The good news is that since there are no principles at stake, they should be able to horsetrade their way out of the current fix.People must be forced to save for old ageThere is something particularly irritating and holier than thou about the way Harriet Harman, social security minister, bangs on about having "inherited" a huge pensions challenge from the previous Government, as if her predecessors never bothered to think about it. But will carriers really want to freeze Airbus out? The lesson of how Boeing has ruthlessly exploited its monopoly of the jumbo jet market for the last two decades is one that will not be forgotten quickly by the airline industry.For all that, the Commission's objections to the deal do not seem fundamental enough to go to war over. However, that is not going to stop Brussels using the deal as a pretext for prizing concessions out of the Americans in other areas - starting with a tightening of the rules governing the support given to their aerospace industries through the enormous research programmes run by the US Defense Department and Nasa.This is not the first trade dispute between the two blocs and it will not be the last. Indeed the view trickling out of Toulouse then was that the merger might actually work to its advantage by creating a more orderly market and reminding the world's airlines that if they still wanted a choice then Airbus was the only other player in town.Since then there has been much comment in Brussels about how Boeing's scope for sweetheart exclusive supply deals with airlines would be enhanced. True, the merger would increase Boeing's share of the commercial airline market but only by 4 per cent. Moreover, even after swallowing up McDonnell Douglas, Boeing would still be left with a smaller share of the market than it enjoyed 10 years ago, thanks to the inroads Europe's Airbus Industrie has made.When the Boeing deal was first unveiled there was barely a squeak from Airbus.

Alex Sandberg, College Hill's owner, said last week that his firm had resigned because the company had refused to reveal who owned Alsina.. Will Washington and Brussels really go to war over Boeing? Although the stand-off is plainly serious, as the flexing of political muscles on both sides of the Atlantic demonstrates, the betting must still be on one or both parties blinking before it is time to scramble the bombers Here's why. Although the European Commission has stuck rigidly to its line that Boeing's takeover of McDonnell Douglas will distort competition, it will do no such thing. The European Commission has spotted an opportunity to squeeze maximum advantage out of the situation for its own jet champion, Airbus Industrie, and is playing its hand accordingly. In truth, there are really very few anti-trust considerations involved, as the US Federal Trade Commission has already ruled. Display IT has consistently refused to say who is backing Alsina.Earlier this week Bill Murphy, BT's director of corporate clients, also resigned from the Display IT board.Display IT was unavailable for comment yesterday.Recent volatile movements in the company's shares have prompted the Securities and Futures Authority to look into the matter in its capacity as regulator of Ofex's only market-maker, JP Jenkins.Display IT's shares were suspended at 245p.

Last Friday they fell 75p to 145p, 48 hours after Display IT's original firm of PR advisers, College Hill, had resigned from the account The shares stood at 810p earlier this year. Problems at the Ofex-quoted business also prompted the resignation yesterday morning of Tom Mackay, Display IT's company secretary and a partner with the solicitors Taylor Johnson Garrett. The law firm has also resigned as the company's solicitors. The law firm said Mr Mackay had resigned "following his inability to obtain certain information from the company about its affairs".It is understood this information relates to Display IT's relationship with Alsina, a Luxembourg-registered company, which has a contract to distribute Display IT's services throughout Europe. Turnover in the engineering industry rose by 0.4 per cent in the three months to May. A 2 per cent advance in export sales more than offset a 0.8 per cent drop in home sales. However, total turnover was 0.2 per cent lower than in the same three months a year earlier. Compared to last May, export orders have fallen 11.3 per cent..