`` We 're strongly recommending that anyone who has eaten in the cafeteria this month have the shot , '' Mr. Mattausch added , `` and that means virtually everyone who works here . I was appalled to read the misstatements of facts in your Oct. 13 editorial `` Colombia 's Brave Publisher . '' It is the right-wing guerrillas who are aligned with the drug traffickers , not the left wing . This information was gleaned from your own news stories on the region . Past Colombian government tolerance of the `` narcotraficantes '' was due to the drug lords ' history of wiping out leftists in the hinterlands . Mary Poulin Palo Alto , Calif . I suggest that The Wall Street Journal -LRB- as well as other U.S. news publications of like mind -RRB- should put its money where its mouth is : Lend computer equipment to replace that damaged at El Espectador , buy ad space , publish stories under the bylines of El Espectador journalists . Perhaps an arrangement could be worked out to `` sponsor '' El Espectador journalists and staff by paying for added security in exchange for exclusive stories . Reward El Espectador 's courage with real support . Douglas B. Evans COCA-COLA Co . -LRB- Atlanta -RRB- -- Anton Amon and George Gourlay were elected vice presidents of this soft-drink company . Mr. Amon , 46 years old , is the company 's director of quality assurance ; most recently , he served as vice president , operations , for Coca-Cola Enterprises . Mr. Gourlay , 48 , is manager for corporate manufacturing operations ; he was assistant vice president at the company . In the wake of a slide in sterling , a tailspin in the stock market , and a string of problematic economic indicators , British Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson promised gradual improvement in the U.K. economy . In a speech prepared for delivery to London 's financial community , Mr. Lawson summed up current economic policy as a battle to wring inflation out of the British economy , using high interest rates as `` the essential instrument '' to carry out the campaign . Two weeks after boosting base rates to 15 % , he pledged that `` rates will have to remain high for some time to come . '' Mr. Lawson also made it clear that he would be watching exchange rates carefully . A sinking pound makes imports more expensive and increases businesses ' expectations of future inflation , he argued . In an apparent warning to currency traders who have lately been selling the British currency , he stated that the exchange rates will have a `` major role in the assessment of monetary conditions . '' In reaffirming the current monetary policy of using high interest rates to fight inflation and shore up the pound , Mr. Lawson dismissed other approaches to managing the economy . He said he monitors the money-supply figures , but does n't give them paramount importance , as some private and government economists have suggested . Mr. Lawson also dismissed the possibility of imposing direct credit controls on Britain 's financial system . Mr. Lawson 's speech , delivered at the Lord Mayor of London 's annual dinner at Mansion House , came on the heels of a grueling period for the U.K. economy . Two weeks ago , in a campaign to blunt inflation at home and arrest a world-wide plunge in the pound , he raised base rates a full percentage point to 15 % . Despite the increase , the British currency slid below a perceived threshold of three marks early last week . It was quoted at 2.9428 marks in late New York trading Wednesday . Leading up to the speech was a drumroll of economic statistics suggesting that the British war on inflation will be more bruising than previously assumed . Unemployment in September dropped to 1,695,000 , the lowest level since 1980 . While lower joblessness is generally good news , the hefty drop last month indicates that the economy is n't slowing down as much as hoped -- despite a doubling of interest rates over the last 16 months . Meanwhile , average earnings in Britain were up 8.75 % in August over the previous year . Another inflationary sign came in a surge in building-society lending to a record # 10.2 billion -LRB- $ 16.22 billion -RRB- last month , a much higher level than economists had predicted . In a separate speech prepared for delivery at the dinner , Robin Leigh-Pemberton , Bank of England governor , conceded that `` demand pressures were even more buoyant than had been appreciated '' when the British economy was heating up last year . He added that `` there 's no quick-fix solution '' to the economic woes , and said `` tight monetary policy is the right approach . '' Discussing the recent slide in stock prices , the central bank governor stated that `` the markets now appear to have steadied '' after the `` nasty jolt '' of the 190.58-point plunge in the Dow Jones Industrial Average a week ago . Although the New York market plunge prompted a 70.5-point drop in the London Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100 Share Index , Mr. Leigh-Pemberton declared `` that the experience owed nothing to the particular problems of the British economy . '' Specifically , he pointed out that compared with the U.S. market , the U.K. has far fewer highly leveraged junk-bond financings . Discussing future monetary arrangements , Mr. Lawson repeated the Thatcher government 's commitment to join the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System , but he did n't indicate when . C. Olivetti & Co. , claiming it has won the race in Europe to introduce computers based on a powerful new microprocessor chip , unveiled its CP486 computer yesterday . The product is the first from a European company based on Intel Corp. 's new 32-bit 486tm microprocessor , which works several times faster than previously available chips . Hewlett-Packard Co. became the first company world-wide to announce a product based on the chip earlier this month , but it wo n't start shipping the computers until early next year . An Olivetti spokesman said the company 's factories are already beginning to produce the machine , and that it should be available in Europe by December . `` What this means is that Europeans will have these machines in their offices before Americans do , '' the spokesman said . The new chip `` is a very big step in computing , and it is important that Olivetti be one of the first out on the market with this product , '' said Patricia Meagher Davis , an analyst at James Capel & Co. in London . Executives at Olivetti , whose earnings have been steadily sliding over the past couple of years , have acknowledged that in the past they have lagged at getting new technology to market . Ms. Davis said the new machines could steal some sales away from Olivetti 's own minicomputers , but would bring new sales among professionals such as engineers , stockbrokers and medical doctors . Although Olivetti 's profits tumbled 40 % in the first half of this year , she believes Olivetti 's restructuring last fall and its introduction of new products will begin to bear fruit with an earnings rebound next year , especially if it can fulfill its promise to deliver the new machines by December . `` We think the worst is over '' in the European information-technology market , she said . Depending on the type of software and peripherals used , the machines can serve either as the main computer in a network of many terminals -LRB- a role usually filled by a minicomputer -RRB- , as a technical workstation or as a very fast personal computer . `` It 's the missing link '' in Olivetti 's product line between small personal computers and higher-priced minicomputers , the Olivetti spokesman said . He added that Olivetti will continue making its LSX minicomputer line .