Car insurance puppet Churchill (once voiced by convicted drink-driver Vic Reeves) has been getting people to say “oh yes” as if they have had a stroke for years now. In their annoying TV commericals the dog repeatedly asks over-enthusasitc members of the public to Challenge Churchill. Well, someone has done just that: In the TV ad Churchill is asked by a man if it is possible to “make a claim without filling in any forms?” to which the dog gives his catchphrase response. One viewer complained that the TV ad was misleading because a form was sent out upon making an insurance claim. Churchill admit that 20% of cases are sent a declaration form or statement to complete, and so the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has banned the ad from being broadcast in the same form again. Could it be time to have the dog put down - I mean, who has a puppet as their spokesman?!

M&S faces a mutiny as employees digest the news that the company wants to cut redundancy benefits by up to 25%, which would limit maximum payouts from 70 to 52 weeks. A member of staff due £35,000 would see that support cut by £9,000. Morale is apparently low in the firm – where a recent staff survey suggested that some employees believed that bullying was tolerated. M&S denied the claim vehemently (say my lawyers), and staff bonuses fell from last year’s record £91m to £17m after missing internal targets. M&S is continuing to consult employee groups about the new redundancy terms but it does not need their approval to implement them - of course a re-jig of the redundancy package suggests that job cuts are on the way. The Times quotes one employee who said that M&S risked losing an important part of its reputation. “M&S was seen as a great place to work,” he said. “Many now feel that is not the case.”

Its not often people have something bad to say about Apple, so forgive me if I leap at the chance to report that the company is investigating a possible defect on their iPod Nano. Two of them have overheated, causing minor burn damage – a defect in the lithium-ion battery while it charges is suspected – and a single battery suppier for the first generation Nano has been blamed. As always, both cases happened in Japan and Apple have said if your concerned you should contact them. While they put you on hold can I suggest you download the following: Disco inferno; Burning Down the House, and anything by Sparks.

Read this if you are at all interested in holding a conversation with airline or infrastructure employers: Superhero-sounding, The Competition Commission has told airport wrangler BAA that they may have to sell three of its seven UK airports because of concerns about its market dominance, claiming BAA’s current ownership structure was having “adverse consequences” for passengers and airlines (its owned by Spanish boss Ferrovial).  Worse still for the firm, the watchdog is recommending that they sell two of its three airports in the South East - Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted. It also believes BAA should not be allowed to continue to own airports in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. BAA stiffened two fingers and said it had “no intention” of selling Heathrow, its largest airport, going on to describe the regulator’s verdict as “flawed” and said the forced sale of leading airports would be “counter-productive”. That said BAA boss Colin Matthews said he accepted the report’s concerns about “poor service” and “frustration” for passengers but went on to sate that the break-up of the company could threaten efforts to build new runways at airports in London, seen as vital to boosting passenger capacity and keeping the city competitive as a business location. The final decision on the company’s future will be taken next April. Meantime, the airlines can enjoy the one bit of good news they’ve had all year: Easyjet boss Andy Harrison: “We are very pleased that the Competition Commission has recognised what is a fundamental problem for UK airports.” Virgin Atlantic said BAA “still acted like a monopoly” and had neglected much-needed improvements at Gatwick, focusing instead on Heathrow.