Business Diary: From hero to (almost) zero

How the mighty have fallen. A year ago, Lloyd Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, came out top in Vanity Fair's annual rankings of the "100 most powerful people in the information age". The good news for Mr Blankfein is that 12 months on, despite the problems the investment bank has had this year, Vanity Fair has left him on the list. Less happily, he's gone from top to bottom, ranked 100 this time around.

Paper's scissor moans for Sky

Our thanks to the nice people at the broadcaster Sky, who have sent us a pair of scissors in an attempt to promote a series of programmes on spending cuts due to air on its news channel tomorrow. We get the idea, which was only ever so slightly undermined by the fact that so tightly were the scissors bound by tough plastic to a piece of card that another pair of scissors was needed to cut them loose. That rather undermined the austerity theme.

Coke dispute is the real thing

The US drinks giant Coca-Cola will no doubt be disappointed by the decision of staff at its plant at Edmonton, north London, to go on strike later this week over pay rates. Not least because the workers' union, Unite, is not passing up any opportunity to make fun of the company. Its announcements so far include "Coca-Cola's pay stinginess leaves a bitter taste", "Workers to turn off tap" and "Strike action set to fizz". This is a dispute that both sides need to can as soon as possible.

Zamora leads the line for BA

Fabio Capello isn't the only one reluctant to embrace youth when it comes to picking England players. Who did British Airways last week ask to launch an electronic board at Heathrow on which people can express their support for England's 2018 World Cup bid? Step forward 29-year-old Bobby Zamora, the injury-prone Fulham striker, who surely isn't going to be in the squad in eight years' time, wherever the tournament is actually played. Fifa will take its decision in December 2010.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk