Just another Cnut

French President Sarkozy's attack on EU competition policy sounds so . . . 60s. Despite the French state's determined defence of 'national champions', manufacturing accounts for a smaller amount - by value - of French GNP than it does in Britain.

Of course Sarkozy's song will be music to the ears of the old left dinosaurs in Britain, but the concept of Comparative Advantage remains the sole major economic theorem that has been demonstrated to be true, time and time again, ever since it was first formulated by Ricardo.

Perhaps his courtiers should carry the wee man on his throne to the mud flats of Le Havre to demonstrate how he can hold back the tide.