Business Diary: Is Gowers heading for a hat-trick?

The Diary has nothing against the man personally – he's terribly charming in fact – but here's a little warning to Footsie bosses concerning Andrew Gowers. The former Financial Times editor is in need of a new job, so it's very likely his CV will be passing across your desk shortly. Just bear in mind that after leaving the FT he went to Lehman Brothers as head of European communications, only for it to go bust. And that he then moved on to BP, only to see it suffer the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico spill. Now he's quit there too. Where will he pop up next? They say accidents run in threes.

Amanda Holden turns on Belgravia

Isn't Belgravia supposed to be one of the poshest districts in the world? We only ask because the celebrity that the shops on Elizabeth Street have signed up to turn on their Christmas lights today seems a little more – how should one put it? – mass market. Step forward Amanda Holden, the star of Britain's Got Talent and Shrek the Musical. Still, the event is raising money for Sparks, the children's medical research charity, so locals shouldn't be too sniffy.

Shock jock turns his guns on Soros

George Soros is used to rubbing people up the wrong way, particularly in this country where he is routinely described as the man who broke the Bank of England following his bets against sterling during the exchange rate mechanism crisis of 1991. Still, the attack launched in the US against Soros by shock jock Glenn Beck breaks new ground. Beck reveals that – shock, horror – Soros was actually born George Schwartz and that "he's waged a war against capitalism". Expect more of this stuff, because Beck seems to think his latest target is America.

Life positive as Ireland goes West

In these trying days for Ireland, where is Bono, whose political interventions are so often both wise and calming? In the absence of a rousing speech from the U2 sage, Westlife veteran Nicky Byrne has been forced to step into the breach. "Things are very bad," he tells the BBC's World Service. "But there is a lot of positivity still in Ireland," he says on a more upbeat note. "Irish people as a whole are good people. We've done it before and we'll do it again." Chin up folks.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk