Ocado finance director Jason Gissing is one of the more quotable FDs around. So it was no surprise that his comments yesterday on the relationship between the delivery service that he steers and Waitrose, its food supplier, were widely picked up.

They are a pain in the arise to deal with at the corporate level," he said in typically forthright style. 'They don't speak with one voice.'

But for me it was his other comments, effectively ruling out the prospect of a long-expected flotation in the looming recession that were more interesting, more revealing and utterly salutory.

'Personally I can't think of anything worse to do,' he said. 'I am finance director and marketing director and it is a thankless task to be finance director of a public company in the UK. One day it will float, but I won't be the finance director.'

I imagine he's not the only private company FD to feel that way

How quickly times change. I was in China three years ago when all the talk was of how Chinese companies were ruling out US listings because of the increased red tape there, most vividly represented by the Sarbanes Oxley Act. Hong Kong, of course, was a favoured destination with London the market of intent for the most ambitious.

Alarmed, New York and Washington undertook root and branch reviews of the US's attractiveness, reviews that were somewhat overtaken by the crunch.

Fast forward to today and fears are rising that it is London that risks finishing last in a four-horse race with New York, Hong Kong and, the new favourite, Dubai.

It's prompted Mayor Boris to call in the consultants. McKinsey is tasked with studying the competitiveness of London's financial services industry.

Tax will be on the agenda, as will regulation. More than anything though, the committee should focus on certainty and the need for more of it.

It may be good to listen but it's better to talk. The yo-yoing on policy needs to stop.

Trevor Phillips, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, is on the prowl; sitting on Andrew Marr's sofa yesterday and writing in the FT this morning. And the points he makes are interesting, given all I've written recently about the need for accountancy firms to increase their monitoring, disclosure and advancement of equal opportunities in their workplaces.

Farewell to Jeremy Newman, who stood down as BDO Stoy Hayward's UK chief on Friday. And farewell too to his blog. Launched in 2006, Newman was the first large firm managing partner to blog. Sadly, as Newman heads off into the sunset so does his blog. And as none of his contemporaries has followed his lead, regular public access to thinking at that level will be limited.

There is some good news, though....