Business Diary: A career in comedy awaits

Amongst the many improvements Twitter can claim to have brought to modern life is the provision of a medium through which our MPs can demonstrate they're actually real people with a sense of humour (or smart alecks with too much time on their hands – you decide). So to Labour MP Tom Watson and his hilarious tweet on the appointment of HSBC chairman Stephen Green as a government Trade minister. "Blimey," says Watson. "When Mr Osborne said he'd take on the bankers, I didn't know it meant he'd make them ministers."

Rooney's deals saved?

Wayne Rooney's strong performance for England in the Switzerland game on Tuesday evening does not appear to have ended the speculation his corporate sponsors are planning to dump him following those allegations about his private life. Paddy Power is even offering a book on who will drop him first – Asda is currently favourite at 5/4, followed by Ford at 9/4 and Nokia at 11/4. The bookie clearly thinks the folk at Nike are more loyal, making it the rank outsider in the race at 16/1.

Fat cat bosses keep the cream

More proof that life just isn't fair. Research from the US shows there is a direct correlation between how much chief executives earn and how many staff they lay off. The Institute for Policy Studies reveals that the chief executives of the 50 American firms that have let go the most workers since the beginning of the recession are earning, on average, 42 per cent more than their counterparts at the remaining 450 firms in the S&P 500 Index.

Shock news for Irish bank

Our congratulations to Bank of Ireland, which yesterday became the first Irish bank to enjoy its credit rating being upgraded since the beginning of the financial crisis that has done the country's economy so much damage. Let's not get carried away: Moody's has simply raised its rating of Bank of Ireland to D+. But everyone has to start somewhere.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk