Business Diary: Westfield forever blowing bubbles

To Westfield's sparkling showpiece in Stratford, east London, where the crowds flocked to the opening of another new retail mecca yesterday. But which retailer saw the longest queues forming as it prepared to open its doors? Not Marks & Spencer or John Lewis, both of which have invested heavily in flagship stores. Not even Forever 21, the trendy American retailer cutting a dash in the UK these days. No, it was West Ham United's club store where the action was to be found. Come on you Irons.

The course Bartz should have taken

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are becoming essential channels for forward-thinking businesses these days – hence the spam email that arrived in the Diary's inbox yesterday advertising a new course, "Social media for the CEO". The seminar is run by a lady called Dawn McGruer. We can't help feeling Ms McGruer missed an opportunity – if she'd just got in touch with Carol Bartz, sacked by Yahoo last week, she could have saved the woman's job and made a few quid into the bargain.

Betfair pay deal comes a cropper

Poor old Betfair. It took an age for the bookie to get its stock market listing – but as soon as it finally got its IPO away, the corporate governance police decided to take it to task for its executive pay policies. Pirc, an adviser on such matters, has urged Betfair shareholders to vote against the company's remuneration policy at its first-ever agm because it doesn't like the way the company's bonuses are currently calculated. Betfair has already changed tack, but apparently not soon enough for Pirc.

Starbucks' Schultz is full of beans

We've got all the time in the world for Howard Schultz, the inspirational chief executive of Starbucks – and his criticisms of his home country have a certain resonance. "We have a true crisis of leadership – the politicians from both parties care more about ideology than the well-being of the people," he tells Der Spiegel. Still, we can't help raising an eyebrow at his next comment: "The ones who make money on the high prices are the financial institutions not the farmers." Howard, do you even know what your cappuccinos cost these days?

businessdiary@independent.co.uk