LAURA SLATTERYlooks back at the week in business

In numbers

61

Percentage of US citizens who read news online during a typical day, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Online news consumption was more popular than newspapers, which were typically read by half of those surveyed.

36

Percentage of Irish companies that said they fully complied with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance, down from 51 per cent, according to a new report from Grant Thornton.

Quote of the week

"Nobody takes any pride that the State is having to effectively bail out the banks. Wehave apologised onmanyoccasions and I will apologise again to the taxpayer for the record for having put the State in that position.”

- AIB managing director Colm Doherty knows what is expected of him by now.

Pearson

Sales of the Financial Timesmay have plunged 15 per cent in the Republic over the past year (as cost-slashing companies made do without a copy of the pink paper to brighten up their reception areas), but even the global fortunes of the FT have had little impact on the financial resilience of its parent company, Pearson. Pretax profits at the education and media publisher soared 13 per cent to £761 million last year, as the owner of FT Publishing and Penguin Books forecast another bumper year in 2010 thanks to greater digital interests. Pearson is going app-crazy following the launch of the iPad, developing maths applications for pre-school children and a series of modishly vampire-themed Penguin e-books.

BAD WEEK

It’s all very nice for office offspring to see mammy or daddy bossing other grown-ups about for a change, but there are some professions where cutesy bring-your-child-to-work events will lead to inquiries rather than indulgent smiles. Take, for example, the job of directing air traffic at one of the world’s busiest international airports. Would you want your aircraft to be cleared for take-off by a boy whose voice hasn’t broken yet? That’s exactly what happened to two packed aircraft at New York’s JFK last month when an air traffic controller brought his son into the office, and though one of the pilots involved was happy to tell the pre-pubescent controller that he had done an “awesome job”, the aviation authorities have been less understanding, suspending the adult control tower employees involved.

GOOD WEEK

Nick Clegg

The pound tumbled against the dollar this week as fears of a hung parliament in the UK mounted, giving Liberal Democrat leader (and likely holder of the balance of power) Nick Clegg his first chance to influence the direction of the investment markets. So what did he do? Entertain everyone by declaring he would abolish the concept of taxation and go on an expensive missile defence spending spree? No, he instead he assured financial markets that his party would act as ultra-sensible “guarantors of fiscal stability” should neither the Conservatives nor Labour win outright. Meanwhile, one fund manager has attributed the flurry of currency speculation to a fall in transaction costs, which he said was allowing traders to short millions of euro “for the price of a cup of coffee in Starbucks”. Let’s hope it’s at least a Venti.