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The possibility of a fourth interest rate rise on Thursday will cast a shadow, though.First off the block, today is HSBC Holdings, which is expected to reveal pre-tax profits between pounds 2320m and pounds 2525m, compared with pounds 2291m in 1996. Forecasts for pre-tax profit range from pounds 411m to pounds 445m, against last year’s pounds 418m. Analysts believe Reed may buy various specialist business publications from Reuters.News of this sort is probably not going to be immediately forthcoming.More likely is some kind of progress report on Reed’s recent acquisitions such as the trade magazines outfit, Chilton Business Group, and MDL Information Systems, a supplier of scientific information management systems.One thing investors can bank on is a thorough report on the mischief created by the strength of sterling.Reed warned in April that the strong pound would have a “significant impact” on profits. Some are hoping that Reed might tie up with Microsoft, with which it formed a strategic alliance earlier this year, to bid for the online data company.Others would like news of when Reed is going to sell its consumer books division, and whether the company hasstopped the rot in the travel information division. There are also hopes of clues on Reed’s future acquisition strategy. So if Ms Scardino fails to extract the group’s hidden value, someone else will.The other heavyweight media stock reporting this week is Reed Elsevier.

It’s another case where, for analysts at least, no news is not necessarily good news. City folk would like to hear of Reed’s progress in its bid for Knight Ridder Information. The refurbishment of the offices, in Stephen Street, went vastly over budget, costing almost pounds 40m instead of pounds 15m as originally planned. Cynics are muttering darkly that the excess harks back to the days of “old Pearson”.The mutterers can hold out a little longer, say analysts, especially as Ms Scardino has had to deal with the unwanted and costly effects of the unauthorised discounting scheme at Penguin, which reared its ugly head shortly after Ms Scardino joined, and forced the company to write off pounds 100m.That aside, followers of Pearson remain convinced that so long as it underperforms it remains a takeover target. Ms Scardino has hinted in the past that she will not sell Pearson’s television interests, indicating that the company will in future focus on specialist financial information products rather than mass consumer markets.There is mounting speculation that, as a result, Greg Dyke, who heads up Pearson’s television operations, will tender his resignation shortly.The results are to be presented at the swish new offices of Pearson Television, which in itself could prove contentious. Zhou Enlai was sent to negotiate in Moscow, where Stalin warned: “If your decision is not to send in troops, then socialism in North Korea will soon collapse.” That would mean an exiled North Korean government in north- east China, which would put Chinese soil under threat from the US.Mao gave the go-ahead and in October 1950 Chinese troops swept into North Korea, driving back the UN forces. Mao quickly became over-confident, setting hopelessly ambitious conditions for a ceasefire including Taiwan’s expulsion from the UN.General Peng Dehuai advised Mao to let the Chinese troops halt at the 38th parallel, and recover their strength to fight the following spring He refused, and the battle recommenced.

The role of the Soviet Union as described by these articles is not one usually aired in China. “The Korean War was basically good for Soviet interests in Far East Asia, and that was why Stalin encouraged China to help North Korea …”Moscow, still refusing to put its own troops in North Korea, promised to back China if Washington subsequently declared war against Peking. Stalin encouraged China to gather its “volunteer” forces along its border with North Korea. When the United Nations troops turned the tide and forced back the North Korea soldiers, “Mao still thought, with Soviet air protection and Soviet military equipment, it was not difficult to defeat the Americans, and if the Chinese troops won in North Korea, the US would not dare to attack China.”Mao’s most senior officials and generals thought otherwise.

They opposed sending troops and military leaders expressed “lack of confidence in confronting the US,” reveals Mr Qing. Maybe Mao was thinking, without this mistake, the Taiwan problem would not have been stuck in such a dilemma and the Chinese Communist Party would have liberated Taiwan at half the cost it spent on the Korean War,” writes Mr Qing.Rejecting the official Chinese view that the war was started by a South Korean invasion, the articles state that it was North Korean forces which crossed the border in June 1950 in a successful aggressive assault. Kim told Mao that he already had Stalin’s backing, but that the final approval must be China’s. Mao was “very annoyed that he had been kept in the dark” about this pact, but agreed to the invasion plan. China promised to send troops if American soldiers entered the war. In June 1950, Mao saw his Taiwan ambitions collapse when the US Seventh Fleet sailed into the Taiwan Strait.”After the death of Stalin, Mao repeatedly complained about Stalin’s wrong decision on the Korean War He called it a big mistake, 100 per cent wrong.