Did you realise that tax-avoiders with money in Northern Rock on Guernsey are also guaranteed getting their money back under the Chancellor's promise? It seems extraordinary, because the branch is registered on that delightful island and is legally independent of the UK plc, but there we are. Depositors are not, one might think, the sort of people the UK Government should stand behind, as there is but one compelling reason to have money invested in places such as Guernsey. But given the unwillingness of recent senior arrivals on the Rock board to pay tax, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised.

I am told this by a good source and ring the Treasury to confirm. “The deposits in the Guernsey branch aren't covered by the Government guarantee.” Strictly accurate, perhaps, but the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the equivalent of the FSA, confirms to me: “HM Treasury has informed the Commission that the deposit of Northern Rock (Guernsey) with its UK parent plc is included within the Chancellor's guarantee arrangements as an existing wholesale deposit. It is because Northern Rock (Guernsey)'s assets are placed in the form of that deposit with its parent that they are protected.”

In other words, if I understand it correctly, and the Treasury isn't being too helpful here, the money is invested offshore for tax purposes, shipped back to the UK, and so protected. Extraordinary.

Will Brown listen to this voice in the wilderness?

Robert Bacon, a Northern Rock shareholder, has set up an e-petition on the No10 website demanding that the Prime Minister “carefully consider the fate of the many small shareholders in Northern Rock (and any future companies in peril) rather than writing them off!” Hmm. Just how much attention is Gordon going to give that?

And Tim Clark, senior partner in Slaughter and May, working on the project, muses to Legal Week: “The last time a company was brought to nationalisation was before my working life.”

— A Credit Suisse banker has taken issue with the Here is the City website over suggestions that Brady Dougan, CS's chief executive, could lose his job over that £1.5 billion write-off. “Brady Dougan has been an outstanding CEO, implementing excellent management strategies from the top down,” he says. Alas for his prospects for promotion; the website withholds his name.

— A colleague bumps into Nick Ross, the former Crimewatch presenter sacked last summer for being too old, or too careful with his facts, depending on whom you believe. He looks remarkably chipper. He is doing voice-over work for Anglo-American, the miner, he says. Where I don't imagine they care how old you are.

The team that saved the Wimbledon town clock

As I wrote several months ago, this landmark of the leafy suburb, situated above a Punch pub, has not worked for years, and Punch has dragged its heels over the necessary repairs despite a campaign by famous residents such as June Whitfield and, er, me. Chief executive Giles Thorley has just agreed to hand over £6,250 to get it fixed, with the council paying another £3,550 for scaffolding. All that fuss over a mere six thousand?

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