THE LATEST fat cats lapping the cream can hardly be blamed - for it has been poured into their laps courtesy of Tory ideology.

They are the bosses and staff of a trains leasing company which bought out the firm from British Rail and just six months later sold it for a huge profit - nearly £300million, in fact.

And as shareholders the firm's 50 staff reap a windfall and four of the directors get an amazing £40 million between them.

That's business. And those at this firm cannot be blamed for taking advantage of it.

However, this particular business once belonged to us taxpayers.

The taxpayers, however, may reflect that not only has another of their assets being taken away from them - though they should also consider that they have endorsed this policy at the ballot box - but it was vastly undervalued when it was sold off by the government.

If, then, there is a bitter lesson here about the wisdom of the state selling off the family silver, as former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan put it, surely, there is an even sorrier one about the folly of giving it away.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.