Gravy train

AS one of Scotland's most successful businessmen, Jim McColl drew a big crowd to his Glasgow Talks presentation organised by the city's chamber of commerce.

Mr McColl, who gave an overview of his business career and current activities at Clyde Blowers Capital, was later asked to comment on his experience as a member of the Scottish Government's Council of Economic Advisers.

"We got a good dinner the night before!" he quipped.

Mr McColl said he was careful to not exploit the public purse when on government business. "I always made sure I paid for my own hotel," he said.

Whisky roadshow

ANDY Simpson could be forgiven for thinking his life is like the Scotch equivalent of the Antiques Roadshow.

The co-founder of investment analyst Rare Whisky 101 is regularly asked to assess the value of private whisky collections.

And sometimes it can result in an unexpected dividend for the holder.

Mr Simpson revealed a bottle of The Macallan that for years was stored under one family's kitchen sink turned out to worth a cool £2500.

Sadly the only think that lurks under The Bottom Line's basis is some steel wool and washing up liquid.

Italian job

ON a recent trip to the United States Sir Tom Hunter was being seated in an Italian restaurant which was said to be a favourite of Frank Sinatra.

Sir Tom noticed a nearby table was occupied by a cast member of The Sopranos and some rather heavyweight looking friends.

Any pretence of the Scots being a similarly tough party disappeared quickly.

One of Sir Tom's dining companions suffers from an allergy to flowers so the group had to request the removal of a bouquet of lilies. Atishooo.

Language of business

ALL those years spent working at school and university then climbing the corporate ladder might all be for nothing.

Sir Tom Hunter admitted to recently hiring a mandarin speaking associate for his private equity business without even looking at or checking her academic qualifications.

He was impressed by her decision to leave JP Morgan to volunteer in Haiti and said: "That stood out from the pack of CVs on my desk."

Title shame

HSBC couldn't avoid talking about its Swiss private bank tax scandal at this week's results announcement.

The chairman apologised, the chief executive said he felt shame, and there was talk about bonus clawback.

But unusually, the bank releases its 478-page annual report and accounts at the same time, giving an opportunity to focus attention away from the controversy.

Unfortunate, then, that the cover page of the latest annual report is titled: "Connecting customers to opportunities for 150 years."

Triumph from adversity

BACK to Jim McColl and the wealthy industrialist displayed the kind of positive thinking which has doubt helped to drive his success in business.

Asked this week whether he has had any failures in his business life, Mr McColl replied: "I've never had a failure in my life. Anything that has happened... I have viewed it as a signal. I look at myself in the mirror. Things happen every week that put you down - you have to get up and say what do I need to do to get back up?"