Saturday papers: tips and comments - US set for ‘big bang’ financial clean-up

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

The Front Page

* US set for ‘big bang’ financial clean-up (more detail in “other news items”)

The Analysis Page (p9)

* From bounce to bust: Politics – Gordon Brown, a leader who initially drew strength from his handling of the financial crisis now finds himself struggling to defy political gravity as the economic news grows remorsefully grimmer

The Lex Column (p26)

* Roche bottom prices - To go hostile on a takeover offer and lower the price looks pretty hardball – especially when the opening bid was hardly generous

* Sober CEO’s - US banks and their chiefs are jettisoning everything from private jets to dubious interior design in keeping with the new era of corporate austerity.

* Excellent Exxon - Love them or hate them, Exxon’s bosses navigated the energy boom superbly and are now well positioned to make the most out of the bust

* Vanishing miracles - Economic destruction assumes Godzilla-like proportions: data show industrial production fell almost 10% in December. But it gets worse

Interview (p13)

* Sir John Crave - Ex-Lonmin head attacks Takeover Panel ‘mistake’