The dastardly Mr Deedes

Sky investors are being urged to vote against re- electing James Murdoch as Chairman at next week’s AGM due to concerns about his independence. How will Sky’s tenth- largest shareholder, hedge funder Crispin Odey, vote, I wonder? He’s been cool on Sky’s takeover bid from 21st Century Fox, saying recently that he’d be happy if it now failed. Not that it’s relevant, but Odey was briefly married to Murdoch’s elder sister Prue in the mid- 1980s, describing James back then as ‘a squit’. Royal Mail has urged the Communications Workers Union (CWU) to return to the negotiating table after it balloted for strike action next month over pay and pensions. It may have to wait a bit. A quick glance at CWU’s Facebook page shows a large chunk of delegates are now enjoying an overseas jolly in Latvia. Splendid! With Deutsche Bank investors said to be ‘twitchy’ over stocks approaching record lows, shouldn’t the bank end its costly support for the Frieze Art Fair which it is sponsoring this week for the 14th year? Don’t hold your breath. Financial institu- tions love sponsoring highfalutin events such as these. They think its lends them the illusion of respectability. Suggestions that Monarch Airlines’ collapse could solve Ryanair’s current pilot shortage are over- simplistic. Monarch used Airbus planes. Ryanair flies Boeings. Manning a different make of aircraft would require hours of costly training, which Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary would expect applicant pilots to pay for themselves. Of course he would! The rascal even makes staff pay for their own biros. Finally, I mentioned earlier this week that Lady Brady’s salary as chairman of Sir Philip Green’s company Taveta Investments was £650,000. Sir Philip rings to inform me he’s actually paying her £200,000. My apologies. ‘Sober October’ abstinence is already making me careless.