The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) is expected to hand out a swingeing fine today to Network Rail - where Sir Ian McAllister, the chairman, has yet to hand back his knighthood - for the appalling blunders that shut much of the rail system over Christmas. I am reminded that the company was fined £2.4 million for similar failings during Christmas 2006. The money goes to the Department for Transport. The ORR insists that fines send a clear message and may impact on executive bonuses.

Yet given that Network Rail is now back in the public sector, a fact admitted apparently by mistake by no less than three government ministers over the years, what is the point of transferring money from one public body to another? And when, may I ask, is the ORR or anyone else going to do something about the public scandal of a rail network, large chunks of which shut down over the weekend? Something that would not have been tolerated by British Rail.

We've seen it all before, this doom and gloom

The financial situation is dire. The commodities markets have run riot. There has been a run on one of the most popular banks and this has jacked up the rates at which the others lend. There are fears around the market that some might fail. I quote from a recent research note from Sean Corrigan, chief economist at the hedge fund Diapason. “Over-expansion of unsaved credit; failed speculations; a rising atmosphere of mistrust becoming outright panic, dragging the blameless down with the directly culpable.” The Venetian Republic in 1499, he points out, though it could as easily be today.

— Tesco is, apparently, considering suing The Guardian newspaper over a story alleging widespread offshore tax avoidance by the Grocer That Ate Middle England. This could give rise to a little friction between the rest of the Tesco board and one of its non-executives. In her day job, Carolyn McCall is chief executive of Guardian Media Group.

— Of the departed chief executive Stephen Nelson, chairman Sir Nigel Rudd says: “Stephen put serving the customer, the passenger, first on BAA's list of priorities. That ... will be his lasting legacy to this company.” Would you really want to be remembered for customers' experiences at Heathrow and Gatwick of late?

The non-doms who are really cleaning up

Jon Moulton, über-venture capitalist and founder of Alchemy Parners, is never short of something outrageous to say, especially if in range of a reporter's notebook. At the industry's conference in Munich, he laid into claims by rival Nick Ferguson, of SVG Capital, that some private equity bosses paid less tax than their cleaners. Don't feel sorry for them, he shouted. “Cleaners in the UK are typically non-domiciled and get paid in cash, so it's not true!” Now, these things are way above my head, but would a trained economist like to sit down and, with reference to the respective pay packets of cleaners and private equity, demonstrate a logical flaw in the above argument?

— If you have tears still to shed, prepare to shed them. Knight Frank, the estate agent, has prepared a list of must-haves for the very rich and the respective rates of inflation of such essentials over the previous year. Annual membership of Soho House, dinner at Nobu, that peculiar Japanese-Peruvian restaurant where I once ate raw shrimp - rather nice, actually - a case of Lafite Rothschild 2000, a kilo of caviar, a house in Belgravia - these are all going up in price by an horrific amount. Average rate of inflation, I calculate, 81 per cent. There is some real suffering out there. As the Duke of Wellington said when told that some noble families were forced to wash and re-use their table linen: “My God, Sir, I never knew such poverty existed!”

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive