City Spy: Pears clan's £22m property profit

*Standard & Poor's reckons there is a 40% chance of a severe recession in Europe this year. How much better would the odds be if it didn't pour fuel on the fire by constantly slashing credit ratings?

Penguins in print: Website launches mag

Another kids' brand that began on digital is moving into physical. Club Penguin, the hit kids' gaming website that is owned by Disney, is launching a print title called Disney Club Penguin Magazine. The mag, priced at £2.99, will go on sale next Thursday.

Club Penguin has already begun selling assorted physical merchandising such as toys and books that are based on the website. The Disney site, whose UK offices are in Brighton, has grown fast since launch in 2005 and has more than 150 million users. Online followers of Club Penguin play various games from DJ-ing to skiing, and collect coins for completing tasks.

Club Penguin is following London-based start-up Moshi Monsters, which launched its own magazine a year ago. The monthly Moshi title became one of the best-selling kids' mags almost immediately upon launch.

*To the Haymarket Hotel - a little boutique place in the West End - for Salamander Energy's post-Christmas pool party. City Spy hears guests were beguiled by the sight of bevies of beautiful Asian models sporting the briefest of brief thongs and, er, strategically applied body paint. One guest, perhaps a touch hot under the collar, was thrown, fully suited and booted, into the pool at the alarmingly early time of 7.15pm. Alas, City Spy's invitation was lost in the post.

Drinks flow for PR start-up

Times editor James Harding showed his support for City public relations start-up Morgan Rossiter by giving a short speech at an inaugural drinks party thrown by the new agency at Morton's on Berkeley Square. The cocktails flowed as Harding talked about the challenges facing newspapers and the opportunities from tablet computers.He confessed he'd had some useful reader feedback on The Times iPad app from Steve Jobs. The late Apple boss told him he needed to increase its download speed, which The Times did. Mayfair-based Morgan Rossiter was founded last summer by two City PRs - Richard Morgan Evans, formerly of The Communications Group, and ex-Brunswick man James Rossiter, who was previously a journalist at The Times and in this parish.

Mirror boss in the sun

Trinity Mirror chief Sly Bailey, under pressure from shareholders over her £1.6 million pay package, did not win many friends within her newspaper group by being on holiday when it was announced this week that 75 editorial jobs are being cut. The rumour is that Bailey has been staying at the City's favourite - the ultra-luxury Sandy Lane Hotel in Barbados. She deserves a birthday treat after hitting the big five-oh last week. Happy returns.

*Question: how many spinners does it take to advise an airport owner? Answer: four - and at a cost of £4 million. BAA, the Spanish-owned operator of six (but not for very much longer) British airports including Heathrow, has launched a pitch process across its string of PR agencies.

It has, says PR Week, put incumbent agencies Blue Rubicon, Finsbury, Mischief and Regester Larkin all on alert. They, in case it might not be obvious, cover media relations, public affairs, consumer PR and crisis comms respectively, with a total bill coming in at about £4 million over four years.

*"One in six people voted the cocker spaniel the perfect dog to accompany Kate Middleton on royal duties. Leading dog behaviourist Stan Rawlinson describes the breed as 'the perfect pup for the royal duo'". You're paying for that guff: it comes from a press release from Direct Line, owned by RBS, owned by us taxpayers. What a waste of money.