Thanks to Win Bischoff, the next Lloyds chairman will lead a changed bank The incident set back Sir Win's retirement plans; he had been expected to leave the bank last year, but stepped in as a full-time chairman until his chief executive was fit to return. To those who have worked with him, it was not surprising that Sir Win looked so comfortable with a hands-on role. His nationwide tour of the Lloyds business was a stark contrast to the style of his predecessor, Sir Victor Blank, who rarely met junior employees. The new Lloyds chairman will lead a bank that has changed out of all recognition from that Sir Win joined nearly five years ago; with the work of turning around the business largely in the past, his successor will need to be more of a salesman as the Government prepares to sell down the taxpayer's 39pc holding. With a share sale expected as early as the second half of this year, the bank is likely to want a quick appointment - which should come as a relief to Sir Win, allowing him to begin a belated retirement. Be wary of non-promises British Gas can't keep The fact that British Gas customers have used 18pc more gas in the colder weather this year is bad news for hard-pressed households, but good news for Centrica profits. The conundrum for Centrica is that also means bad news for its PR image. Chief executive Sam Laidlaw will doubtless face tabloid wrath when he unveils bumper first-half profits in July. British Gas raised the price it charges for each unit of gas and electricity by 6pc last November and higher prices multiplied by higher usage equals higher bills. Of course, Mr Laidlaw is resilient to such criticism and has well-rehearsed arguments for why British Gas's profits, typically about a 5pc post-tax margin over a year, are justified. But analysts warn that the risk of a political backlash against energy companies is rising in line with their bills, which means bad PR could, one day, spell bad news for profits. So Centrica took a new tack, promising to "hold prices for as long as possible." It wasn't much of a promise. As Centrica's finance director, Nick Luff, freely admits, they are "studiously avoiding" making any actual commitment to freeze prices. But it has, nevertheless, set a benchmark against which future price rises can be judged. Keeping prices down "as long as possible" in Centrica terms means freezing them until it becomes necessary to raise them in order to maintain its desired full-year profit margin. The cold weather means first half margins may be higher, but costs outside Centrica's control are likely to rise later this year and shrink that margin. Leading analyst Peter Atherton, at Liberum, believes that British Gas will need to raise prices again before the winter. But, in the eyes of headline-grabbing Labour MPs and consumer groups who will take to the air waves, keeping prices down "as long as possible" should mean cutting that profit margin to shield consumers - something Centrica is unlikely to do. British Gas may just have made a non-promise it can't keep. 5G speed would give us the freedom to innovate We're living in a soup of different connectivity options, from 3G to 4G to WiFi. Not one offers comprehensive coverage. Now, Samsung claims that 5G will be with us by 2020. From within 2km of a mast, it tempts users with 1GB download speeds. Thus far, this has all happened in a lab, but with 5G, however, there's the theoretical promise of two things: where it is at its best, it would offer connectivity at speeds that are almost unprecedented anywhere in the UK today. But it's the promised "ubiquity" that is more tempting. That could yet be more transformative, especially in rural areas. 5G networks could allow "a wide range of services, such as 3D movies and games, real-time streaming of ultra high-definition content, and remote medical services," Samsung claimed in a blog post. What the promise of 5G demonstrates is that we may yet manage to stop thinking about connectivity and simply get on with what needs to be done. There will be those who ask why we need such a fast reception, but China is already installing super-fast broadband. More importantly, without freedom from the constraints imposed by infrastructure, we leave ourselves little freedom to innovate. We must confront the problems we have today, with 3G and 4G and WiFi too - but 5G can't come soon enough.