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Business Diary: Jumping the gun on King's honour

Friday 17 June 2011 00:00 BST
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The Governor of the Bank of England was widely referred to yesterday as Sir Mervyn King – not least because the Bank itself now gives him that title on anything it publishes. But hasn't it rather jumped the gun? King was only knighted in the Queen's Birthday honours last week and hasn't yet been to the Palace for his investiture. Until he has seen Her Majesty, shouldn't he remain plain Mr King, rather than Sir Mervyn?

Familiar ending for Southsea

Our sympathies to all those involved with Southsea Mortgage and Investment Company, a small bank that the Bank of England revealed yesterday has collapsed. But was the name really the best idea? After all, "Southsea", at least in a financial context, is inexorably linked to the bubble of the 18th century, a financial scandal that was on a par with today's credit crunch. Calling a bank Southsea is like starting an energy company and naming it Enron.

PR sacked for Twitter gaffe

It's another scandal for the public relations industry in America. Until this week, The Redner Group did the PR for 2K Games, the developer of the Duke Nukem franchise – it was thus none too pleased to see some poor reviews of the latest version of the game. So much so that it went on Twitter to tell reviewers not to expect to receive review copies from them again. "Too many went too far with their reviews... we are reviewing who gets games next time and who doesn't based on today's venom." The response of the appalled folk at 2K to such threats was to take to Twitter itself in order to let people know Redner no longer represents it.

What's under the Ascot hats?

Royal Ascot is traditionally one of the social highlights of the year, an occasion where the rich and the famous dress up to the nines and hobnob with the aristocracy. It's also an important day in the calendar for corporate sponsors, with many companies spending a fortune entertaining clients and contacts. So just what sort ofcomment on its patrons was the course making when it prominently positioned "drugs honesty boxes" for them to deposit nefarious substances outside the grandstand entrance?

businessdiary@independent.co.uk

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