But he will need to draw deep into his well of experience to handle the Coke Colossus. He joined Coca-Cola in 1966 after graduating from Harvard, and climbed its corporate ladder in positions in several continents before retiring in 1998. Coca-Cola may be bubbling, but there is turbulence in the fizz.The 60-year-old Irishman ­ he was born in County Down ­ at least knows the territory as well as anyone alive. You would have to envy a man who is chosen to head a company like Coca-Cola. The drinks giant surely constitutes one of the most powerful brands in the world. And what’s more, there seems to be no shortage of fizz in its fortunes: its first-quarter numbers showed a 35 per cent rise in revenues from a year ago.

It just goes to show the difficulty our leading, publicly quoted retailers are having in attracting the top talent.jeremy.warner independent.co.uk. Ms Earl is said to have turned down an offer to be head of clothing at Marks & Spencer to pursue Jaeger, which is tiny by comparison. Some say Jaeger has the potential to be the next Burberry, which looks an exaggerated view, but there’s certainly plenty of upside potential. The obvious solution is the one that the Government would rather not contemplate while it is still obsessed with its green agenda ­ to give nuclear fission a new lease of life. The industry, as embodied by British Energy, may be in meltdown at the moment, but a new day may yet dawn. Earl/JaegerThe retail entrepreneur, Harold Tillman, has pulled off quite a coup in persuading Belinda Earl, former chief executive of Debenhams, to head up the fashion chain, Jaeger, which he bought for a song a little while back. She’s perfect for the job and has all the right credentials to revitalise this rather faded brand.

Many of our coal stations will soon start to shut (as a result of another Brussels diktat). Most of our nuclear stations are reaching the end of their lives, leaving Britain increasingly dependent on imported gas All in all, it does not look promising. As ever, that pesky level playing field is tilting alarmingly in favour of our Continental competitors, which means that while they merrily pollute away, UK companies will be reduced to trading permits among themselves.Even the greenest environmental campaigner must by now have cottoned on to the fact that there is not the remotest chance of the emissions and renewables targets being hit in six years’ time That begs an even bigger question about security of supply. And 10 per cent of all UK electricity from wind turbines by the same date. Unfortunately, the reality looks somewhat different, even after yesterday’s Government admission that progress towards the target would be slower than hoped for. Last year, the amount of CO2 Britain pumped into the atmosphere actually went up while the proportion of electricity generated from renewable sources went down. At this rate, hitting the targets looks about as likely as gaining planning permission for a windfarm in the middle of Hyde Park.The European Union’s answer to this green conundrum is a carbon emissions trading scheme which penalises those who spew out too much CO2 and rewards those who undershoot the target.