Lords of finanace watch the birdies

SEAN Cromien, the former secretary of the Department of Finance, may have retired too early. Reports have it that bird watching, Mr Cromien's passion, is now very much the bobby for the world's top finance officials. Among the twitchers the name given to chose who twitch with excitement at the very mention of a rare grebe are Sir Brian Unwin, head of the European Investment Bank, Britain's Ken Clarke and Alexandre Lamfalussy of the European Monetary Institute. And you wondered what they all balked about in those international financial meeting that go on into the middle of the night.