Business diary: Barclays bankers just flowering

Today marks the opening of the Chelsea Flower Show where the green-fingered descend en masse on the Royal Hospital in London, although lucky journalists and sponsors had a sneak peak yesterday. While our spies were wandering delightedly through the elaborate displays, they could not help but notice a remarkably large presence from Barclays Bank. The group is clearly following the words of chief executive Bob Diamond, who said earlier this year that time for remorse was over. In fact they seem to have come up smelling of roses.

Mitie boss turns to Transformers

Ruby McGregor-Smith, the chief executive of outsourcing group Mitie, set Diary a tough challenge after she announced a strong set of full-year numbers yesterday. The FTSE 250 boss had hoped to lead off the results with a film quote after being inspired – somewhat surprisingly – by the most recent Transformers film but failed. When the script has lines like' "We got a whole bunch of fight coming our way" it is easy to see the challenge she faced. After much searching we suppose that, "I rise ... You FALL" may just about fit the bill. Readers?

Engine 'pimped up' by Westwood

Marketing group Engine has called on Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood to tap the youth market. The hip-hop spinner made a tongue-in-cheek video to encourage applications to the graduation scheme of the company he dubs the "Wu-Tang Clan of communications". The radio personality, who fronted the UK version of MTV's Pimp My Ride, said: "These cats are experts at loving change. In fact, they love change so much, they pimped three companies into one and that's big pimping baby." Doesn't make much sense but fun nonetheless.

King searches for young MPC talent

This week marks the 12th annual Interest Rate Challenge, which gives 16 to 18-year-olds the chance to "take on the role of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee" and set policy for the UK to meet the inflation target of 2 per cent. Governor Mervyn King said the challenge is a great opportunity for kids "to demonstrate their understanding of the key issues" which culminating in a national final. It's no X Factor but maybe Mr King can pick up a few tips.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk