Credit crisis diary: How long before Enron the musical?

Coming soon to the West End: Enron the play. The collapse of the energy business – and the subsequent criminal cases – should make compelling drama and there's certainly a stellar cast. Samuel West will take the part of Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's CEO, with Tom Goodman-Hill as CFO Andrew Fastow and Tim Pigott-Smith as chairman Ken Lay.

Play it again, Jeff

Oh dear. Sky News's latest attempt to beef up its business coverage involves sending out a daily email with breaking news and details of what's on its star journalist Jeff Randall's show in the evening. Sadly, yesterday's email consisted of a lengthy puff for a Randall special on Digital Britain, which had been broadcast 18 hours previously.

Britain's only honest estate agent?

Glastonbury-based estate agent Jules Bending is in touch to complain that he's been forced to turn to YouTube after being banned by the online estate agency portal Rightmove. Apparently, Rightmove took exception to his overly honest property descriptions, which include such gems as "If this house were a person she would be dressed in Chanel and not be wearing any knickers £150,000". You would have thought it would be the clients taking offence, but they love him by all accounts.

One way to keep staff motivated

Don't even think about complaining about your boss unless you have a story to rival that of the charity manager whose big idea for staff motivation was to bring his hunting rifle to work and pretend to fire it at employees he suspected of slacking off. That's just one of the anecdotes from the Keep Britain Working campaign, which is worried about how the recession has seen British workers become less motivated.

Don't mess with our furry friends

Two more victories for animal rights campaigners in the battle against big business. Peta has secured commitments from Heineken and Peugeot Citroën that they won't repeat ads the charity thought potentially harmful to animals. Heineken was poking fun at Britons' love of pets, suggesting that the place animals belong is on a plate, while Peugeot Citroën had the nerve to feature poor old sled dogs dragging "heavy sleds" alongside one of its cars. Advertisers take note: Peta is determined to target any slot it deems "disrespectful" of animals.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk