Business Diary: Sheffield United fans raise a glass to Coors

Congratulations to Sheffield United, who might finally be able display the Carling Cup in their trophy cabinet. Not that they've actually won it you understand – it's just that the Blades have signed Molson Coors, owner of Carling, as their new sponsor. Still, you have to start somewhere – Coors once sponsored Chelsea.

A message from Rupert to a rival?

The Wall Street Journal illustrates a piece about how some women prefer blokes with feminine faces using a composite image of different men's faces. But Michael Wolff, biographer of Rupert Murdoch, the Journal's owner, reckons he recognises one of the men in question – it's Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times, he says. Wolff adds that Murdoch repeatedly told him he regarded "young Arthur"as a bit "girly". WSJ editor Robert Thomson obviously agrees.

Ryanair's curious case of crossed lines

A strange breakdown of communication at Ryanair, which has been trialling in-flight phone services for more than a year. So pleased was it with the results that it wanted to roll out the service across the fleet, only for OnAir, its telecoms supplier, to pull out of the contract. Neither side will say any more about why the relationship is not progressing.

Desire Petroleum's wings are clipped

We are indebted to the oil analysis team at stockbroker Seymour Pierce for a new piece of industry jargon that we've not come across before. It points out that Desire Petroleum's test drilling results in the Falklands were not "seagull-scorching". Oil professionals will no doubt be familiar with this technical term, but the less scientific among us get the picture too.

Dennis is the biggest winner of all

Congratulations to all those who picked up a gong at the KKB Industry Awards: the bash's representatives tell us it "recognises the achievements of those in the kitchen and bathroom sector". Congratulations, too, to comedian Hugh Dennis, above, who landed the gig to host the evening – he must have cleaned up.

Number of the day: $600m

The daily cost to the economy of a national rail strike according to the Federation of Small Business