Daily Mail, London, Tony Hazell Column.

Byline: Tony Hazell

Dec. 20--QUESTIONS FOR WATCHDOG: Every day produces fresh twists in the Equitable Life debacle. In the latest bizarre turn, chief regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has been asked to investigate itself.

Economic Secretary Melanie Johnson says the regulator is to look at the whole Equitable Life affair including its own role "as a prudential regulator."

It seems scarcely credible that a regulator which managed to overlook a crucial memo warning that Equitable was facing solvency problems should now be expected to pick through its own actions with a fine-tooth comb.

This is hardly the way to reassure …