Business Diary: Aegon UK chief executive Otto Thoresen has always seemed, well � a little less uptight than some other senior figures in Edinburgh�s financial community. (Note: Not all other senior figures, lest we cause offence.)

AEGON UK chief executive Otto Thoresen has always seemed, well a little less uptight than some other senior figures in Edinburgh's financial community. (Note: Not all other senior figures, lest we cause offence.) In spite of his taxing day job in the complex life and pensions sector, his responsibility for hundreds of employees and his sterling role in leading a government initiative to improve financial education and capability, Thoresen has always seemed to have a bit of a smile on his face.

That smile almost turned to a frown last Saturday, at an event for journalists at Aegon UK's headquarters at the Gyle, when he was invited by a pair of acrobatic-looking performers to participate in a "sun dance".

He had shouted out in the affirmative, thinking the audience was being asked merely if the performance should go ahead.

It quickly became apparent that the pair had been looking for a volunteer, as Thoresen was led away, in his sports jacket, to the gym mat.

After the briefest tuition session, Thoresen performed what could really only be described as a somewhat scary, though extremely enthusiastic, sun dance.

This involved the crossing of his arms, growling and shaking of his face, and, Business Diary is afraid to say, much wiggling.

Thoresen was grinning by the end of it And the sun came out.

His finance director, Mark Laidlaw, was grinning as well as he mulled aloud the possibility of getting a recording from the security cameras and posting it on YouTube.

Business Diary notes that, as of yesterday, there was no Otto Thoresen on YouTube. Is the website finally bowing to the growing clamour in some quarters for more censorship of content? Or are Aegon's staff at the Gyle just too anxious that Thoresen should keep on smiling?

Currie advocates climate change ON the meteorological front, Business Diary faced a deluge of puns from Martin Currie spin doctor Scott White.

Inviting the press to a lunchtime briefing with James Fairweather, Edinburgh fund management company Martin Currie's chief investment officer, White sent out an e-mail entitled: "Send for Fairweather."

This read as follows: "Dreich. Depressing. Dispiriting. This year, the only disappointment bigger than the Scottish summer' has been the performance of global stock markets.

"In this hostile climate, the need for Fairweather has never been greater."

You can see what's coming.

Yes, the e-mail continued: "To that end, I would like to invite you to a buffet lunch with James Fairweather, Martin Currie's chief investment officer. James has charted a steady course, through markets fair and foul, for more than twenty years.

"Calling on that experience, he'll look at reasons for the recent choppy market conditions, suggest ports in which investors might weather the summer storms and look ahead to see if markets are set fair for the rest of the year.

"Do you have the sea legs for that? Should investors abandon ship now? Can you stomach any more of my nautical puns?"

Nurse, nurse, the curtains.