City Diary: Sir Mervyn King burns bridges at farewell drinks Still on Sir Mervyn's swansong, the departing Governor revealed his most "bizarre" memory of the banking crisis. Boarding a plane for the 2007 Ecofin summit in Portugal to discuss the collapsing US sub-prime mortgage market, Sir Mervyn noticed the pilots studying a huge map spread out over the cockpit. It was, said the central banker, symbolic of how the UK's economists didn't know where they were going or how they were going to get there... Magic role eludes Diamond Bob Diamond as a Magic FM DJ? For one magical moment it seemed possible. The ex-Barclays boss raised his hand to bid £1,000 for the prize at a charity auction for the Mayor's Fund for London this week - and there was a lengthy pause before his opening offer was trumped. From then on, Diamond preferred to point out other bidders to the auctioneer, prompting Lord Dalmeny of Sotheby's to suggest the banker's next job will "bid-spotter" for the auction house. "We're interviewing Marcus tomorrow," joked Dalmeny, referring to Barclays" ex-chairman Marcus Agius. London cold-shoulders Commonwealth George Osborne's father-in-law, Lord Howell, has added another string to his bow. The peer already advises foreign secretary William Hague and the Japanese rail company JR Central. Now Diary can reveal that Lord Howell has been appointed as president of the Royal Commonwealth Society, the education charity that promotes "international understanding across the Commonwealth." So hats off to his good friend Kevin Rudd on being re-elected as prime minister of Australia, Lord Howell writes to Diary. It's just a pity that Rudd's grasp of the Commonwealth's colossal potential "is not reflected here in London." Former Anglo Irish Bank exec Peter Fitzgerald could no doubt use a stiff drink after becoming embroiled in damning taped conversations relating to the lender's bail-out. Any connection to the news that Fitzgerald has resigned as interim chief of the Irish Association of Alcohol and Addiction Counsellors? Who calls the shots at RBS? UKFI, manager of the Government's 81pc stake in RBS, may have had considerable influence over Stephen Hester's departure from the bank. But its powers didn't extend to outgoing chief exec Hester's £1.6m payoff. Responding to a question in the Commons on "whether the compensation paid to Mr Hester had to be authorised by UKFI," the Treasury's economic secretary Sajid Javid revealed that UKFI was "consulted on the terms, but the final decision was for the RBS board." Time for UKFI to show some more teeth? Female staff at the Santiago HQ of reinsurer Aon Benfield might stop their latest recruit, Charlie Bick, for an autograph. For the past two years, the 20-something has been a presenter on the hit youth TV show Calle 7, after making an impression on the Chilean version of The X Factor. But Charlie may not be challenging Aon president Gregory Case just yet. According to his father David Bick, the chairman of City consultancy Square1, Charlie's move into reinsurance after Calle 7 went off-air last month is simply a ruse to "continue to avoid university."