I WONDER whether TNK-BP’s Bob Dudley has been giving lessons in remote management, as many of the City’s finest prepare to jet off to Beijing for the Olympics His experiences of running a business from a distance, albeit for a little over a week so far, could come in handy for those British bosses heading for China.

They include BP boss Tony Hayward, above, who is combining a few days at the games with a board meeting at the Tsinghua University — that well known partner of BP’s. He won’t be short of FTSE 100 peers. Stephen Green, HSBC chairman, and Standard Chartered chairman Mervyn Davies will attend the Olympic opening ceremony as they just happen to be in town.

Sir Victor Blank, the Lloyds TSB chairman, is going to the closing jamboree.

By happy coincidence, Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy also happens to be in China around the time of the games but going to the Olympics “is certainly not the purpose of his visit”, according to his spokeswoman. However, he might “drop in” if he has the time. Indeed.

WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell will be there for the duration, proving that the ad men still know how to have a good time.

However, one person who will not be having any fun in Beijing is BA boss Willie Walsh. In his quest for the most abstinent chief executive of the year award he is shunning the Olympics, holidays and that bonus. Willie, you have my vote.

Bum's rush for the other Cheeky Girls

THE Cheeky Girls have gone and got themselves into a spot of bother. Fortunately, we’re not talking about the Cheeky Girls of The Cheeky Song (Touch My Bum) fame, but a pair of female small-cap equity traders who, for reasons that are unclear, are known in City circles as the Cheeky Girls.

Until recently the pair worked at Collins Stewart but they decamped to a job at Dawnay Day. Their tenure there proved short-lived as the company got into difficulty soon after they joined. Apparently, they were out of a job within just three days of starting.

Now, they’re back on the market and we’re told they have held conversations with the Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Kaupthing reported less than stellar results last week. Let’s hope that the girls are not a harbinger of worse to come.

Wheels of justice

WE could all learn a lesson from the Manhattan federal judge Colleen McMahon when it comes to repaying debts. She presided over the case of Wall Street swindler Sam Israel who admitted to a $450m (£228m) hedge-fund scam and then did a runner (by faking his own suicide) before sentencing. While on the run he zipped round on a blue scooter and lived in a white camper van. McMahon has ordered that his belongings be sold and the proceeds put towards the $150m Israel owes to investors. Every little helps.

NO doubt the answers to what’s really happening at the kitchen maker MFI will take a while to surface, but here’s one theory that’s doing the rounds. It seems the marketing people were given free rein to dream up enticing deals and interest-free offers to woo customers. However, the finance guys didn’t do the maths to calculate what impact these offers would have on the balance sheet. More surprising is that this could have happened under the watch of MFI’s private-equity owner Merchant Equity Partners. Perhaps a course in financial modelling is required.

I WARNED that the Barbican Residents Association would get the better of JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon — and so it has. Dimon has abandoned plans to build the company’s new European HQ in the Barbican area of the City, opting instead for Canary Wharf after he found himself on the wrong side of the residents group. Tim Macer from the residents association said: “The proposed building was simply far too big for the site. We are glad JP Morgan has now reached the same conclusion.” Barbican 1-JP Morgan 0.

prufrock@sunday-times.co.uk

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