Life’s a beach (or not)

Ah, the holiday season. Dreams of surf, sea, sand – and soggy share prices, or so it must seem to the bewildered shareholders in Thomas Cook. The travel agent’s “amendment to bank facilities” on 21 October lasted just 38 days before the business fell into the arms of its 17 banks, who put up £200m in emergency funding to tide it over until the summer. Read more