Business Diary: Ferguson pleads poverty as he doles out advice

Good to see Niall Ferguson prepared to nail his colours to the mast in a Dow Jones interview, advising investors fleeing the market turmoil to invest in Swiss francs or countries such as Norway. Advice that is only slightly undermined by the historian's subsequent admission that he personally is "poor as a church mouse" and that his portfolio of real estate and debt "nets out to zero".

How to keep up with Fidelity's China trip

Happy news from Fidelity fund managers Tom Ewing and Aruna Karunathilake, who have set off to China and Hong Kong to "assess the area and the opportunities for UK-listed companies that have exposure to developing trends". They've promised to Tweet so Fidelity investors can keep up with their up-to-the-minute analysis. Only one update so far, from Ewing – "BA got us here. Now dealing with jetlag" – but watch this space.

The pink paper shows loyalty to an old friend

The Financial Times is sticking by its mates at Goldman Sachs despite the bank's troubles. The pink paper raised a few eyebrows last year by making Lloyd Blankfein its man of 2009 despite the fact it has a high-profile joint venture with Goldman promoting an awards scheme for business books. Now the FT has relaunched the awards for 2010, with Blankfein very much still on board.

Paice counts to 10 over Queen's Speech omission

It was inevitable that Tuesday's Queen's Speech would face criticism from folk who think the new Government is not moving quickly enough on their particular bugbear. Still, Robin Paice, chairman of the UK Metric Association, has odd ideas about priorities. "It is notable Her Majesty's gracious speech included no proposals to tackle one of the biggest 'messes' of all," he complains. "The intractable muddle of incompatible measurement units with which her UK subjects have to struggle."

businessdiary@independent.co.uk