He’s landed a role in a film called Fido, in which – according to the producers, Anagram – he “chops off a female zombie’s head with a shovel and buries her in a flower bed”.It would be unfair to portray this as anything other than a grisly coincidence, but Connolly is unlikely to get a fair ride from Fleet Street: at the time of the last controversy, he branded all journalists “slime”.* Proof, if it were needed, that the dark art of spin has gone global. Before Christmas, he wandered chin-deep into le merde by joking about the (soon-to-be-decapitated) British hostage, Ken Bigley.Now the “Big Yin” is sailing close to the wind again. I don’t think he [Burton] would be interested in remaking it.”My guess is, this is going to be darker, with lots of special effects and scary as hell; probably more suited to teenagers than the little ones.”I wish they’d started by remaking The Wizard of Oz, and then worked their way up to Willy Wonka.” Perish the thought!* Like a moth to a candle, Billy Connolly is inexorably drawn towards controversy. Some is hung in corridors, and the people of Britain – who own the pictures – don’t have proper access to them.”A spokesman for the National Gallery said yesterday: “In continuing to display these works, our trustees feel they are fulfilling their duties to the public and to the works entrusted to them.”* First we had Jerry Springer: the Opera.

If not, much of the art was supposed to be sold to benefit charity,” they say. “As it is, the Turner bequest is split between different galleries. He calls on the Culture minister, David Lammy, to review the National’s governing structure and board of trustees.Mitchell’s Early Day Motion is supported by a pressure group called the Over-Turners, who claim the National doesn’t give sufficient prominence to paintings it was bequeathed by Turner in his will, which gave specific instructions about how they should be displayed.”Turner’s condition was that a special room or gallery should be set up. * The cries of opposition to the National Gallery’s urbane director, Charles Saumarez Smith, are coming from so many quarters, it’s tempting to feel sorry for him. A consumer slowdown makes the outlook there appear bleak.FKI shares are worth holding for a dividend yielding 4.5 per cent on a share price of 101.75p, but they are not exciting enough to buy.. However, the “hardware” division – that’s the rather unappealing door handles, locks and hinges division – was disappointing.

The trouble is this level of debt will long be a burden for a business that must innovate if it is to thrive.News on forward orders, released alongside some forecast-beating annual results yesterday, was positive across most of the core businesses. We make hi-tech, high-speed distribution and sorting equipment for use in demanding postal offices and US airports. No, you also can’t say we make hooks, because we actually make world-class hoists, chains and fitting to satisfy specialist industrial lifting requirements. And…Oh, all right then, you can say we make door handles.FKI has done a good job at slimming down its portfolio of diverse engineering businesses and focusing them, where possible, on specialist niches where it can demonstrate a superior product and charge higher prices. The trouble is, there are still a large number of mundane products within the business, even now, and the prospects for the group as a whole are mixed.The company is continuing to churn its portfolio of businesses, with more disposals and acquisitions to be expected over the next year. Meanwhile, the businesses are being run efficiently enough, cash flows remain robust, and the company’s £351m of debt looks servicable.

The pace of consolidation in the life-insurance industry is set to intensify following the merger of Britannic Group and Resolution Life Group in a deal that was confirmed yesterday. Martin Weale, its director, said: “If weak growth persists the case for a reduction becomes stronger but, with very limited spare capacity in the economy, we do not think it yet exists.”The Bank’s decision came after figures showed an unexpected rebound in both factory output and exports. Manufacturing output rose by 0.9 per cent in April, partially offsetting a 1.6 per cent fall in March, the biggest fall for a decade, the Office for National Statistics said. But the rise still left manufacturing down 1.4 per cent on the previous three months, the worst out-turn since January 2002.Separate figures showed exports rose 4 per cent in April to a record £25.1bn on the back of a 7.5 per cent jump in sales to countries outside the European Union. However a strong rise in imports left the net deficit £200m wider at £3.4bn The goods deficit also widened by £200m to £4.8bn..