People and Business: In a tailspin

TO THE Royal Academy, where British Airways was hosting a private viewing of the works of the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstract art. To the chagrin of the BA bigwigs, the prize draw was won by Charles Moore, editor of the Daily Telegraph, a newspaper which misses no opportunity to castigate the airline over its ethnic tailfins.

Indeed, its coverage of the subject invariably includes a gratuitous reference to Bob Ayling being the "colour blind" chief executive of BA.

Never mind. Simon Walker, BA's director of communications, is determined to get his own back. He is sending Mr Moore his prize, two business class return tickets to Moscow, wrapped in - you guessed it - one of BA's finest ethnic designs.