others are Carolyn McCall at easyJet; Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco; Véronique Laury at Kingfisher; Moya Greene at Royal Mail; and LivGarfieldatSevernTrent. Sir Win Bischoff, one of the corporate chairmen who has promoted increased female representation on boards, says the key is raising the number of women on executive committees — the groups just below board level which run large companies. “The next stage is to persuade chief executives,” he said. Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, agrees that the focus should be on the executive committee, while recognising that a target of 25-30 per cent female representationwill take longer than fiveyears. “It has always been difficult getting women into top executive positions,” Sir Philip said. UK boards miss 25% targetfor women directors as diversity driveflounders Europe’s last man standing Why Deutsche Bank finds little advantage in its full-service offering INSIDE BUSINESS, PAGE 16 CHRISTOPHER ADAMS — ENERGY EDITOR The oil price plunge has triggered bankruptcies and debt defaults, with almost two dozen oil and gas groups now under stress as rescue measures are put in place to try to save companies nearing collapse. A 40 per cent slide in Brent crude prices from a peak of $115 a barrel last June has put smaller, cash-strapped producers in financial trouble, according to City analysts,with up to aquarter of amillion barrels a dayofoil supply at risk. Even after a rebound in prices from January’s lows to about $66 a barrel, there have been “numerous small corporate casualties” across the globe, and especially in the US and Canada, says a report byBernsteinResearch. The firm hasidentified22 companies “under duress” from lower oil prices, with $33bn of assets, including eight that have filed for bankruptcy protection and others warning of insolvency or deferred bondinterest payments. A dozen of the groups identified by Bernstein had their production assets in North America, with the rest spread across South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. Their total output was put at 383,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, of which 239,000 b/d was oiland the rest gas. The fallout from the price slide has yet to match that which followed the 2008-09 collapse, when 61 companies filed for bankruptcy. However, those groups were much smaller than the energy producers that are now struggling to meet obligations to lenders as revenues dwindle. Bernstein’s Oswald Clint said that similarities with the 1980s supplydriven slump, and uncertainty over the scale of any price recovery, made companies more vulnerable than in 2008-09. “There are a lot of differences between this downturn and the last one. Themostimportantis that thelast recovery was rapid, much quicker than the industry could react. There is greater perceived uncertainty ofwhere wearein the cycle today,” he said. Five years ago the consequences of the price plunge were limited by the rise in US production that heralded the shale boom. This time, those higher cost shale resources make up a much bigger proportion of US output. Most of the casualties this time are in the US and Canada, where the tumble in crude has hit oil sands producers hard. They include little-known companies such as shale gas producer Quicksilver Resources, WBH Energy and Southern Pacific Resources, which have filed for bankruptcy protection. Larger companies such as Samson Resources, another shale producer, have warned investors of possible default. UK-based Afren has delayed payment of interest to bondholders, while Gulf Keystone, the Kurdistan producer,isin talks over a possible sale ofassetsor the company. John Gerstenlauer, chief executive of Gulf Keystone, said the group, which was owed more than $330m by the Kurdistan authorities forits share of oil sales, said it was burning through cash at the rateof$8m to$10mamonth. “For us, it’s a matter of keeping our heads above water until the Kurdistan situation improves.We’re trying to live within ourmeans and generate enough income to cover that,” he said. The company had slashed capital and operating expenditure. GINA CHON — WASHINGTON US senator Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers are calling for public hearings on whether banks accused of rigging foreign exchange markets should be allowed to manage retirement accounts. The call for US Department of Labor hearings heightens pressure on government agencies to inflict more pain on the banks, after six agreed on Wednesday to pay $5.6bn to resolve allegations they manipulated currency markets. Four of the banks pleaded guilty to felony charges related to those claims. Banks facing enforcement actions often need exemptions from regulatory agencies to engage in certain activities, such as raising capital or advising pension funds, and those waivers are often granted. But such exemptions have become controversial after some regulators and lawmakers have argued that waiversreward bad behaviour. TheUS Securities and Exchange Commission, which granted waivers to the five banks in the justice department forex settlement announced on Wednesday, has been under particular pressure not to grant such exemptions. The scrutiny nowmoves to the labour department, which has so far received applications for exemptions to continue advising pension funds from Barclays, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase in relation to the forex guilty pleas, according to people familiarwith the requests. “When banks plead guilty to a crime, federal agencies must do more than look the other way,” MsWarren told the Financial Times. “The SEC has already granted waivers to each of these banks without any detailed explanation, but it is not too late for the Department of Labor to hold a public hearing before it decides that such brazen lawbreakers can be trusted managing workers’ retirementaccounts.” Itis the first timeMsWarren, theMassachusetts Democrat and fierce Wall Street critic, has called for such a hearing. Last year, congresswoman Maxine Waters, the senior Democrat on the House financial services committee, called on the Department of Labor to hold a hearing on Credit Suisse’s application foran exemption. The Swiss bank needed a waiver after it pleaded guilty to helping clients evade US taxes in May 2014. The department held a hearing in January, the first of its kind, and CreditSuisseis stillwaiting for a finalansweronits exemption request. Ms Waters again called on the agency to hold hearings for the banks applying for Department of Labor exemptions in relation to the forex cases. In April, the agency decided to allow BNP Paribas to manage retirement plans, despite its record $8.9bn penalty and guilty plea for violating US sanctionsagainstSudanandother countries. Thedepartment defendedits decision to grant BNP a waiver, emphasising that it camewith conditions. One is for BNP to allow an independent auditor unconditional access to computer systems, record books and personnel. Banks’fitness to run pensions disputed after forex penalties Senator calls for hearings on whether lenders should be granted exemptions A North Dakota well stands idle: most of the casualties this time are in the US and Canada — Daniel Acker/Bloomberg Oil price plunge leaves producers on brink of collapse Oil companies feeling the pinch Source: Bernstein Groups include those that have defaulted on debt and are in or seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Total oil production ’000 barrels per day Number Total assets 2008-09 2014-15 2008-09 2014-15 2008-09 2014-15 24 239 61 22 $bn 6 33 ‘For us, it’s a matter of keeping our heads above water until the Kurdistan situation improves’ Perils of cheap money Negative rates bring dilemmas for companies and investors alike SARAH GORDON, PAGE 17 ‘Federal agencies must do more than look the other way’ Elizabeth Warren Nearly three years after a fine against Barclays led to a global outcry over the manipulation of benchmarks, Tom Hayes, the first trader to face prosecution over allegations of involvement, is to appear in court in London tomorrow. Crucial test i PAGE 18 Trader in the dock over Libor-rigging scandal MAY 25 2015 Section:FrontBack Time: 24/5/2015 - 20:50 User: summersj Page Name: 2FRONT, Part,Page,Edition: LON, 15, 1

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