Merrill Lynch staff, it seems, are not the only ones bemoaning the lack of a Christmas knees-up this year — one that is funded by the firm at least. Bank of America that now owns Merrill, has a long-standing policy of not paying employees' Christmas bashes so the Merrill workers will have to go without or pay their own way. However, they are not alone.

A Goldman Sachs staffer has written in to Wall Street website dealbreaker.com to report that “we started talking about planning [a holiday party] this week and the word came down from the management team that it was a no go. It doesn't help that one of our MDs was in Hank's [Paulson's] cabinet and is a major guardian of the brand, so I'm not surprised it was squashed early”.

The mole leaks: “Obviously they don't want to enrage the populists but it still sucks. That being said, we still got together last year when we weren't supposed to and we likely will again. I feel like I'm in High School again, trying to throw a party without my parents or school administration catching wind. Lame.”

Oops! Red faces at FX over email gaffe

PANIC at Caxton FX, the foreign currency trader. Head of PR Jessica Buttress emails with comment on the latest US economic figures. Seconds later she realises she has done something wrong, and emails again saying she would like to “recall” the message (you can't). Minutes after that, she threatens: “Our Compliance Officer has asked me to recall the recent email for data protection reasons. He has asked me to reiterate to you that we take confidentiality seriously. Please could you destroy the message timed at 12:49 and a replacement will be sent within the next few minutes.”

No. And City Spy will send it to whoever it pleases...

* HAPPY news — after the Hermes Helicopter, Versace dinner plates and Prada mobiles, it looks like the super-rich will soon be able to splash out on a Ferrari home. A developer in Abu Dhabi is in talks with the Italian car brand. No word yet whether the homes will be painted scarlet with leather seats and prancing horse emblems, but City Spy doubts we're talking Laura Ashley here.

* UPROAR among the banking egos at Bloomberg removing the function that allowed them to check how many times their profile had been accessed. Bloomberg said the service “took up too much processing power”. But those shy retiring moneymakers lamented the opportunity to see where their words of wisdom were cited so much that Bloomberg put the option back. Whose complaint was big enough to trigger the U-turn?

Bottoms up for £1m Belgravia pub

HATS off to City Spy's pals at upmarket pubs operator Cubitt House for forging ahead with the £1 million revamp of Belgravia's humdrum Orange Brewery despite the recession. Stefan Turnbull and Barry Hirst reopen the old boozer today with an extraordinary transformation including three storeys of bars and restaurants and four hotel bedrooms at the top. West Ham nut Turnbull says: “A pub a day is going bust in the UK. But it's mostly because, thanks to the securitisations by the big pubcos, local pubs have not been invested in. We've made a substantial investment here to try and make this pub relevant again to the community it serves.”

And here's a thing. Guess who bankrolled The Orange investment? Blue-blooded Coutts. Only in Belgravia...

Whisky and kilts drove bank to the wall

“THE Bank of Scotland loan book was awful,” according to company doctor Lord James. “It lent to anyone with a glass of whisky in his hand who was wearing a kilt.”

* MUCH sniggering at the checkouts at Leo McKee, the head of TV supplier BrightHouse, comparing himself to retail legends like Sir Philip Green and Sir Terry Leahy. McKee is the former boss of Courts, which went ingloriously bust.

AS for Sir Philip Green, he is a talented retailer with a superbly analytical brain, especially when it comes to numbers. But City Spy struggles to see PG as one of “the world's greatest minds” as proclaimed by the Financial Times and Krug, the champagne house. They are jointly auctioning a “once in a lifetime chance” to engage with Green's mind for charity...

* MARKS & Spencer is updating its supply systems and IT — and not before time. Tony Shiret, top retail analyst for Credit Suisse, points up the behind-the-scenes chaos. “The bread for the M&S Simply Food stores in Hong Kong is freighted from the UK, even though the products are made locally,” says Shiret.

* IT'S been a tough two years for the Bank of England and this week's decision on whether it should or should not print more money could be the toughest yet. But even so... “Policymakers often complain that they operate in a fog of uncertainty,” says Goldman Sachs economist Ben Broadbent. “As these fogs go, we're currently in something of pea-souper.”

* CITY SPY'S item last week about a planning application for a skating rink on Oxford Street being rejected may have suggested that Westminster City Council cabinet member Daniel Astaire was involved in or sought to influence the planning committee's decision. This was not the case and we apologise if a wrong impression was given, and for any offence caused.