Dixons was quick off the market in the PC market too, buying PC World and investing heavily in it.There were mistakes along the way, of course. The acquisition of Silo in the United States in the late 1980s was a disaster. And Dixons was slow to spot the potential of mobile phones, allowing Carphone Warehouse to steal a march as the leading independent But you can’t have everything. Sir Stanley must be one of the few modern day businessman who has helped to create not just one empire but two.

Dixons is his monument, but he also played his part in the development of Freeserve, a truly ground-breaking innovation that for a while created untold value.With European consolidation looming, the next phase of Dixons’ development may not necessarily be to Sir Stanley’s taste as a committed europhobe. But whatever path Dixons now follows, Sir Stanley has done what all good chairman should and paved the way for a seamless succession. John Clare has been in place as chief executive for years, he’s well respected in the City, and he has a strong team around him. According to the saying, while the rest of Asia goes to work, Australia goes to the beach. Unfair, no doubt, but the fact of the matter is that the Australian economy is in trouble, despite the extraordinary success of last year’s Olympic Games. As a result, the Australian dollar is again down in the doldrums. The rest of the world is waiting nervously to see whether the US will plunge us all into recession The Australian economy is already there.

In response, Australia has been cutting interest rates with gusto, but so far to little effect.There’s no mess so bad that government interference cannot make even worse, and as if to prove the point, along comes Peter Costello, Australia’s Treasurer (the equivalent of our Chancellor), to tell Shell that it won’t be allowed to proceed with its bid for Woodside Petroleum. The markets drew the obvious inference that foreign investment in Australia is to be discouraged, and hammered the Australian dollar accordingly.Mr Costello was at pains to stress that nothing could be further from the truth, and to be fair, it is worth remembering that up until now Mr Costello has been strongly identified with free market reform. Foreign investment built Australia, Mr Costello pointed out, from the moment the people stepped off the First Fleet in Botony Bay, and he welcoming foreign investment as uncompromisingly good for Australia.Fine, but it is hard to draw any such conclusion from yesterday’s own goal Shell has been investing in Australia for over 100 years. Its plans to merge its own oil and gas interests in Australia with those of Woodside would further have enhanced Australia’s position in the LNG market. If Australia had rejected the offer on competition grounds, then fair enough, but actually it did so on the basis that Shell could not be relied upon to ensure optimum development of Woodside’s principle asset, the North West Shelf.There’s an election looming in Australia, and a backlash has developed against the Liberal/ National coalition’s economic reforms.