Pembroke: Salvation Army shows faith in solicitors

THE SALVATION ARMY clearly has a touching faith in lawyers - and so, it seems, do its auditors, the London firm of Knox Cropper. The charity has decided to make no provision in its accounts for the potential losses it faces from the pounds 6m fraud that came to light last year.

Knox Cropper's unqualified opinion states that 'the strength of the legal case' makes a provision unnecessary, and the full amount has been included in debtors. 'There is every hope of total recovery,' writes Commissioner Dinsdale Pender.

The Salvation Army fell victim to an extraordinary scam that promised suspiciously high returns.

Before long, dollars 8.8m ( pounds 6.2m) was being dispersed to various points around the globe. Four senior officers who were taken in subsequently lost their jobs in the fall-out.

Slaughter & May, the Salvation Army's solicitors, have traced most of the money and are confident of making a substantial recovery.

The Salvation Army should remember that lawyers regard a surprisingly high proportion of their cases as strong. The law is an uncertain business - ask Gillian Taylforth.

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TALES FROM a snowbound City: the inch of snow that reduced London's streets to the usual pitiful snarl-up proved too much for one taxi driver. One colleague had to clamber out and push to prevent his cab sliding into a Moorgate postbox.

Still, the effort was worth it. The cabbie let him have a quid off the fare.

RICHARD BRANSON thought it necessary to dragoon Desert Orchid, the nation's favourite racehorse, into garnering even more publicity for his bid to run the national lottery.

One wag suggested rival bidders should hit back by delivering their proposals accompanied by a can of dog food labelled Shergar - after Desie's long-lost predecessor.

Anthony Fry, of N M Rothschild, the bank working with Tattersall's of Australia on a lottery bid, was amused but strangely unpersuaded.

WHO SAID romance is dead? Yves Saint Laurent, the leading French fashion house, marked St Valentine's Day yesterday by handing out 200,000 condoms.

This was all part of a campaign to advertise YSL's men's clothing (as well as safer sex). The packaging was a photograph of a nude male admiring a fully dressed woman, with the slogan: 'Yves Saint Laurent dresses men.'

CIGARETTE smoking will not make you sexy, glamorous, popular or athletic . . . smoking will make you dead.

That is the admirably brazen corporate message of The Enlightened Tobacco Company, distributors of Death cigarettes.

The company is helping to spread the word by festooning a black London cab with its skull-and-crossbones logo.

It certainly seems to have got its message to the driver. One recent passenger was immediately ordered to extinguish his fag.

SAVE THE CHILDREN is seeking further City teams for its Guilds, Gaiters and Gauntlets evening next month - a sort of Krypton Factor in medieval costume.

Save the Children promises challenges involving jousting, heraldry and banqueting. Don't worry - the jousting will be the sort of combat that can be safely undertaken within the confines of a wine bar. Unfortunately for some in the City, banqueting will not be a contest in gluttony.

The charity is hoping to raise pounds 20,000 through entrance fees ( pounds 200 for a team of four) and sponsorship. KPMG Peat Marwick, S G Warburg and Lloyd's of London will be among those taking part on 24 March.