Journalists behaving badly in the Bahamas

News just in: "Men Behaving Badly magazine has launched a new magazine called Millennium Man Monthly, which is failing miserably to take off. Supporting the launch of the magazine and keeping it on the news-stands has meant that Men Behaving Badly magazine is now in severe financial difficulty."

For those of you, like me, who had never heard of such a magazine, only the TV show, the explanation is that this is part of a fictional scenario put together by the Society of Practitioners of Insolvency (the people who wind companies up).

The idea is to invite a number of journalists along, yours truly included, to play out a "business rescue game" to see how receivers do their stuff first hand. SPI wants to show that receivers spend as much time rescuing insolvent businesses as burying them.

Colin Bird, senior corporate recovery partner at Price Waterhouse, will oversee the game. Simon Freakley, managing partner at accountants Buchler Phillips, will play the insolvency practitioner and Stephen Gale, a partner at law firm Hammond Suddards, will rule on what is legal and what is not.

"Should you choose to accept this invitation, you and other journalists will be playing key roles in the scenario," says SPI. Sounds great. I think I'll be the businessman who legs it to the Bahamas with the loot.

A missive reaches me from the Corporation of London: "Lord Mayor's Show welcomes Britain's Olympic heroes."

To which one might respond, if one were being churlish; "Sounds like a pretty small show, then."

Which would be unfair. This year's parade through the streets of the City on 9 November will cost pounds 3m. Our only gold medal winners from Atlanta, oarsmen Steven Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, will be in the parade as part of the Port of London's entry.

Also parading will be the next Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Roger Cork, who will will take over from Sir John Chalstrey on the Friday before the show.

Ald Cork is following in his father, Sir Kenneth Cork's footsteps. Sir Kenneth, who was Lord Mayor in 1978-9, virtually invented the modern profession of insolvency and wound up the old Rolls Royce company in the 1970s. He also founded the Cork Gully receivership firm, now owned by Coopers & Lybrand, where Ald Cork spent 25 years also as an insolvency practitioner.

Ald Cork is now a partner with Moore Stephens. His business colleagues in the Corporation will no doubt be on their best behaviour, lest he liquidates them.

Gavyn Davies, Goldman Sachs's economics guru and adviser to the Labour Party, as well as columnist for this newspaper, was at the shindig yesterday to launch the Green Budget, which is produced each year by the Institute of Financial Studies. Gordon Brown, shadow chancellor, has promised a "proper" green budget when Labour sweeps to victory.

Which raises a delicate problem - will Mr Brown be willing to contract out Labour's green budget to the obvious candidate, Mr Davies? Or will he do it himself? Watch this space.

A galaxy of City worthies is off to Greece in a fortnight's time to run a marathon for charity on the original path between Marathon and Athens used by Pheidippides in 490BC to report the defeat of the invading Persians.

The Athens Centenary Marathon is being organised by John Campbell, managing director and co-founder of Campbell Lutyens, a corporate finance boutique.

"It will mark the centenary of the first modern Olympic Games in Athens," he says.

Among the runners is the founder of The Independent, Andreas Whittam Smith, a keen runner who has not yet run a marathon. "I'll be doing a mixture of running and walking," he says modestly.