and

   The belief that and should not be used to begin a sentence is without foundation. And that's all there is to it.

   A thornier problem is seen here:

   ◘ "The group has interests in Germany, Australia, Japan and intends to expand into North America next year" (Times).

   This is what Fowler called a bastard enumeration and Bernstein, with more delicacy, called a series out of control. The defect is that the closing clause ("intends to expand into North America next year") does not belong to the series that precedes it. It is a separate thought. The sentence should read, "The group has interests in Germany, Australia, and Japan, and intends to expand into North America next year." (Note that the inclusion of a comma after Japan helps to signal that the series has ended and a new clause is beginning.)

   The same problem is seen here:

   ◘ "Department of Trade officials, tax and accountancy experts were to be involved at an early stage in the investigation" (Guardian).

   And here is being asked to do two jobs at once: to mark the end of a series and to join tax and accountancy to experts. It isn't up to it. The sentence needs to say, "Department of Trade officials and tax and accountancy experts ..." The reluctance of writers to supply a second and is common but always misguided.