LAURA SLATTERY with a review of the week

THE NUMBERS

€24.3 billion

Size of the bond order placed by the Japanese unit of Swiss bank UBS with Resident Evil game makers Capcom - by mistake. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has agreed to cancel the order, which UBS said was the result of a computer glitch and not human error.

€26.9 billion

The size of Royal Bank of Scotland's losses in 2008, the biggest in UK corporate history, and not, sadly, a mistake that can be easily reversed.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf."

- Neuroscientist Prof Susan Greenfield tells the British government that the prevalence of onscreen friendships via Facebook, Twitter et al will create an infantilised mid-21st-century mind that is characterised by attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, "a disregard for consequence", an "inability to empathise", and "a shaky sense of identity". Like the early 21st-century mind, only worse.

GOOD WEEK

Richie Boucher

The head of Bank of Ireland's retail division will succeed Brian Goggin as chief executive of Bank of Ireland, a position that comes with a salary of €2.9 million, a bevy of bonuses and other perks . . . or at least it did. Now it comes with €3.5 billion of public money and an "uphill battle" to restore the trust of its customers and shareholders, as well as the ire of Opposition politicians who feel the appointment of an internal candidate sends the wrong signal. Mr Boucher must enjoy a challenge.

Short-haul flying

Aer Arann flights from two regional airports - Donegal Airport in Carrickfin and Sligo Airport in Strandhill - will be exempt from the new €10 air travel tax, which comes into effect on March 30th, according to Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan, who said he planned to change the legislation so that airports with fewer than 50,000 departing passengers in the previous year, rather than just 10,000, would be excluded from the tax. So no tax, no baggage charges and State-subsidised fares . . . flying is much more fun when you're not actually going anywhere.

BAD WEEK

Swiss banks

Swiss bank accounts may lose their hush-hush, wink-wink status in the years to come, if the US, Britain and other jurisdictions sick and tired of seeing their rightful tax dollars disappear have their way. The US department of justice has demanded the identities and details of 52,000 Alps-loving Americans from Swiss banks. But the battle for the right to avoid tax without anyone knowing is not over yet - a group of wealthy Americans are suing UBS to prevent the disclosure of their names, while Switzerland may yet pass new laws enshrining banking confidentiality in its constitution.

Iggy Pop

It's a sad day when the former drug-using, self-mutilating rock singer resorts to starring in insurance ads, but an even sadder day when said insurance company, Swiftcover, a part of Axa, admits it won't give car insurance to people in the entertainment industry. After complaints to the UK advertising standards authority that it was misleading to suggest Iggy Pop had insurance with Swiftcover, the company said it had hired the self-confessed "wild child" as an actor who "loves life" and not as a musician. Ouch.