It was the swish ceremony for the Green Business Awards this week – hosted by Mock the Week’s Hugh Dennis. On the menu (I guess) was Pea Soup, Carbon-ara, and Petit 4×4s.  Eurostar scooped the coveted award for Best Large Company while furniture maker HJ Berry & Sons picked up the prize for best SME. Other winners included Dalkia (Best Energy Company), The Green Insurance Company (Best Financial Business) and McCain Foods (Best Consumer Goods and Retail Company).

We all know the airlines have been facing a tough time with high fuel and food prices but did anyone see British Airways reporting a 91% drop in profits?! Now, the important things to remember here, as you make your noose, is that BA did make a profit (£52m) it’s just that the firm’s last set of six month figures was enormous (£616m). Willie Walsh, BA’s chief executive, said the period would “be remembered as one of the bleakest on record”. £52m worth of bleak. Fuel costs for this period were 52% higher than last year, but now the price cuts are beginning to trickle through. If you want to be one of the people that gets BA back on its feet, have a look at this…

Sainsbury’s staff are to be offered formal qualifications in stock-taking and store working as well as basic maths and English literacy skills - equivalent to five good GCSEs. It will also offer web-based courses in basic maths and English, equivalent to a GCSE grade D, to staff who need them. The basic skills courses are designed to let staff progress at their own pace and will use questions set in a retail context such as pricing and weights.  The government wants more employers to offer skills training courses. McDonalds, airline Flybe and Network Rail, were the first firms to be approved to offer the in-house courses. Try something new today…?!

You know when the mad girl at school says she’s going out with the best looking boy (she’s not) and then tells everyone that she dumped him (she didn’t) and then says that he calls her all the time and is in love with her (he’s never)? That’s the same as the Yahoo’s relationship with Microsoft. You’ll be reminded that back in May Microsoft made a play for Yahoo, but the search giant’s board rejected the offer saying it was too low. Since then the economy’s moved to the middle ages and Google have pulled out of an internet advertising partnership with Yahoo. So, desperate Yahoo boss Jerry Yang stood up at a conference in San Francisco this week and said: “The best thing for Microsoft to do is buy Yahoo…at the right price whatever that price is. We’re willing to sell the company.” He then went on to say that the failed Google partnership was “incremental” to his overall growth plans. You’re not looking very attractive sweetheart! Microsoft declined to comment.