City Diary: Wigan boss Dave Whelan liked Barbados so much ... he bought it Blue blood blow for Barclays Sir Mervyn King recommended Handelsbanken to Mike Benson after Bank of Scotland refused the businessman a loan. Now Diary hears the Swedish bank has friends in even higher places than the Bank of England governor's office. The Earl of Leicester, no less, switched his banking for his Holkham Estate in Norfolk to Handelsbanken, after it opened a convenient branch in Norwich. The change must have been a blow to Barclays, which previously handled the Earl's affairs - especially as the gentry have no complaints with the bank's replacement. "If we weren't happy, we would have moved our money again," says Diary's man in the manor house. Jim Mellon unlocked the secret of profiting from the biotech revolution in his book Cracking the Code. Has he solved the riddle of how to attract vast numbers of followers on Twitter too? According to Twittercounter.com, @jimmhk had less than 600 followers on October 21 last year; now he has more than two million. "At this rate he will overtake Justin Bieber," says one social media tracker, who points out that Mellon's "friend" count goes up by curiously "mathematical" intervals. Spooky story haunts Dreams Disturbed nights at Dreams, after certain parties got in touch to suggest that founder Mike Clare's bid to buy back a number of the retailer's stores are fantastical. Said parties poured cold water on Mr Clare's vision of his new venture Buzz Beds, suggesting that the businessman has not yet informed the administrators of his plans. Not according to Mr Clare. The self-styled "white knight" of the bedtime story told Diary about his meeting with Ernst & Young on Wednesday, and their follow-up exchanges yesterday. "Dreams are very spooked about the fact I am trying to take a parcel of the stores because we will be a rival," said Mr Clare. I understand their vulnerability. Fireworks at the Retail Week Live conference yesterday as Mary "Queen of Shops" Portas took a dim view of ex-Focus DIY boss Bill Grimsey questioning her credentials as saviour of the high street. Grimsey accused Portas of shirking her responsibility towards struggling retailers and being overly concerned with her media profile - and Portas's reply was brisk. "Outrageously rude," said one audience mole. So would Portas do anything differently? The old jokes are the best for Miliband No wonder the Labour Party wants an end to austerity - even the financial jokes are being recycled. Ed Miliband was full of swagger when he leapt onto the stage at the British Chamber of Commerce annual meeting, launching his speech with a story about meeting Sir Mervyn King. The audience was impressed. But then there was a mention of hotels in Palo Alto and people started looking around: Diary's moles had heard this one before. By the time the punchline came - the Governor's assistant mistaking Miliband for brother David - all was clear. The Labour leader had delivered the same opening as at the CBI conference in November. Fresh ideas for business? Pull the other one.