An awful blooper from Sir Stuart Rose, the Marks & Spencer chief executive, at the results presentation yesterday. M&S is involved in one of those “squeeze them until the pips squeak” exercises to cut the prices to suppliers.

Only last week Northern Foods said that it had no option but to close a factory in Lincolnshire because the two parties could not reach contractual terms that made the site viable.

The name of this exercise at M&S is “Project Genesis”. Not, as Rose put it yesterday, twice, “Project Genocide”.

“I can't believe he said that,” an ashen-faced M&S adviser said. The firm said later he was being “ironic”.

I would point out that Rose, never a man to underestimate his talents, remarked at the time of the row over his elevation to the chairman's role: “It's not as if I'm Pol Pot here, going around chopping heads.”

Greg Dyke steps up again for his good friend

Greg Dyke, former director-general of the BBC, has agreed to host this year's Thomson Reuters Extel awards ceremony on June 11 at the Royal Opera House.

I hear that there were plans to get Michael Grade, who has hosted the event twice before, but he was unable to accept the job. There is a history behind this.

When Grade, then the BBC chairman, ducked out in 2004, Dyke stepped in but they kept Grade on as one of the presenters. We all trooped along expecting some serious fisticuffs, Dyke having just quit the BBC, but, alas, they are good friends.

Some Treasury statistics speak for themselves.

Mark Hoban, the shadow City minister, put down a parliamentary question on the frequency of stress-related sickness among Treasury staff before and after Gordon Brown moved to No 10 last summer, I read on the Guido Fawkes political blogsite.

The first half of 2007, an average of 166 days a month. The second half, an average of 106 days a month. That's a fall of 36 per cent.

Can anyone explain why this might be?

The usual FTSE executives and smooth investment bankers were at the gala opening of the Chelsea Flower Show, giving the lie to suggestions that City folk would be staying away this year.

Spotted networking like his life, or at least his bonus, depended on it, was, for example, Richard Gnodde, of Goldman Sachs.

Plenty of Tories, but not a single senior Labour politician.

According to Hansard, the vote on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill was at 6.34pm, which leaves plenty of time for a quick taxi ride from Westminster to Sloane Square.

Do we assume that in times like these, an interest in gardening is seen as a bit trivial?

Ping! An e-mail arrives from Amazon, with its latest CD offers. Would I care to buy Robbie Williams's awful Rudebox for only 46p, unprecedented even for such bargain basement sales, which usually have the decency to pitch such junk at a couple of quid.

Not terribly, no; but I recall that EMI, in those happy pre-Guy Hands days, signed Williams at, how much was it? Ah, yes, £50 million.

A bargain.

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