So is this the end of the independence of the Bank of England? Before the emergency interest rate cut, Chancellor Alistair Darling all but ordered the monetary policy committee to act, saying its duty was “to support the Government's wider objectives of economic stability”.

At Prime Minister's Questions, a gleeful Gordon Brown said the rate cut was “an important message that is being sent around the world that we will do everything in our power to make sure our economy moves forward”. Including interfere in the Bank of England, it seems.

PR man in spin over Iceland

Earlier this week, the Evening Standard had cause to question the financial wherewithal of Landsbanki, the Icelandic bank that has since failed.

The bank's City pedlar of nonsense on its behalf, Andrew Walton of Financial Dynamics, was not pleased, and sent this email: “To describe a sale of some businesses as a bailout' is completely wrong (if not totally irresponsible). As I hope you know, Landsbanki is a highly profitable and successful banking group with very high levels of retail deposits, and almost not whole borrowing needs. It has not been affected by subprime or structured credit writedowns, has liquid assets of over €8 billion and a high Tier 1 capital ratio of 8%.”

He added: “Can you let me know tomorrow who I should take this up with — Landsbanki in Iceland are up in arms and threatening legal action and I want to get the matter resolved.”

Andrew, is there anyone left with arms still to raise? In fact, when you ring, is there anyone answering the phone in Reykjavik? Er, Andrew, one other thing: have you been paid?

Good time to leave property

Stephen Hester, who is expected to be named the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, would not be a surprise choice. He has been widely tipped to get the job after joining RBS as a non-exec just three months ago. He's been running property firm British Land and resolutely stuck to the line he was happy there. But commercial property has been hit more than any other sector in the crunch and question marks hang over several of the firm's high-profile projects such as the Leadenhall building, this must be a good time to move on. Hester is not the only well-regarded heavyweight to leave the sector. Paul Myners, the chairman of Land Securities, has also gone — to be a Government minister.

* Shaggy dog story. For years, Lehman Brothers' Manhattan headquarters have been faithfully guarded by Bella, an excellently trained black labrador. The staff loved her little wet nose and waggy tail, particularly after the rumour went round last month that she had taken a chunk out of chief executive Dick Fuld's leg as he walked out of the atrium. But then came the takeover by Barclays Capital and word got out that Bella was set for the chop along with hundreds of staff. “Barclays aren't dog lovers” was the talk. However, BarCap London has intervened to quash these wicked rumours. “We absolutely, catagorically, will not be letting Bella go,” says a spokesman from high up in Canary Wharf. “Why would we get rid of her. We have dogs here. Barclays love dogs.” Seriously.

Mandy turns over a new leaf

Maybe Peter Mandelson has turned over a new leaf. The newly appointed Business Secretary was invited to appear on Andrew Marr's BBC1 show last Sunday. But Alistair Darling was already pencilled in to talk to Marr about his plans to manage the banking crisis and the Government rescue. A broadcasting source tells City Spy that when Number 11 heard that Mandy was also set to appear, the Chancellor's team panicked, fearing he would steal Darling's limelight. After a series of phone calls between the two ministerial camps, Mandelson agreed to pull out of Marr's programme. Apparently, Mandy wanted to show he is a good team player these days...

* From website, sharecrazy.com: An explanation of why the Financial Services Authority's short-selling ban was never going to work anyway, even if it hadn't been a pointlessly stupid idea in the first place.

“Hedge funds are still able to sidestep the ban on short-selling financials and are actively doing so,” says sharecrazy. “By selling a FTSE 100 contract and then taking long positions in all stocks bar the financial stocks, hedge funds are able to create a short position. However, ordinary investors are unable to undertake these sort of complex programmed trades. The FSA ban has therefore had no effect on bigger players — merely denying ordinary investors the chance to play on a level field with the City.” So there.

* The managing director of one small business says with relief that he managed to get £40,000 in fees from Lehman just two weeks before it went bust; a second business admits forlornly that it is still owed a five-figure sum and thinks there is scant hope of getting much of it back. In both cases, there will be no more work from Lehman. Meanwhile, across the City, valuable long-standing contracts, not just involving Lehman — from IT to catering — are vanishing as fast as an Icelandic bank's deposits.

The new glossary to explain the crunch

This glossary is circulating trading desks:
CEO — Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO — Corporate Fraud Officer.
Bull market — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
Bear market — A six-to-18-month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewellery, and the husband gets no sex.
Value investing — The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E ratio — The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
Broker — What my broker has made me.
Standard & Poor — Your life in a nutshell.
Stock analyst — Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
Stock split — When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
Financial planner — A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
Market correction — The day after you buy stocks.
Cash flow — The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
Yahoo — What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
Windows — What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo at $240 per share.
Institutional investor — Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.
Profit — An archaic word no longer in use.

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