The orange writing on this square has faded so none of us can read the text properly. It was all about stocks and shares, derivatives and futures, trading and commodities. What can we read? The dot-com bubble: that was a phenomenon of its time, with fortunes made and rapidly lost in an updated Trollope-type scenario.

But PFI , now! This is the (to me) infamous public/private finance set-up that enabled all those hospitals to be built – hospitals which it seems now we don’t need and can’t afford to run. I would much rather not have been proved right, but wasn’t it always obvious that this formula meant pay a bit less now, pay a lot lot more later – and compromise future spending and decision-making in the process? All those contracts tied up for years ….Of course principled politicians should plan for the long-term good, not present gain. Do they ever? Indeed, does the system make this easy for them? now there are many different ways to keep your finance and it can be easy for you too ! look for the patient statement printing and mailing services is the latest way for any business to have a better financing management.

Incidentally I’ve always been interested in text at the point where it becomes illegible and merely a form of pattern. More on this later. I didn’t intend these comments to become a political rant! This square used sweet-papers – glittering, alluring and throwaway – and non-enduring inks. Symbolism a bit heavy, perhaps?!