Recently by David Bailey

Kraft today look set to take control of Cadbury if - as expected - a majority of shareholders agree to the 850p a share takeover bid for the firm.

But where next? Its Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld stated a few weeks ago (on the day the Cadbury Board put the white flag up and agreed to a revised offer), that they had identified 'additional synergies' which justified its raised bid for Cadbury, all of which makes me wonder how these savings will be made and new jobs created.

This evening Lord Mandelson is due to meet Rosenfeld in London to ask for 'assurances' that Cadbury chocolate will continue to be made in Britain after the takeover. Mandelson will make a statement after the meeting this evening.

Gordon Brown has just announced that mutualism and co-ops (like the John Lewis Partnership) will be at the centre of Labour's forthcoming election manifesto. Brown apparently wants to draw on the manifesto of Co-op Party, an affiliate of the Labour Party, in preparing the forthcoming manifesto.

Post credit crunch, co-operatives have found support from different wings of the Labour party, with cabinet ministers such as Tessa Jowell and Ed Balls backing them as well as influential backbenchers such as John McFall.

And leading public intellectuals such as Jonathan Michie (formerly Head of the Birmingham Business School and now at Oxford) have made a strong case for re-mutualising Northern Rock so as to provide both econo-diversity and a bulwark against financial contagion.

The Conservatives are now undertaking a last-minute rethink on its plans to scrap Regional Development Agencies (labelled a "complete waste" by David Cameron last year) after a fierce backlash from regional and national business groups.

As noted in earlier blogs, Tory shadow minister Geoffrey Clifton-Brown sparked much incredulity in Birmingham last December when he said the Tories would scrap RDAs except in London; "by and large they are going to be abolished... it is quite unnecessary to have an RDA structure. It is a tier of government which is not needed."

And in the North West business groups have reacted angrily to Tory plans, as recently highlighted in the local press. More generally, the CBI and British Chambers of Commerce have pointed out that scrapping RDAs would fail to deliver the "strategic infrastructure which business thinks is so important".

With perhaps just 11 or 12 weeks before a General Election, Ken Clarke, Tory Shadow Business Secretary, has ordered a review of policy on the issue after admitting Tory current policy was "not clear".

There is considerable confusion over what Tory Party policy now is on RDAs. Different statements by different Shadow Ministers have given either the impression of no joined up thinking on the matter, or alternatively the impression of an underlying desire to scrap RDAs outside London, without actually wanting to be seen to say this publically.

I suggested a number of regional economic needs and why the regional scale is important in delivering them, in my blog yesterday. It also needs to be recognised that the current situation with RDAs is actually the accumulation of over twenty years of experience, experiment and change, many initiated originally by one of favourite 'interventionist' Tories, Michael Heseltine.

It seems rather perverse to just discard all that knowledge and infrastructure without very serious examination. So, before the Tories rush into scrap them, let's highlight the some of the arguments and what's at stake. Why even think of scrapping RDAs anyway? Various arguments have been put forward on this front:

Last week Lord Bhattacharyya suggested that the Tories may keep RDAs after all. The well-connected peer said that the Conservative Party has not yet decided on the fate of RDAs (including Advantage West Midlands) should they win the next General Election.

He suggested that despite the Tories making it clear that they are not convinced by RDAs, their abolition under a Conservative government is not a done deal; "that's not what they are telling me," he said.

"There might be change, but this is a party that wants a small central government so the regions will have more power. I have not heard them articulate that will get rid of the RDAs".

So it seems that the strategy director of US conglomerate giant Kraft Foods vowed yesterday to invest in chocolate maker Cadbury and create more jobs in the business in the UK.

Michael Osanloo was quoted in the Sunday Telegraph saying that the US firm would respect the "history of Cadbury and the integrity of the brands" after its £11.5 billion bid for the chocolate maker was agreed.

Osanloo stated that "as far as Cadbury in the UK goes it is our hope, desire and our plan to invest in Cadbury... I would fully expect that once we can actually look at what is going on and have a more informed perspective that this should, down the road, increase manufacturing jobs in the UK".

OK, I was a bit premature in writing last August that 'GM finally offloads Saab'. The deal with Koenigsegg then fell apart and Saab faced closure.

But after a plea by the Swedish government, GM restarted talks with other bidders and is now set to reach an agreement at last with Dutch sports car manufacturer Spyker (which is planning to shift sports car production to Coventry).

"Spyker confirms that talks are ongoing, the outcome of which is still uncertain. As Saab is currently in liquidation, talks must end soon," Spyker was quoted as saying.

GM has of late been in discussions with Spyker and private equity firm Genii Capital (backed by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone) but Spyker had a head start and seems close to a deal.

After intensive negotiations, JLR management and trade unions have failed to agree on a package of measures to cut costs.

Negotiations have been conducted, it appears, with considerable goodwill on both sides, and given the lack of public comment there seems to be genuine sadness that an agreement could not be reached. Indeed, neither side has spoken in public, and there seems no desire (so far) for industrial action from the unions.

Management had proposed back in September reductions in wages for new staff and an end to the defined pension scheme for new entrants, along with a lump sum payment to staff to postpone November 2010 pay talks to April 2011.

In return, workers were being offered an employment and volume guarantee, with the firm committing to grow UK production to 300,000 units a year by 2015, and to maintain 8,000 JLR hourly-paid, permanent employees until 2015.

Warren Buffet, the Sage of Omaha, has slammed Kraft's takeover of Cadbury. Kraft's leading shareholder, who owns just under 10% of the firm, stated that if he had the chance to vote against the deal he would. His comments sent Kraft's shares down 68 cents to $28.73.

In an interview with CNBC, Mr Buffett also laid into Kraft's chairman and chief executive Irene Rosenfeld over her decision to sell the company's US frozen pizza business on the cheap to Nestle (to in effect buy its silence in the takeover drama).

Cadbury today put up the white flag in its six month effort to defend its independence. The board will recommend an £11.7 billion takeover from the US firm Kraft after one of the most bitter takeover duels in recent corporate history.

The takeover also threatens to re-start the debate over the vulnerability of British industry to foreign takeovers.

Cadbury, the iconic choccy firm started in Birmingham some 186 years ago, apparently threw in the towel after Franklin Templeton, the US mutual fund with a 7% stake, joined hedge funds in revealing that it would accept the higher Kraft offer equivalent to 850p a share.