Business Diary: Less than £400 for the Badger's wisdom

What would you do if you had £395 in spare change knocking about? Well, if you really want to treat yourself – and improve your career prospects at the same time – what better way to spend the money than on a sales course run by Ruth Badger (she of The Apprentice)? That's the stunning deal being offered right now by an outfit calling themselves Business Consort. Sounds cheap at the price to us.

Lamps goes on a spending spree

Poundland, the bargain basement retailer, has found itself a new celebrity endorsement – well two, in fact. The Mirror reports that Chelsea star Frank Lampard and his squeeze Christine Bleakley, of the BBC's The One Show and Strictly Come Dancing, were spotted in the shop, and were delighted with their purchases of batteries, peanuts and crisps.

Chocolate you couldn't give to the kids

Thank heavens Nestlé has ruled itself out of the bidding for Cadbury. Diary has been sent a series of mock-ups of what combinations of the two confectioners' products might look like. The Milky Way and Snickers combo is the only one printable in a family newspaper, but we also liked the idea of merging the Twirl and the KitKat (take the first two letters of the former and last two of the latter).

Betting on Williams to oust his boss at BA

Has British Airways finance director Keith Williams run into his boss over the past day or two? If so, he may have detected a certain froideur. Bookmaker Paddy Power has just slashed the odds on Williams replacing Willie Walsh as BA's chief executive to 10/11, having taken a number of sizeable bets on exactly such an outcome.

Bono goes to war with Carphone

U2's Bono has enjoyed the odd spat in his time and now he's taking on the mighty Carphone Warehouse, accusing internet service providers of making money when their customers indulge in illegal filesharing. Carphone is enraged. "The U2 frontman is seriously misguided," it thunders.

Number of the day: £230m

The cost of employee absenteeism during the current cold snap, according to the Forum of Private Business.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk