Business Diary: Doctor has bad news for HMV

More bad news for HMV. Not only is the embattled entertainment chain suffering at the hands of Amazon and iTunes for its old business of flogging music. It now faces formidable pre-Christmas competition for sales of headphones, which Simon Fox, the chief executive, is pinning his hopes on to revive the business. No less fearsome a rival than Dr Dre, the rapper and music producer, is unleashing a pop-up shop in London to sell his range of "cans", as those of us who move in music business circles like to call them.

Counting down to Misys payday

Misys' buyback appears to be doing the trick for the software maker's share price. The stock has held up nicely at 258.7p in a falling market since Monday's announcement. There are just seven trading days until chief executive Mike Lawrie and his chums qualify for a big share pay out if the price is 208p or higher. A similar measure in the new plan was behind the pay revolt at the recent AGM.

Peston's prize gaffe

Consternation at the Editorial Intelligence awards where Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, announced the wrong winner for economics commentator. Martin Wolf, of the FT and Independent Commission on Banking, accepted, only to have the gong whipped away for a "polish". Peston then revealed his gaffe and handed it to Irwin Stelzer, Sunday Times columnist and Murdoch adviser, who had only turned up because he was told the prize was his.

Modern history is out of fashion

Returning to RBS's near-complete online History 100 exhibition, there's no room under Turning Points for 2008's nationalisation, nothing from the "helpful banking" champion on any customer initiative since (NatWest's) adoption of a Braille typewriter in 1976 and only the 2008 sustainability report as a recent item under Surviving and Learning from Times of Turmoil.