Pembroke: Greens see red

Expect some venomous exchanges between Tesco, the food retailer, and Merlin Jupiter, the ethical fund manager that has just banned Tesco's shares from its Ecology Fund because the company fails to meet its environmental criteria.

According to the latest Ethical Investor, Tesco is adding to global warming by building out-of-town superstores that encourage car use. It is also criticised for being 'insensitive in the face of intense opposition from local communities opposed to their building on greenfield sites'.

The Ecology Fund still holds shares in Sainsbury and Argyll, which owns the Safeway chain, because, Merlin says, they are more responsive to environmental and local issues.

Tesco is fuming. 'Their comments are seriously flawed and I cannot see how they can level these criticisms at us and not at the rest of the food industry,' says a spokesman.

Tessa Tennant, of the Merlin Research Unit, has the answer: 'They just seem to put more noses out of joint.'

A London-based quantity surveyor and project manager, EC Harris, is breathlessly telling all about how it relocated Saudi International Bank from its bomb-damaged site in Bishopsgate to new premises in just 19 days.

But, as the bomb exploded in April, why has it taken four months to tell anyone about it? 'It took a while to get approval from Saudi International,' says a somewhat sheepish press spokesperson.

Directors of Lands' End (sic), the ungrammatical American mail order firm, flew into London on the company plane this week to celebrate the opening of their new UK distribution centre.

Bill End, chief executive, pronounced himself very pleased with the choice of Oakham, Rutland, as the location. Oakham, he glowed, reminded him of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, the splendidly named location of the Lands' End US headquarters. 'There we employ a lot of farmers' wives who get up early, milk the cows and have a strong notion of doing eight hours work for eight hours pay,' he said.

Whether or not the company's 96 new British staff can live up to this heartwarming praise remains to be seen.