PATHETIC excuse from financial advisers Berkeley Berry Birch, being probed by the FSA, for not understanding the rules about handling client money: "Many other UK insurance brokers have had difficulty in interpreting and implementing the complex new money rules which took effect earlier this year." The fact finance director Craig Butcher quit in March and a replacement has still to be found might also have had something to do with it.

SO there they all were at the shopkeepers' lovein - also known as the opening of the Retail Trust photographic exhibition at Harrods. Entitled The Art of Retail 2005, the display consisted of pictures of "inspirational leaders in retail". If the likes of Philip Green, pictured, Justin King, Belinda Earl, Mohamed Fayed and Terry Green admiring their own portraits wasn't enough, the auction sent egos soaring even higher. Fayed paid Pounds 5000 for a photo of Philip Green, who then paid Pounds 5000 for a snap of the Harrods owner. Pass the carrier bag

WHO is the middle-aged businessman who paid $55,000 (Pounds 32,000) for a bottle of Dalmore 62 Scotch whisky at the Pennyhill Park Hotel at Bagshot in Surrey to be brought to his table? According to The Wall Street Journal, he and a few friends drank the lot.

BIRD flu has hit attempts to assess the cost of Christmas. For 21 years, US wealth manager PNC Advisors has calculated how much you would need to spend to buy all the items in the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Sadly, the shipment of birds has been restricted, so it's not possible to obtain three French hens - they have had to make do with homegrown ones.

Energy bills have upped the cost of delivering the pear tree, and the rising gold price has sent five gold rings up 27.5%. The good news is the wage bills of the maids a-milking, lords aleaping, pipers piping and drummers drumming have held steady so the overall rise is put at 6.1%, to $18,348.

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