The City Diary

Cable & Wireless has ruffled City feathers by trying to lift the £20m cap on bonuses due to be paid to John Pluthero and Harris Jones, the heads of the company's UK and international businesses respectively. Richard Lapthorne, the chairman of C&W who will face investors at the company's AGM this week, is also trying to lap up some gravy by participating in a share-based incentive scheme that could pay him 5.5 million shares in three years' time. One group unsure of the merits of the bonus scheme is the Association of British Insurers, the shareholder body that has placed an "amber top" alert on C&W's remuneration proposals. The ABI was thrust into communications darkness last week when its telephone lines went dead. The supplier of those lines? Cable & Wireless. Clearly a complete coincidence.

Facing a very rich future?

We know that stories about Facebook, the social networking site much loved by the likes of Peaches Geldof, are getting boring, but one rumour is worthy of mention. Apparently Microsoft has an offer on the table to buy the company for $3.4bn (£1.7bn). But the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, who set up the company while at Harvard, is holding out for more. However, now grown- ups are spending all their working day updating their status on Facebook, how long will it be before kids find something more trendy?

Dyke puts a damper on ITV

According to Greg Dyke, ITV is doomed. Formerly director general of the BBC, Dyke reckons that ITV needs to expand massively or merge, to survive. He also thinks that ITV is too obsessed by share price and says, of Michael Grade's tenure, the signs are not "particularly exciting". Lest we forget, Dyke failed in his hostile takeover bid for the company 18 months ago. Surely not a touch of 'Schadenfreude', Greg?

Sign of the Financial Times

Last year the 'Financial Times' announced with great fanfare that it had hired a company called ROO Media to provide a series of exclusive five-minute interviews with top business leaders, called View from the Top. A great success too - the pink'un's video traffic quadrupled. Despite that, ROO has discontinued its association with the 'FT'. Could it have anything to do with ROO being part-owned by Rupert Murdoch, who has set his chops on acquiring the paper's global rival, 'The Wall Street Journal'?

Spin in Hall of fame

In his diaries Alastair Campbell records how the 'News of the World' ran the story of Robin Cook's affair with Gaynor Regan. "Got a deal from [editor Phil] Hall that they would let me see the copy in advance, and consult on headlines. It barely read like a 'NoW' exposé. The inside pages consisted of Robin's statement, my statement and a glowing profile of Robin." Not surprising then that Hall left 'NoW' for 'Hello!' magazine.

Torn to ribbons

In the dying days of Paul Wolfowitz's reign at the World Bank, employees wore blue ribbons, signifying their support for "good governance" (and by implication that Wolfie should resign). "Then Wolfowitz wore one, so we all stopped," remembers one employee. Robert Zoellick is only two weeks into the job and a new governance row has erupted. Watch out for who starts the blue-ribbon game first.

Blackwatch: the latest in the trial of the tycoon

At long last, after a four-month trial, the jury trying disgraced peer and former media baron Lord Black delivered their verdict. On Friday, after some 70 hours of deliberations, the jury convicted him of swindling shareholders in newspaper group Hollinger out of $6m (£3m). They ruled that he was guilty on three counts of fraud and of one count of obstructing justice. The only question now is how long he will spend behind bars. The prosecution said they would seek a sentence of between 15 and 20 years but other lawyers said a five-year stretch was more likely. The prosecution has also requested he be denied bail pending his sentencing. But it could have been worse. He was cleared of racketeering, tax evasion and six other fraud counts which would have carried a more severe punishment.

Email your best diary stories to a.murray-watson@independent.co.uk for a chance to win a bottle of 12-year-old single malt from Bruichladdich - the Progressive Hebridean Distillers