Esat and Telecom Eireann please copy: Moldtelcom, Moldova's national telephone company has cut off its country's economy and education ministries for not paying their telephone bills. "All the telephones in our ministry have been cut off," the economy minister's secretary told news agency Reuters. The poor woman was speaking on one of the only two remaining telephone lines. The news was even worse in the education ministry where Moldtelecom left just one line working - for the minister himself.

It appears that the government owes Moldtelcom almost £1 million. It couldn't happen here, could it?