The City Diary

God works in mysterious ways to bring Slippery Sam back to justice

After Four weeks on the run, the founder of hedge fund Bayou Group has admitted that he chose to try to commit suicide by consume excessive amounts of extremely potent pain-killing fentanyl patches, rather than serve his 20-year prison sentence. The Square Mile website Hereisthecity.com reports that billionaire Samuel Israel III, after being charged in New York with swindling $450m (£356m) from investors, jumped bail and then decided to polish off the pain-management patches that are 81 times stronger than morphine – and managed to survive. Upon coming round, Israel, pictured, decided that God had saved his life so that he could turn himself in – maybe not the best method of reaching spiritual fulfilment. And he now faces an extra 10-year stretch for jumping bail.

Music to make money to

The Underdogs may soon become top dogs if two budding music entrepreneurs have their way. Gemma Reilly, 28, and Faye Hunter, 27, started their music talent agency Underdogs Management only four months ago, but they have already made it to the London finals of the 2008 HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards. Reilly and Hunter spend most of their time promoting and managing young bands. Listen out for their clients, who include Hella Cholla (pictured), Bop Social and High Rankin. They will find out who wins the £50,000 prize in October. Meanwhile, they can be found at www.myspace.com/underdogsmanagement.

Glasgow's answer to David Brent is still smiling

FTSE 250 group United Business Media restructured CMP, its magazines-to-exhibitions division, last week. The major casualty was CMP's chief executive, Gary Hughes, who is also a non-executive director at Sainsbury's and, he often boasts, a big mate of football legend Kenny Dalglish. Hughes' position was made redundant with immediate effect on the announcement of dividing CMP into four separate units. Why, then, is Hughes, a man often compared by staff to a Glaswegian version of David Brent, still smiling so widely on CMP's homepage?

The curse of Rod could strike almost anywhere

WAGs in the Square mile are betting on where the 'Curse of Rod' will strike next. Filings at Companies House show that Rod Kent, chairman and acting chief executive at Bradford & Bingley, enjoys 10 directorships in total including a role as managing director at Whitbread's pension scheme and little-known Cowleaze Services. Since the start of the year, old Rod has also earned a penny or two as chairman of the Hermes BT pension scheme – one of the biggest in Britain with around £40bn worth of assets. Makes B&B look small fry.

Heirs to Emmeline?

How do you ladies entertain yourself in those moments of boredom? With a film? The pub? A quick trip to the gym? Not so for 1.5 million women who have intentionally damaged a vehicle, or the one million adult women who have performed another act of vandalism. The sabotage ranges from slashed tyres and smashed windows, to graffiti and stolen traffic cones. Twenty three per cent of these acts were triggered by boredom, while one in 10 were influenced by alcohol – not exactly suffragette behaviour. Whatever would Mrs Pankhurst, pictured, say?

Hedge funds tame the wild men of rock

Who could have imagined the hedge fund world and rock'n'roll getting all cosy? Two years ago The Who, led by former hell-raiser Roger Daltry, played at the cringeworthy Hedgestock, where tickets cost hedge fund managers £500 a pop. But this week the bizarre union formed again when former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman presented awards at the, er, Financial News Awards for Excellence in Hedge Fund Operations. Wild horses wouldn't drag the average rock'nroller to such a gathering! Maybe the chunky cheque had something to do with it.

City bankers and spinners march into Red Square

With the city of london in the midst of a culling frenzy that has seen thousands of people lose their jobs, many are jumping aboard the quickest Aeroflot flight out of Heathrow to ply their trade in the shadow of the Kremlin and St Basil's in Moscow. One leading hedge fund boss tells us: "You can't walk down the street for bloody corporate financiers bumping into each other." And, of course, good bankers need good PR men too. Former Treasury and Finsbury spinner Simon Moyse, who has had the dubious pleasure of looking after Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, is heading to Red Square as well. He is joining Renaissance Group in the Russian capital. And the rumoured salary? £600,000.