BOB CROW, general secretary of the RMT union, has been doing some spinning that Ashley Giles himself would be proud of. Crow recently reported in the RMT News that this newspaper had paid “damages and legal costs” over an article that we published about him two years ago.

Crow’s memory of events seems a little wonky, so let me put him straight on a few points. He thought that the Times article accused him of outrageously and illegally attempting to influence voters in a union ballot. Last December, the Assistant Certification Officer (ACO), effectively a union watchdog, found that he had not actually broken trade union law in the election but that his letter to members was both “tendentious” and “disingenuous in parts ”.

In the light of this, The Times made a “qualified offer of amends”, accepting that Crow had not broken trade union electoral law but stating that the rest of the article was correct and that his conduct could have brought the union into disrepute.

We offered to print an apology, but the union leader chose not to have his “victory” recorded in The Times as we would have published the ACO’s full findings. Instead, he accepted a slightly larger sum of money and no apology, which goes to show he was more interested in the (still modest) damages than in vindication.

A LEAFLET in McDonald’s outlets helpfully tells customers that the bun used in its McChicken sandwiches is suitable for vegetarians. All they need now is a vegetarian chicken to go with it.

New start

STUART METCALFE is living proof that working for Queens Moat Houses need not be the end of a career. QMH’s former chief executive, who oversaw its sale last year to Goldman Sachs, has popped up as head of the new British arm of Realstar Hotels. Realstar, a Canadian asset management company, was in the consortium that bought InterContinental Hotels Group’s UK property portfolio for £1 billion this year and it is seeking further acquisitions.

Metcalfe, who worked on the IHG deal, says that he is relieved to have left both QMH and the quoted arena behind him.

AN ATTEMPT by Royal Dutch Shell to claim the website royaldutchshellplc.com from an 88-year-old veteran who uses it to publish material that criticises the oil giant has failed. The Geneva-based WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre has ruled in favour of Alfred Donovan, who has said that he will not relinquish the site until the company gets rid of all the management he deems responsible for its various recent woes, notably the reserves scandal.

Busman’s holiday?

SPOTTED in the appropriately splendid Hotel Splendido in Portofino, Italy — Fred Watt, outgoing finance director of Royal Bank of Scotland. Watt is quitting business in order to spend more time with his family.

Although the Splendido is one of Italy’s most luxurious hotels, it must have felt like a home from home for Watt after RBS’s move to its spanking new Edinburgh headquarters — one of the most luxurious HQs in corporate Britain.

BP, Tesco and HSBC fill the top three spots in a survey of Britain’s most admired companies. Flying high in sixth position is British Airways.

city.diary@thetimes.co.uk

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