Business Diary: NAB man doesn't rate his UK banks

Here's a bit of advice for Lord Levene, the man behind NBNK, currently in negotiations to buy the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks off National Australia Bank (NAB): don't feel you have to bid high.

After all, Michael Chaney, the chairman of NAB, is on the record with his views about the British assets and they're none too complimentary. Last December, he told the Herald Sun newspaper in Australia that NAB's British interests were among "deadweights" which were holding the company back.

Blagger's blog is a guilty pleasure

It had to happen sooner or later. A suspected bank robber in New York appears to have pre-empted his defence with a posting on Facebook – he only did what he was entitledto after taxpayers bailed out the financial system during the credit crisis."What if we all got fed up with this recession and started running inside every f***ing bank to give us the money that belongs to us?" the defendant posted. And who knows, with the right, banker-hating jury, it might just work.

Young by name and business

Ever wonder what happened to Claire Young, the straight-talking woman who nearly won The Apprentice a couple of years back? No, nor us, but she's back. Young is the driving force behind Teenbiz, a new venture to provide financing to entrepreneurial teenagers. "Launching in November, across a backdrop of riots and growing disenfranchisement amongst British youngsters, Teenbiz is proving ever more urgent and necessary," she explains. Lord Sugar would no doubt approve.

Milner's crisp invite to Russia

Our congratulations to David Milner, the boss of posh crisps company Tyrrells, who's been invited on the Prime Minister's trade visit to Russia next week. Given that his fellow business bosses onthe trip will be luminaries from the likes of BP, British Airways and Rolls-Royce, it's a prestigious invitation. But Tyrrells is an innovative success story – even if one wonders what they might be able to tell the Russians about a business based on potatoes.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk