The dastardly Mr Deedes

Financial Conduct Authority boss Andrew Bailey’s call for better deals for savers should go down well. In the past week we’ve heard similarly attention-grabbing comments from Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane, 50 (more diversity in the workplace), his former colleague Sir Paul Tucker, 60 (strip the FCA of independence) and combustible Santander chairman, Shriti Vadera, 56 (more senior women in Threadneedle Street). Are we to assume the race to be the next Bank of England Governor is officially under way?

Vodafone’s outgoing boss, chirpy Italiano Vittorio Colao, 56, completed his final conference call with journalists yesterday, remarking: ‘Thank you, it’s been a pleasure working with you all these years. I wish you all the best for the future.’ Will BT’s departing Gavin Patterson be so generous when he signs off? Like golfer Nick Faldo, he may be more inclined to thank us from the heart of his bottom.

The Glorious Twelfth sees peonycheeked City grandees head oop north for the start of grouse shooting. Not this year, however. I hear a number of moors have delayed the traditional August 12 curtain-raiser, while some have cancelled the season. A combination of the ‘Beast from the East’ cold snap followed by the scorching weather has played havoc with breeding. How’s grouse moor habitue Crispin Odey going to cope?

The furore over the Presidents Club dinner, where insalubrious property types groped scantily-clad hostesses, saw Great Ormond Street snootily reject the £530,000 the evening raised, a decision since rescinded. So what do Presidents Club trustees make of the hospital splurging £130,000 on pricey libel lawyers Schillings to respond to an ITV investigation into its work practices? Perhaps it’s their turn to take the moral high ground and ask for their donation back.

Next week’s hippie drippy Wilderness Festival on Oxfordshire’s Cornbury estate hosts ‘Spooning Hour’, where attendees lie down each evening in a circle and ‘spoon’ one another. Relieves tension, they say. After next Thursday’s stressful interest rate decision, maybe Wilderness regular Mark Carney – his sister-in-law is Cornbury’s chatelaine – should join the fun.