Lord Myners' appearance before the Treasury Select Committee this week saw harsh words directed at the City minister by Tory MP Michael Fallon.

"Either you were party to very expensive back-scratching or you neglected your duty to the taxpayer," charged Fallon about Myners' failure to block Sir Fred Goodwin's pension.

Fallon followed this up on Jeff Randall Live on Sky: "Myners' job was to defend the taxpayers' interests and prevent a reward for failure. His attempt this morning was pathetic."

Highlighted rather less was Myners' attack on Fallon - that he sat on the board of City broker Tullett Prebon. Fallon chairs Tullett's remuneration committee and is a member of its audit and nominations committee.

Those watching the Select Committee hearings have been struck by the hostility exhibited by the MP for Sevenoaks towards the witnesses from the regulatory side - the FSA in particular came in for a hard time. Fallon's animosity, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that when he joined Tullett in September 2004 the firm was embroiled in negotiations with the FSA over the amount of compensation it and others had to pay for their part in the split-capital investment trust debacle - a battle that eventually resulted in a combined £275 million payout.

* At the Treasury Select Committee inquiry in 2004 into how thousands of investors had lost money in split-caps, Fallon told Callum McCarthy, the then FSA chairman, that he did not support the way the regulator was going about its investigations. He described the watchdog's actions as "protracted arm-twisting". He made that remark in June 2004 and in September 2004 he was welcomed to the Tullett board. Funny that.

Scots not so brave about RBS

Passengers arriving at Edinburgh airport are no longer bombarded with Royal Bank of Scotland as they once were. The bank employs several thousand people in the Scottish capital, and its HQ is a stone's throw from the airport.

“Now when you fly in you are met with signs showcasing the city, with homilies by Scottish writers instead of RBS slogans,” says one recent visitor. What are they ashamed of?

City Spy thinks those Scots who so craved independence should see RBS banners all over — to remind them how they nearly became another Iceland, but for the generosity of their English brethren...

* A blow for Labour in its quest for a foothold in the capitalist bastion. For the first time, Labour stood in the Corporation of the City of London elections — but all its candidates were trounced. In line with tradition, all those elected as Common Councillors were independents. But some have decidedly Tory leanings — such as Jeremy Mayhew, elected for Aldersgate Ward. He was special adviser to former Tory minister Peter Lilley.

* Wheels within wheels: law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, used by Barclays to injunct The Guardian from publishing whistleblower documents about the bank's alleged tax-avoidance activities, also acts as corporate lawyers for... Guardian Media Group.

* Incredible, how Italian media conglomerate Mediaset announced an unexpectedly generous dividend — despite seeing its profits crash after a collapse in advertising. That's great news for Silvio Berlusconi, who is also the vice-chairman and, through his Fininvest vehicle, owner of 36% of the company. By City Spy's reckoning, the payout means the Italian Prime Minister's Fininvest receives €163.3 million.

* City Spy's attention is drawn to some news of more cuts from the US. Urologists are reporting that the gloomy economy is forcing record numbers of couples to decide they can't afford another baby, sending more men to the doctor for a vasectomy...

O'Leary's pay-per-loo brainwave flies into flak

Michael O'Leary's recent suggestion that he might soon charge passengers for using the lavatory on Ryanair planes has been given short shrift across the Atlantic. Forbes takes a particularly dim view.

“The moment you step on one of Ryanair's gaudily decorated aircraft, with their plastic yellow seat tops and their first-on-board-wins seating policy, you are bombarded with advertisements for car hire, aftershave, hot chocolate, sandwiches and so forth,” the magazine sniffs. “It is not unlike visiting a Middle Eastern bazaar and being pestered for baksheesh by a wall-eyed leper.”

The shy, retiring airline boss will, of course, be deeply wounded by these taunts. But Forbes, the arch-recorder of money-making, does try to make amends. By charging for the loos, it admits: “O'Leary could be onto his biggest moneyspinner yet.”

Biting satire at Harvey Nicks

Harvey Nichols is keen to capitalise on the plummeting pound and increased foreign spending. The department stores group has unleashed an advertising campaign aimed at foreign shoppers — but it's not so kind to the locals.

London taxis and tourist magazines are to be plastered with different taglines. The one for the Chinese carries a small English translation at the bottom: “The English gentleman is known for being a little boring in the bedroom. Except, of course, when it comes to his wardrobe.”

Italians can read: “The English like to moan about their bad weather. That's because they can no longer moan about their bad food.” And for Arabic readers there's this slogan: “The English are known for having bad teeth — that is why they need beautiful shoes.”

On-line entertainment of sorts for Wimbledon-bound commuters on Tuesday night as a relentlessly cheery Tube driver advised that Earl's Court was the next stop “if this satnav's working OK” before adding: “Yes, it's all looking familiar.” A quick apology for the lack of a buffet car, and then it was quiz time: “How many stations are there on the District line?” (60). And so the jollity trundled on.

The grand finale? All together now, to the tune of My Way: “And now the end is near, and so we reach our destination. We've been along the line, and stopped at all the stations...”