So Labour is to put up candidates for the City of London Corporation elections. Labour says it wants to "highlight what is wrong with the established governance of the City of London, and how its largely unaccountable leaders have brought Britain to recession.

We have now seen how the deregulatory model has had a terrible effect on the British economy".

While the entrance of one of the main political parties is a welcome development and could shake up the Corporation and its strange, historical processes, the second part of Labour's reasoning is plain wrong.

The banks were to blame and their stars were far too busy earning their bonuses to bother about standing for something as anachronistic as the dear old City Corporation.

I didn't miss Madoff tip-off

The recriminations over the Bernard Madoff scandal have only just begun. The Wall Street Journal's former editor Paul Steiger has been dragged into the row after a fraud investigator, Harry Markopolos, claims that he tipped off the Journal in 2005 about Madoff and fears of a giant "Ponzi" scheme.

The idea that the WSJ might have missed or turned a blind eye to the tip-off has understandably upset Steiger.

"I don't recall it and it would have come up to me. This whistleblower's assertion that we were afraid of Madoff is just preposterous, it is silly."

• Witness reports say that Arki Busson flew economy back to London City Airport after Davos. Can it be true?

• Who is this tucked away among the 8000 names on Bernie Madoff's list of victims? Willy R Strothotte, chairman of embattled Xstrata Plc and long-time director of Glencore's UK arm.

Delayed again with easyJet

It's not just easyJet's passengers cursing the budget airline's performance at snow-bound Luton.

At the airline's annual meeting held at the airport, the carrier had to appoint an emergency chairman who immediately adjourned the inquorate meeting - only two shareholders had got there by 10am - for an hour and half until Sir Colin Chandler extracted himself from a traffic jam caused by a jack-knifed lorry.

• Richard Quest, the British CNN business presenter who memorably got caught by police in Central Park with drugs and a sex toy, is behaving himself these days.

Quest is still enthusing about the Davos World Economic Forum where he has been blogging. "My grandmother always warned me about 'too much of a good thing'.

"I used to think she was being mean not wanting me to gorge myself on cakes, biscuits, and candies. Only tooth cavities later did I realise the wisdom of her words Too much of a good thing is a dangerous thing."

Quite so, Richard. He adds: "It's the same at Davos. After three days of walking around this congress centre, my head is spinning at the sheer number of 'world' dignitaries with whom I have rubbed shoulders." So what were the highlights? "A handshake with Bill Gates and an interview with Prince Andrew. Phew."

Blowing trouble for Whistles

Jane Shepherdson picked an unfortunate day to showcase her new collection for Whistles.

The former Topshop brand director, who took over at the boutique chain last year, released a preview of the collection on Friday, meaning it was somewhat overshadowed by news that Whistles' part-owner, Baugur, had been formally placed into administration.

• Where better to get a picture of the banking sector than of the events page of the website of the British Bankers' Association (who brought us such closing-the-stable-door-after-the-horse-has-bolted initiatives as the Responsible Lending Conference in October).

The Liquidity Assessment and Stress Testing Workshop is sold out but there is room on the Market Abuse Seminar and The Risk of Sanction Breaches Workshop. The Senior Management Responsibility Workshop still has plenty of availability too.

Wall Street widows share recession pain

There's more bad news for City workers, this time from across the Atlantic but it's not (un)employment figures or retail gloom.

This newsflash comes direct from the Wall Street widows. They have set up a support group for girlfriends of bankers (no boyfriends allowed - this is a "safe place where women can come together - free from the scrutiny of feminists") to share their "tearful tales of how the mortgage meltdown has affected their relationships".

And their blog, Dating a Banker Anonymous (dabagirls.com) spills very detailed beans on bedroom rather than boardroom intimacies, culminating in advice such as: "Go have a steamy affair with some Latin lover who spends his free time thinking up new bedroom positions instead of trading positions.

"Relish that for the here and now you don't have to be seen in public with a guy who wears black shiny shoes with jeans..."

• Gosh, they have such fun those analysts. Top of the recent day trips recently must have been that with Dignity. As Mike Allen and Paul Jones at Panmure Gordon put it: "We had the opportunity to visit a number of funeral homes and crematoria sites yesterday around the Kingston/Leatherhead area."

• The perils of the collapsing property market. Venerable solicitors' firm Mishcon de Reya, which acted for Princess Diana in her divorce, boasts on its website how it advised on the purchase of 27-35 Poultry, the Grade I-listed Edwin Lutyens-designed former Midland Bank HQ in the City, which was bought for £72 million in 2006: "The Mishcon de Reya team headed by Real Estate partners Philip Freedman and Nick Doffman exchanged contracts from a standing start in an impressive 12 hours.

Doffman commented: 'We like to think that we are able to provide a fast and efficient service to our clients but this particular transaction sets a record even for us.'"

Alas, a little over two years later, the new owners of 27-35 Poultry have defaulted on the £72 million of loans, the building is valued closer to £40 million, and it is now in the hands of administrators Grant Thornton. The phrase "marry in haste, repent at leisure" leaps to mind.