Before the start of the Cheltenham Festival today, the racecourse's managing director Edward Gillespie admitted corporate hospitality has taken a hit - it's down around 10%, he says, although some think that may be a little optimistic.

Channel 4 racing presenter Alastair Down, who interviewed Gillespie, suggested he'd be quite happy if there were fewer merchant bankers this year at the festival.

City Spy suspects Cheltenham is pretty disappointed that some City people have cancelled their corporate jollies. But, ever the diplomat, Gillespie replied: "Like the Irish priesthood who were asked a few years ago not to wear their dog collars [at Cheltenham], we think they [the bankers] will come in disguise."

• Veteran market commentator David Buik will be keeping a close eye on events at Cheltenham, but the BGC Partners man's encyclopaedic knowledge of the turf and the markets can come in handy.

Buik says the Footsie hit its decade low on Queen Mother Champion Chase day in 2003 when Moscow Flyer triumphed.

Six years on and Master Minded, the best two-miler since, is nailed on to win the Queen Mother. "Could that victory also coincide with 3283 being breached as the low point of the FTSE 100 for this decade?" says Buik. "I would not rule that possibility out."

Williams & Glyn's to save RBS?

Royal Bank of Scotland is, let's face it, not a name worth singing about at the moment. So it's perhaps not coincidental that RBS has suddenly taken to promoting its National Westminster arm.

The brand hasn't been tainted by the crisis, it isn't closely associated with the Scottish Sir Fred Goodwin.

We'll know things are desperate when Williams & Glyn's, purchased by RBS in the early 1980s, makes a reappearance...

• Why does RBS have 53 press officers and media relations managers, including 13 looking after "RBS and NatWest Retail brands" and 11 covering global capital markets?

City Spy is grateful to Financial News for highlighting this absurdity. The 53 do not include the bank's external PRs, Financial Dynamics.

The Treasury's press team, by contrast, is nine-strong - one communications director and eight press officers.

Fred needs all help he can get

Meanwhile, Sir Fred Goodwin reportedly has no fewer than three PRs working for him - Phil Hall, David Burnside, and now Richard Hillgrove.

Hall's role appears to be confined to keeping the media at bay and protecting the fallen bank boss's wife and children from their intrusion.

Burnside seems to be advising The Shredded on the fallout from his dealings with Westminster, with the Treasury Select Committee and ministers, notably Lord Myners.

Quite what Hillgrove will be doing as well is a mystery.

• Both RBS and Lloyds are issuing B shares to the Government as the main part of paying for its guarantees over £585 billion of their toxic rubbish.

The banks use the same phrase in the B shares term sheet: "The creation and issue of B shares and the rights attached to them are governed by, and shall be construed in accordance with, the laws of Scotland."

Doesn't that mean it should be Scottish taxpayers' money and not English and Welsh used in the bailout?

Agent is late, distracted by Kate

Agent Provocateur, the raunchy underwear brand for which Kate Moss used to model, is fashionably late in filing its accounts.

The company, owned by 3i, said a fortnight ago that the accounts, due at the end of January, would be released "imminently" but wouldn't set a particular date, and they are yet to appear.

A spokeswoman claimed that the delay is down to the fact they have new auditors and a new financial director.

So it has nothing to do with the exit of former co-owner Serena Rees after her acrimonious split from founder Joe Corre, the son of Vivienne Westwood?

• The financial crisis has now claimed a clean sweep of Icelandic investment banks with Straumur, the last one left standing, finally calling it a day. Straumur only took over Teathers from Landsbanki last October.

In the accompanying statement, Straumur said: "We still have a very robust capital position and our liquidity is okay".

Fast-forward five months and its announcement reads rather differently: "Our liquidity position is no longer strong enough to sustain activities. As a result Straumur is closed."

• As with Bernie Madoff, another case of apt naming. Straumur's chief executive is William Fall.

Santander lotto to woo shareholders

Is there nothing that Banco Santander will not do to woo its shareholders, including enforced migrants from Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley?

Its latest glossy bulletin includes either a Mini or four nights for a couple in Benidorm for the winners of one of its lotteries - open only to those who join the Santander Shareholders Club.

Even if they do not, there is a "special offer" for all shareholders: a dozen bottles of wine for £44.99 plus postage costing £6.99.

That works out at £4.33p a bottle - which is not that much different from special offers in supermarkets. But wait! The case also includes a free corkscrew worth £12.99.

Presumably, if enough shareholders get tipsy, they will forget Santander shares have almost halved in the past year and are down by around 25% since the rescue of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley.

• Today is Mipim Day, when property types gather at Cannes for their annual beano. This year, there have been cuts, a new mood of austerity etc.

But just how tough is it going to be? A clue can be gleaned from Estates Gazette, where Cushman & Wakefield and Colliers CRE tell the journal their yachts will be "worked hard".

• Coutts is sending six bankers to Cannes to host a cocktail and salmon reception on Thursday - even though its owner is RBS and only remains in business thanks to taxpayer funds.

But Coutts, banker to the Queen, strenuously denies the Mipim beano is excessive. They say, they're flying easyJet and spending the two nights in a two-star hotel. Bless.

• Right-sizing - buzzy New York-speak for making job cuts.

• The Government's stakes in the banks are being referred to as "economic" - as in "economic holding" and "economic shares".

While it may suit ministers and the banks to put this gloss on the investment, the Government is a shareholder, same as all the rest - and should not forget that.