Business Diary: 17/04/2010

Goldman loses out to a Cumming plan

The actor Alan Cumming tells New York magazine that Goldman Sachs looked after his money until the banking crisis shook the world. No longer, he adds: he has joined a campaign to promote community banking and credit unions and switched all his money out of Goldman.

How to win back all your travel losses

The Irish bookmaker Paddy Power will make a market on anything – so if you've lost your holiday to the volcanic ash cloud, you could win its cost back by betting on when UK airspace will re-open. Paddy Power offers 2/5 on today, 8/1 on not before the end of next week and 25/1 on the whole thing continuing until 2013.

Chelsea's Trojan horse at Liverpool?

Is Martin Broughton's appointment as chairman of Liverpool a Chelsea ploy? Broughton is a season-ticket holder at the London club and his day job, chairing British Airways, sees him facing down industrial action by cabin crew. Will Fernando Torres et al. down tools next season?

O'Neal still feels the bruises of Merrill

Stan O'Neal breaks his silence three years after being forced out of Merrill Lynch. He tells Fortune magazine that holding all those subprime mortgage investments felt like being "a fighter in the middle of the ring with your hands tied behind you and an opponent, whenever he chose, could just whale away on you, punch you right in the face".

Save petrol and keep the kids happy online

Merlin announces breathlessly that its attractions, including Legoland, Alton Towers and Weymouth Sea Life, have been mapped by Google Street View, and "can all be explored from your computer before you set out". It presumably means parents can stick their kids in front of the monitor and save on the entry fees.

Number of the day: £3.1bn

Total exports of Scotch whisky last year – up 3 per cent on the previous year and a record for the industry