'Financial Times': Britain Hard Hit by Protests Over Rising Gas Prices
DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: Britain has been hard hit by protests over rising gas prices and the government there is taking a hard line.</s>DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Lionel Barber, of the "Financial Times," joins us now from the "FT"'s London newsroom. And Lionel that hardline is leaving, actually, Tony Blair in a bit of a tight situation.</s>LIONEL BARBER, NEWS EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": You bet. We've sent our reporters around the country this morning to check on the fuel depots, and I have to say that we're still looking at a very grave situation and paralysis. Tankers blocking the entry, we're going to see a big protest in the center of London. And meanwhile the pumps are running dry. And it's beginning to affect all sorts of sectors in the economy, transport, taxi drivers, you can't get errand cars, and also the a -- even newspapers. Meanwhile, the government has yet to invoke its emergency powers and the most they've got is 60 tankers coming up this morning, which is not a lot.</s>MARCHINI: At what point do you think Britain completely runs out of gas, if this keeps up?</s>BARBER: Well, I think we're talking a matter of two or three days. I mean, it is as bad as that, unless the oil companies can persuade their own drivers to brave these lines of protesters. But there is a genuine popular sense of outrage at the high prices of gas and reflecting a general mood across the continent. And whereas the French government bought off the strikers last week, Tony Blair is adopting almost a Margaret Thatcher like attitude, i.e. we're not giving in.</s>HAFFENREFFER: Lionel, we have just received some confirmation this morning that Chase Manhattan Bank is, in fact, buying J.P. Morgan. One of the companies that is out there, frequently mentioned as a company looking to do some buying, is Deutsche Bank. But we do have a banker telling Reuters this morning that Deutsche Bank will not make a counteroffer. How is this playing out in the European markets?</s>BARBER: Well, at the moment, everybody's looking for a Deutsche Bank move, because we think, we're checking this out, that they were certainly very interested in buying J.P. Morgan. But the Chase-Morgan deal looks a great deal. It creates a juggernaut on paper, big cost savings. And Chase has actually been very good at digesting and managing these big mergers. On the other hand, Rolf Breuer of Deutsche is absolutely committed to entering what they call the bulge bracket of front-line investment banking, and is looking definitely for, I think, for a purchase in the States.</s>MARCHINI: So we could see, perhaps, them take a look at Lehman or Goldman Brothers or Bear Stearns, you think?</s>BARBER: Well, there aren't many left. I mean, in Wall Street, you guys are really consolidating over there. I mean, obviously, Lehman is a possible name and Bear Stearns.</s>MARCHINI: All right, very good, Lionel Barber, of the "FT," we thank you.