Barfly

Lawyers fail to see eye to eye

TWO of Scotland's biggest law firms are squaring up to each other after Maclay Murray & Spens claimed to have won a UK first by getting official approval for its website from the blind. "Maclay Murray & Spens has become the first UK law firm to have its website accredited by the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) after meeting rigorous criteria for accessibility," it boasts.

Not so, says rival firm Dickson Minto, claiming it has been accredited for over a year and its website states: "Dickson Minto is committed to making its site available to everyone. This site has been assessed and passed for accessibility by the RNIB." Will the lawyers settle the dispute in court?

By George! Taylor is in a radio daze

THE fall-out from BBC reporter Bob Wylie's controversial trip to Washington to cover George Galloway's senate appearance continues to dog BBC Scotland. Insiders are asking why it was necessary to send a camera crew along to Washington when the BBC has its own facilities in the US and could easily hire more if needed.

In contrast to this, political editor Brian Taylor was sent to cover Jack McConnell's visit to Malawi with just radio production equipment and no camera crew.

Obviously Wylie's "I came to praise George not to bury him" stint to the United States was more important than poor old McConnell and his efforts in Africa.

Only an excuse for a newspaper

THERE was a lot of post-match hysteria and head-scratching following last weekend's unlikely football results, which clearly confused the writer of the Herald's newspaper bills. Spotted outside a newsagent's shop last Tuesday morning was a Herald bill that read: "Cup Final Celebrations Pack Ibrox."

Cup final? We thought Rangers had just won the SPL title.

Life's a gas for new Citizens

BRITISH banks have given away CD tokens, student rail cards and money boxes in an effort to woo new customers. But it seems that in the US, they do things rather differently.

Citizens, which is owned by Royal Bank of Scotland, gave away up to $20 of free petrol to thousands of motorists in station forecourts across New England on Thursday.

The promotion was designed to show how much Citizens cares about local citizens, and the bank hopes it may result in hundreds of gas-guzzling Americans setting up accounts.

Robert E Smyth, president & chief executive of Citizens Bank of Massachusetts, rolled up his sleeves and manned the pumps at one station.

It is unclear whether Larry Fish, the super-rich boss of Citizens Group, also mucked in.

Gives a whole new meaning to fish-oil...

O'Connor bounces out hard-sellers

WEENTREPRENEURS, the networking group run by the former dot.com businessman Richard O'Connor, has been attracting the wrong type of networkers.

Barfly understands around 100 of the 1,200-strong group, including "lifestyle coaches" and assorted salespersons, will be barred because they have been annoying the others with persistent sales pitches.

The move is reminiscent of action taken by the Entrepreneurial Exchange a few years ago to weed out business-to-business salesmen who used the Exchange's contacts book as a marketing database.

O'Connor has personally pledged to act as a doorman at future meetings of Weentrepreneurs, which one regular described as "like First Tuesday but without the space cadets".

The group started in Edinburgh two years ago, expanded to cover London and Glasgow and is planning to hit Cardiff later this year.

Breedon kens all about succession

The announcement that Tim Breedon, the head of Legal & General's investment arm, is to take over from David Prosser as chief executive at the insurance giant should have come as little surprise to readers of Barfly, since this column tipped such a move several weeks ago. As far as Breedon is concerned, the process which saw him get the top job ahead of a clutch of internal candidates should shine as an example of best practice.

In a thinly veiled dig at the squabbling boards of William Morrison and Marks & Spencer, he told Barfly that the L&G succession process "contrasts with that of companies I see from time to time".

Although he refused to be drawn into name-calling, Breedon added: "Good corporate governance does need the addressing of issues such as succession in a very professional manner. I hope we have set an example of how to go about these things."

Are you listening, Sir Ken?