Credit

Star fund manager Anthony Bolton, who rose to prominence at Fidelity International and acquired the nickname “the quiet assassin” for his campaign to remove Michael Green as chairman of Carlton Communications, announced his return to the world of fund management, moving to Hong Kong to concentrate on Chinese shares.

Debit

The departure of Simon Lane, finance director of William Hill, raised eyebrows among investors, coming less than three weeks after he oversaw a £300 million bond issue.

Exceptional items

? Drinks company Whyte & Mackay has hired a team to drill into the Antarctic ice in an attempt to rescue some whisky abandoned by Sir Ernest Shackleton after his failed 1909 expedition. If successful, the McKinlay whisky brand may be recreated.

? Building industry veteran Paul Morrell, a senior partner at consultancy Davis Langdon, has emerged as the Government’s chief adviser on construction, with a brief to reduce the industry’s carbon emissions.

? A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression has lost benefits paid under her health insurance after the insurer found pictures of her apparently enjoying herself on Facebook.

? Sir Stuart Rose appeared on Desert Island Discs to reveal a fondness for songs by The Smiths, the Electric Light Orchestra and the Wagogo tribe of Tanzania and give an account of his “physical” street tussle with fellow retailer Sir Philip Green.

? Sir Stuart also chipped in on the debate over educational standards later in the week, saying that Britain’s school-leavers are “not fit for work” at companies such as Marks & Spencer.

? Meanwhile the other Philip Green, the chief executive of United Utilities, could be on his way in due course, after he has managed the eventual sale of the company’s last non-core businesses and the latest water price review, both announced this week.

? Lord Myners, the City minister, used the occasion of a seminar of the Council of Christians and Jews to slam the “tin ears” of bankers such as Lloyd Blankfein who refused to rein in their pay. The head of Goldman Sachs has been widely ridiculed for claiming the bank did “God’s work”.

? Sir Callum McCarthy, former chairman of the Financial Services Authority and widely criticised for failing to spot crises such as Northern Rock, has been appointed to the newly created post of European chairman of US private equity firm JC Flowers. His new employer is one possible purchaser of some Northern Rock assets.

? The Government’s former “drugs czar” is the improbable new chairman of Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct chain. Keith Hellawell, former Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police, take up a post that Mr Ashley has been trying to fill for more than two years.

? The millionaire Barclay brothers, owners of Littlewoods, unveiled a plan that could see Woolworths return to the high street, to be run by franchisees. This week was the anniversary of Woolworths’ collapse.

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