Industrial news

Football has been driven from everyone’s mind by an announcement from Luxembourg stating that the board of the pan-European steel group Arcelor will decide on Sunday whether to recommend acceptance of a takeover bid from Mittal Steel. Earlier in the week the Guardian had racked up the widespread excitement over this extraordinary development by illustrating their report with this picture.
Selecting it must have been difficult; clearly the Pictures Editor was keen to avoid the one usually used to enliven such news items, which shows a great bucket thing pouring out molten steel amid showers of sparks, and chose instead a low-key approach intended to intrigue readers, who will be asking themselves:
Who is this man? What's his game? Why is he wearing a fireproof smock and a hat clearly made from thin card? Is that a gleam of wry amusement in his eye or is he just fed up after a long day in the slag vats?
These questions will provoke heated argument in the pubs and clubs over this weekend while the huge plasma screens flicker unwatched.