Business diary: Savers with beef turn to paper pork

Save Our Savers, a campaign launched last year in response to the current low-interest rate environment, has a point. One can't help feeling, however, that the demonstration they're due to hold outside the Bank of England on Thursday lacks ambition. They plan to lobby the Bank with Bertie, a large papier-mâché pig. Those who remember Cedric the Pig from the campaign against high pay at British Gas more than a decade ago will know the real thing is much more effective.

Rehn determined to pack a punch

Olli Rehn, the EC Commissioner with responsibility for economic affairs plans a muscular approach to fiscal discipline in the bloc in future. He says he won't hesitate to use the Commission's new "six-pack toolbox". The phrase denotes new powers the Commission is getting to punish members that breach its public finances rules, but will Rehn, a middle-aged Finn, be fit enough to stay with the pace? Still, he did once play football in Finland's equivalent of the Premier League.

Britain's budget approach to Libya

British firms hoping for official help with reaping a dividend from the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in Libya may be disappointed if a report from the French newspaper L'Express is to be believed. It suggests the UK is not throwing resources at the country – so much so that when the Prime Minister visited Libya 10 days ago with Nicolas Sarkozy, the French discovered he was flying in on a cargo plane and offered him a lift on their Presidential Airbus. To his credit, David Cameron said thanks but no thanks – and turned down the offer of a lift back too.

Hedge funders sing for charity

It's all in a good cause, but the "8th Annual Hedge Fund Rocktoberfest" sounds rather like a horror show. The bash, taking place in New York next week, sees "leaders of the hedge fund and finance communities perform rock-and-roll and acoustic sets". The money raised – tickets are $175 a pop – goes to charities working with children with limb disabilities in the developing world. These charities are fabulously deserving – so maybe the hedge fund business's finest should also be given the chance to pay an extra $100 for sound-proof headphones?

businessdiary@independent.co.uk