Instead of dragging bankers over the coals, shouldn't the Treasury Select Committee quiz all the members of the monetary policy committee as to what they were thinking in the run-up to recession?

The revelation by David “Danny” Blanchflower that he nearly stepped down from the MPC last summer because his warnings about the extent of the downturn were being ignored casts the spotlight on the committee and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King.

The Government and Bank both date the economic crisis from the Lehman's collapse — Blanchflower is saying they should have seen it coming far sooner than that. His concerns were not unknown outside the MPC, but he was quickly portrayed around the Bank and at the Treasury as being off his rocker. The discrediting of Blanchflower bears all the hallmarks of the Gordon Brown spin machine.

Is John McFall, the select committee chairman and Labour MP, brave enough to ask some tough questions?

Naughty Rock goes offshore

What's this? Northern Rock has a Guernsey offshore banking subsidiary, and the bank's website has a screaming exhortation that “investing offshore is the perfect solution for expatriates, foreign nationals or UK residents wishing to take advantage of tax-planning opportunities”.

This despite the call at the G20 summit by Gordon Brown for tough action against tax havens. Tory MP Greg Hands says: “Let's be clear about what Northern Rock (Guernsey) Limited is — it is a UK taxpayer-owned bank, encouraging UK taxpayers to avoid paying UK taxes. Remarkably, the deposits are also covered by the UK taxpayer guarantee. How can all this be justified?”

* London-listed oil company Sibir is denying a claim it has been approached by Russian giant Rosneft about making a bid...

Ex-FT man is feeling the blues

Has Richard Lambert, the director-general of the CBI turned blue? The former Financial Times editor, whose paper famously endorsed Labour at the 1997 election under his editorship, has to tread an apolitical party line as head of the employers' confederation, but he appears to be making his feelings plain.

“The UK's public finances are now on an unsustainable path,” he writes in an op-ed piece for his old paper. “As it climbs up the international league table in terms of the sheer scale of its public sector, the time has come for a serious debate about the size and role of the state. This should be the battleground for the next election.”

Lambert's words are closely watched in Whitehall, where FT protégés include Brownite ultra Ed Balls, the man who would be Chancellor...

* Perhaps Lambert's old paper is turning blue too. The FT's Lex column, edited by Mayor Boris Johnson's brother Jo, says this week's Budget will show Britain is “the sick man of Europe”.

* How long before Bloomberg follows Reuters and launches an online commentary service?

* Insider dealers don't always get it right. Shares in green technology company Axeon, which makes lithium batteries for cars and cordless drills, have been bumping along between 3p and 4p for most of this year. Two weeks ago, they shot up to 6p — for no apparent reason.

Suddenly in just 48 hours, they doubled in price to 12p. Someone was clearly expecting something positive. Imagine their surprise when the shares were suspended at 12p as administrators from Grant Thornton were appointed. Ahhh! The delightful fragrance of burnt fingers.

* Website illicitencounters.com is reporting a surge in people registered for “married dating” since the recession began...

There's a sting in tail for Lush airport protesters

Good news for the Eurovision Song Contest
anti-aviation activists who will mob airports across Europe next month, singing their country's entry to the competition.

Lush cosmetics boss Mark Constantine has agreed to pay more than £2300 for the T-shirts the protesters will wear. Lush, with a turnover of £144 million last year, has already contributed £20,000 to anti-aviation organisations including Plane Stupid, which masterminded the protest at Stansted in December that brought flights to a standstill for two hours. Now Lush is funding the colourful flashmob T-shirts that picketers will wear as they begin their musical demo.

Fact: Lush operates shops in airports in Tokyo, Toronto and Orlando, Florida.

Steady Eddie leaves the pitch

Eddie George, Bank of England Governor from 1993 to 2003, who has died aged 70, would have been pleased with his obits. Sir Howard Davies, director of the London School of Economics and former Bank Deputy Governor, recalls how cricket-lover George, in his last year as Governor, recruited West Indies star Viv Richards to play in the annual game against the Bank's First XI.

“Eddie popped into the changing room to give us a word of encouragement. Sir Viv solemnly asked him how the pitch would play and what tactics he advised. Eddie began to answer, as he would to a journalist quizzing him on the inflation target, then collapsed into giggles as he saw the absurdity of lecturing Richards on his strokeplay.

“He was a lovely man, and much more fun to be with than his central bankish demeanour in public suggested.”

* City Spy wonders what kept them: Nigerian scammers have started to send out emails from a certain Ruth Madoff, claiming to need help distributing $93 million from a secret bank account. It reads: “I'm Mrs Ruth Madoff, 67, wife to Mr Bernard L Madoff... My husband deposited the sum of $17.000.000.00 Million [sic] in a Finance Firm in Europe some years ago in my name. I need you to collect this funds and distribute it to both of us since the Federal investigators are working around the clock to freeze all my assets... Please due [sic] send to me all your contact details and please keep this confidential.”