Few people in Britain have taken too seriously the claims by US Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman and other luminaries that Gordon Brown's recapitalisation of the banks means he is a global superhero. It seems such scepticism is shared elsewhere in European capitals, where Brown's talk about setting up a “Bretton Woods II” to oversee global financial institutions has met with hollow laughter. “Is this the same man who in 10 years as finance minister resisted almost every effort at the European Union level by the Group of Seven major economies to push for stronger financial regulation?” asks Paul Taylor, an economics commentator for Reuters. He claims that European Commission president José Manuel Barroso privately made “unusually frank comments” earlier this month, blaming Brown for opposing regulation. Taylor adds: “The German finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, remembers how when Germany chaired the Group of Seven industrialised nations last year, Brown led opposition to his push for even a voluntary code of conduct for hedge funds.” Ouch.

Spare a shilling for Eugene

How bad are the finances of Roman Abramovich? City Spy only asks because his right-hand man and financial brains Eugene Tenenbaum, a director of Chelsea FC, is putting his Home Counties mansion up for sale. On the market with Savills for a tad under £4 million, the property is a classic oligarch-gofer pile in a gated private road with eight bedrooms and an indoor swimming pool in one of the most sought-after areas of the stockbroker belt. Tenenbaum, 44 and a Russian-born Canadian national, shares the property with his wife Claire and four children.

Could the sale have anything to do with the downturn in the fortunes of his master? Tenenbaum runs Abramovich's private investment vehicle, Millhouse Capital. A former head of accounting firm KPMG's Moscow office, he joined Abramovich in the 1990s as corporate finance chief of Sibneft, the oil giant whose £7.5 billion sale was the basis of Abramovich's wealth. Tall and imposing, Tenenbaum is regarded as Abramovich's “gatekeeper”, organising his private army of security men, acting as his patron's translator and as placeman on the boards of his companies, which include Highland Gold.

But things are not what they were with Abramovich — his stake in the steels group Evraz, which has £5.5 billion of debts, has slumped by almost 90%, wiping £15 billion from his worth.

* Congratulations to the workforce at the JCB excavators company for having shown considerable generosity of spirit in taking a pay cut to save their jobs. Surely, it now behoves the owners of the business — the billionaire Bamford family — to show equal selflessness in these troubled times by waiving their dividend. They, after all, are in a better position to afford it and missing a year or two should not come as too much of a sacrifice. Latest accounts filed at Companies House show that in 2006 jcb Service, the uk parent, paid out a £45.5 million dividend to the family's holding company, which is registered offshore in the Netherlands. Make no mistake — the Bamfords are in little danger of heading for Carey Street.

Cambridge misses Bullingdon hall of infamy

This now-infamous photograph of Shadow Chancellor George Osborne and his erstwhile chum Nat Rothschild at the Oxford Bullingdon Club — Ocado's Jason Gissing is also in the photo — raises an interesting question. What is the Cambridge version of the Bullingdon? In fact, there isn't one exactly — the nearest Cambridge gets is the Pitt Club. Alas, at about the same time as Osborne, Rothschild et al were posing for the Bullingdon, their Cambridge counterparts proved hapless custodians of the Pitt Club's finances. Their male-only organisation ended up having to hawk the ground floor of its Jesus Lane premises to a restaurant (it's now a Pizza Express) and the basement to a nightclub while the members retired to the unprepossessing upstairs.

Still, the consolation for those Cambridge graduates who have now made it in the business
and political world is that, unlike their Oxford contemporaries, there are rather fewer embarrassing old university photos of them in
white tie and tails.

* Will they, won't they? First, it looked as though JPMorgan Cazenove was going to have a smart new Square Mile headquarters — with the City Corporation bending over backwards to accommodate the big-name US bank and its Cazenove subsidiary. Then Canary Wharf stepped in and persuaded JPMorgan to move to Docklands, delivering a severe blow to the City. But next came the banking crisis. JPMorgan has not formally signed with Canary Wharf, and City Spy hears the City burghers are mounting a major effort to persuade the bank to stay within its boundaries...

Trouble in the air – and on road

What future for bmibaby, the low-fares arm of British Midland group bmi? The budget end of the market is becoming ever more cut-throat, especially as high oil prices have meant low fares don't really work. Executives at bmi are admitting the airline, led by the veteran Sir Michael Bishop, won't make a profit this year. The biggest cost-cutting is coming at bmibaby where nearly one in six services are being cut this winter...

* Proof the recession is biting — or that people don't want flash gas-guzzlers any more? Motor trader Lancaster in Sevenoaks, Kent, is offering “some fantastic savings off brand new Jaguar cars”. The offers include up to £8500 off the price of a brand new Jaguar XJ (on the road) and up to £13,000 off the price of a brand new XK. City Spy wonders if Lancaster will take a 10-year-old Nissan Cherry in exchange?

* Don't you just love 'em? Wachovia posts a net loss of $24 billion for the last quarter. Here's chief executive Robert K Steel's take on it: “Although this has been a challenging quarter, Wachovia's underlying businesses remain solid and our franchise exceptionally attractive.”

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