There seems to be some confusion over the departure of Sir Paul Judge from the board of trustees of the Royal Society of Arts, after the noted industrialist offered to stay on for another year. Judge, best known for funding the Judge Business School at Cambridge, had served six years as trustee, but a leaked memo from an August board meeting claims: “It was decided not to coopt Sir Paul Judge to the board.” No one seems terribly sure why, but there is some whispering and I detect a degree of sensitivity.

Judge himself, who missed yesterday’s AGM, at which he officially stood down, because he is in South Africa, says: “I volunteered to stay on if I was wanted, but actually the board is almost full, so it was felt that it was probably better to leave space for new blood.” He served as deputy chairman for a year, chairman for three, including the 250th anniversary celebrations, and then deputy for two more.

Judge is well connected. He made his pile in the 1986 Premier Brands buyout from Cadbury Schweppes, has been director-general of the Conservative Party and is seen as a future Lord Mayor.

Lenders contend for leaner list of awards

An excited e-mail arrives. “There is only one week left to submit your nominations for the lender categories for the Mortgage Strategy Awards 2009.” However, “due to current market conditions and feedback from Mortgage Strategy readers”, the number of awards for 2009 is being reduced, “making it even more important that you vote for the lenders that have performed the best”. I wonder whether this is linked to the near-disappearance of anyone to give an award to? And how do you vote for the few remaining, given how many are, panic-stricken, pulling their products off the market? Book your table at the awards ceremony now. To hide under.

Mayor wins clock’s vote

In the blue corner: Michael Bloomberg

Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, is in London this week picking up the Freedom of the City and reassuring markets. There is much speculation that Bloomberg, whose first two terms as mayor have been generally judged a success, will find some way of serving a third, although this is, strictly speaking, not allowed.

He wouldn’t be the first in US politics to bend rules. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected for four terms as president. Bloomberg was at Haberdashers’ Hall, speaking in front of a picture of George III, also noted for interest in UK-US relations. A clearly planted question about Bloomberg’s plans came from the floor. He equivocated - best that the matter be considered by a special commission, there must be limits on how many terms a mayor should serve. As he said this, the Hall’s ormulu clock chimed the hour. Three.

I’m not sure this is terribly sensible, but it seems to sum up the present state of the banking industry. Spanish papers report that the Portuguese Banco Best has opened a “McCain/Obama deposit”. You bet on who will win the US elections. Get it right and you get 8 per cent on your savings; bet wrong and you only get 2 per cent. The rate applies for 60 days, backdated to the date the account was opened.

The Radio 4 Today programme said yesterday that it had a reporter “on the floor of the London Stock Exchange”. By time machine? The floor shut in 1986, of course. They meant, it became obvious, the LSE building at Paternoster Square. It would never have happened with Robert Peston. This is art as financial protest. Manhattan artist Laura Belkin was on Wall Street yesterday distributing 10,000 zero dollar bills she has made. Each one is original, numbered and signed. The artist says because the dollar is “symbolic of America’s stature in the world” the zero dollar bill says it all.

Do you have a diary story? city.diary@thetimes.co.uk

Times Recommends

• Gazprom brands Ukraine 'a barbarian' in gas row
• Services sector raises fears over UK jobless
• Retailers surge as profits survive sales plunge