Business Diary: A handbrake turn from BSM

The buyers at the British School of Motoring just can't seem to make up their minds. A little over a year ago, BSM dumped Vauxhall, its long-time supplier of motors, in favour of Fiat. The decision rather made one question the "British" claim made by the company's name, a point it now seems to have accepted too. Yesterday, BSM announced that from 2011 onwards, it will be dropping Fiat and buying its instructors' cars from, wait for it, Vauxhall. U-turns all over the road in other words.

Winning friends and influence

The jury remains out on whether he can turn Twitter into a profitable business, but the early signs are that the new chief executive, DickCostolo, at least has a sense of humour. After Costolo's appointment was announced last week, the size of the audience for his tweets saw a sudden and dramatic increase, prompting this observation: "So that's what you have to do to get more followers."

PR from beyond the grave

Here's an interesting opportunity courtesy of the Interview People, a public relations agency that specialises inproviding the media with celebrity chats. It was in touch yesterday, offering to put us in touch with a remarkable range of well-known folk, including Sir Norman Wisdom. The fact the comic actor very sadly died last week appears to have passed the Interview People by – or maybe we're just underrating its psychic powers.

Getting a rise in Westminster

The Renewable Energy Association has signed up supporters from both the business and the consumer sectors for a little stunt in Westminster today. It wants MPs to offer greater incentives for businesses andconsumers to switch to renewable energy tariffs and is disappointed with back-sliding on commitments made by the last government. To encourage MPs to do better, it plans to bring a 21ft solar-powered balloon to Westminster Green opposite the Houses of Parliament (you can insert your own joke about "hot air" here).

businessdiary@independent.co.uk