Marsh in the news

Marsh was in the news in January after it reassigned 12 cleaners for protesting over their wages. According to newspaper reports, Marsh has yet to join Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Royal Bank of Scotland in signing up to Ken Livingstone's Living Wage campaign, which recommends cleaners should earn £7.20 an hour when working in the City. The broker reportedly pays cleaners £5.60 an hour.

The 12 cleaners, all of who had worked at Marsh's headquarters for over a year, protested in association with trade union Unite outside the head office after completing a 12-hour shift. When the broker heard about the action it contacted the cleaners' employers, facilities contractor ISS, to request that the cleaners be reassigned. Unions have criticised Marsh's actions heavily in the broadsheets, marking the end of another bad press month for one of the world's largest brokers.

Plenty was overhead in the The Snuggery in January, a charmingly named area within Claridges' bar, as part of an LV= soiree. The hosts were welcoming and the champagne appreciated, though there was disappointment as London's paparazzi failed to mob attendees sashaying out of the hotel at the evening's end. Apparently, someone called Madonna was supposed to be staying there.

Towergate held an exclusive 10th anniversary party that was attended by insurance journalists and various supporters of the firm. Mystery surrounded the appearance of former West Ham and Everton footballer Tony Cottee; is he a friend of Towergate? Perhaps, given his role as commentator at Sky Sports, Cottee knows something that we do not about Towergate's next acquisition target.

Finally, PB would like to thank everyone who entered last month's competition. We received over 500 entries for the iPhone and Overheard was saddened only one could be given away. To drown those sorrows, we decided this month that one lucky entrant should walk away with a luxury champagne hamper and truffle set from John Lewis.