Fact and fiction

'When a man hates to lose and a woman loves to win, who will be the highest bidder?' Sounds good, doesn't it? And there's more. 'Success in making the winning bid in the Government's sale of a construction company depends on power and influence with the people who matter. And for four of the players, the outcome could mean brilliant success... or ruinous scandal.' Wow! Is this the history of the PSA sell-off, or what?

Believe it or not, it is the blurb for a Penguin paperback that came out last year called The Highest Bidder, and was recently discovered by a CJ staffer in the second-hand bins of Sutton. Its author was Janet Cohen, a former John Laing Construction industrial relations specialist, who went on to work for the DTI and is now a director of Charterhouse Bank. With that background, she should know what she's talking about, so her cast of characters may bear some resemblance to reality...

They include: Matthew Friern: 'unscrupulous, charismatic construction boss who wants the company at all costs, with a friend on the local council and his wife's connections to help him win it.' Just who can this be based on?