29 JUNE 1991, Page 21

Midland v. Moose

SOME folks — as Moose Malloy said when he flattened the barman in Farewell, My Lovely — have the wrong idea about when to get tough. This includes the Midland Bank. It has written to a company known to me, insisting on seeing quarterly profit and loss accounts and balance sheets. Since the company lends more money to the bank than the bank does to the company, this request has been refused. Instead, the company is insisting on quarterly accounts from the Midland.