Business Diary: O'Leary promotes Ryanair's rival

Poor old Michael O'Leary. The Ryanair boss believes in the power of publicity like no other chief executive, so when his airline announced yesterday it was opening a new base at Manchester Airport, he wanted to make a fuss. What better way to do so than to appear for a photo opportunity in the kit of one of Manchester's football teams. Maybe it's because United provoke such strong reactions that he chose City – which is why O'Leary was photographed yesterday wearing a large advertisement for one of his rivals. Manchester City shirts, you see, are sponsored by Etihad Airways.

Mad dog makes Sky intervention

There but for the grace of God go we, of course. But the howls of outrage (or possibly laughter) were almost audible on Monday evening – the first edition of the Financial Times, that bastion of accuracy, featured a wonderful typo on page one: "Murdock desperate to keep BSkyB bid alive". Were our colleagues at the pink paper thinking of 'Mad Dog' Murdock, everyone's favourite member of the A-Team? Still, at least the slip was corrected for later editions – unlike The Sun's misspelling of the former IMF boss's name as Dominique Strauss-Khan (sic).

Jackson was the cheaper option

Something of a furore has blown up over Deutsche Bank's decision to pay Janet Jackson £500,000 for a 45-minute gig at a party for clients it held in Britain last week – the Daily Mail, for one is furious. The fuss, however, seems rather unfair, since Deutsche has dramatically toned down its activities following the financial crisis. In 2007, it is thought to have paid the Rolling Stones more than £3m, while three years before that Kylie Minogue is understood to have pocketed £2m for a Deutsche gig. See – in austerity Britain, we really are all in this together.

A&O denies any role for Brown

There is some confusion over the stories that Gordon Brown's lawyers were tricked into releasing details about him to journalists. The lawyers named in the stories, the top City firm Allen & Overy, say that they did not act for the former prime minister – though they are presently hoping to receive some lucrative fees in their role advising News Corporation on the takeover of BSkyB.

businessdiary@independent.co.uk