Deloittes has hired star QC Gordon Pollock, who has been known to charge £1,000 an hour and has acted for Sir Elton John and George Michael. His opening statement is set to stretch over two months — you work it out. The whole case could take a year; costs so far have passed £50 million and could reach £100 million.

Into the witness box will go Lord Richardson of Duntisbourne — former Bank governor, now 88 and said to be frail and hard of hearing — who is required to recall complicated details from the 1970s.

THIS year’s Christmas card from the Office for National Statistics features a load of numbers falling from the sky like snowflakes. This prompts a sour response from one recipient. “They should have had Len Cook (much-criticised ONS head) plucking the numbers out of the air — it’s what they do for the rest of the year.”

Steeplechase

PETER WYMAN, former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and tireless lobbyist for the profession at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has taken on a project closer to home. He is chairing the appeal committee to raise £100,000 for restoration of his local church.

Parts of Over Storey Parish Church in Somerset date back more than 700 years, and it featured on one of the Royal Mail’s millennium stamps. Wyman has already contacted Allan Leighton at the Mail for permission to reproduce the stamp on the appeal brochure.

He is now seeking funds from charitable trusts and other organisations involved in preserving the heritage, as well as the odd rich individual with links with the church. “They gave me the job because I’m good at raising money, rather than for regular attendance,” Wyman admits.

THE Morgan Stanley bid vehicle for Canary Wharf has been named Silvestor. Canary, Sylvester the cat? I get it. But wasn’t he the one that never got the bird?

Meal deals

FURTHER signs that Sainsbury’s is falling behind the other big grocers — at a bash the other night hosted by IGD, the food industry consultant, there was an auction for dinner with various retail notables.

Prize exhibit was David Reid, Tesco’s new chairman, and Richard Brasher, the trading director. One poultry supplier, perhaps keen to ingratiate itself with our most successful retailer, eventually paid £45,000, the price driven up by spirited bidding from Asda. The latter then agreed to pay its highest bid, £40,000, for another date.

A night at the opera in the company of Stephen Nelson, Sainsbury’s trading director, went for a mere £2,000.

city.diary@thetimes.co.uk

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