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The rebalancing of financial markets has led some market commentators to seek a change to their nicknames.

The business cable TV channel CNBC has already started a competition for a new nickname for the New York University economist who has taken credit for calling the recent financial crisis, Nouriel Roubini. Roubini, who has been dubbed Dr Doom since the implosion of credit markets in 2008, told CNBC last week he was tiring of the nickname.

CNBC is running a poll asking people to vote on whether Dr Doom should be renamed Dr Real, Dr Know, Sir Fretalot, Dr Toldya or Roubini the Realist. It did not offer other possible names such as Dr Bubble or Dr Boom.

Australia's version of Dr Doom, Dr Steve Keen, said yesterday he did not mind if people continued to call him Dr Doom.

The University of Western Sydney professor, who has maintained his highly bearish outlook on the Australian economy, explained: ''Actually, when I get introduced at parties I call myself an 'anti-economist'.'' This was based on his view that, despite being an associate professor of economics, he saw ''conventional theory as rubbish''.

''Dr Doom is easy though. Anything more informative is actually harder to remember,'' Keen explained to CBD.

There is speculation several business leaders are also contemplating nickname changes. Fortescue Metals remained coy yesterday on rumours its founder, Andrew Forrest, was about to make his biggest push yet to change his nickname from Twiggy.

''He actually doesn't really like the name,'' explained a spokesman.

HARDIE'S CALL

There's a lot of schadenfreude swirling around James Hardie. For years it's been suffering what Meredith Hellicar once called ''the mythology that supports James Hardie as the poster child of case studies into the lack of regard for corporate social responsibility''.

Now Hardie's old rival, CSR, is feeling the heat.

Justice Margaret Stone has torpedoed CSR's planned demerger because the potential impact on asbestos victims was inconsistent with public policy and commercial morality.

James Hardie was given leave to appear before Justice Stone, but it kept a pretty low profile during the CSR court hearing.

But after the judge dropped the bombshell yesterday, it got a bit cheeky.

Its barrister, Ross Foreman, asked the judge to keep the court file active so it could apply for an order that CSR pay its costs.

''That's a brave call,'' the judge said.

But Hardie could still apply if it wanted to, she said.

GONE SURFING

The former head of equities research at Commonwealth Bank, who was poached by Merrill Lynch last October, has decided he would rather spend more time surfing.

Justin Cameron, who in the past gained notoriety as one of the bullish supporters of the Sol Trujillo era at Telstra when he was Credit Suisse's telco analyst, now plans to devote his time to running the online surf retailing business he founded with his business partner, Lex Pedersen, three years ago.

Cameron, who was scheduled to start on Merrill's equities sales desk last week after taking some gardening leave, decided it would be more enticing to work as the managing director of SurfStitch.com.

SurfStitch's offices are convienently located near Mona Vale beach.

''Obviously it's a little different to investment banking,'' said Cameron.

Billabong's purchase of a stake in the online business around Christmas may have given Cameron more incentive to spend time selling boardshorts rather than research notes.

No doubt it was a tough decision. SurfStitch is planning to hold its next board meeting in the Maldives.

Cameron has also managed to attract some prominent financial market surfies to become shareholders in his business. Surfstitch's shareholder register includes the Perpetual portfolio manager Charlie Lanchester, Macquarie's head of metals and mining, Haydn Smith, Herschel Asset Management's Kristiaan Rehder, Pamplona Funds' private equity principal, David Lang, and Bain & Co Australia's head partner, Richard Fleming.

KERRIFIC SUPPORT

It was the question dogging financial markets yesterday morning. Should the Macquarie broker busted on national television looking at saucy images of Miranda Kerr instead of graphs on his computer screen be reprimanded?

The fact that Kerr was still partly clothed helped tip the scales in favour of the Macquarie broker David Kiely, who shared the images with Channel Seven viewers on Tuesday night while his colleague Martin Lakos was being interviewed.

Kiely's reputation appeared more intact yesterday afternoon - at least in the eyes of his peers - after a survey sent to 1500 people by the online broker thinkminc.com.au went in the Macquarie broker's favour.

At the close of trade yesterday 64.3 per cent of respondents said they would hire rather than fire Kiely if they were in the shoes of the Macquarie chief executive, Nick Moore.

So even if Kiely finds himself out of work, he might have a few job offers.

100 TAXING YEARS

It is a celebration that is set to rival the 10th anniversary of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority and even the upcoming Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association's national conference in Sydney.

The Australian Tax Office's celebrations of its centenary started to swing yesterday when the Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, announced the Mint would stamp 5 million 20c coins commemorating the Tax Office as ''Working for all Australians''.

''The Mint and Tax Office both fall within my portfolio responsibilities as Assistant Treasurer and it's great to see the two agencies involved together in an event of national significance such as this,'' said Sherry in a media release.

The Tax Office has even put a ''program of events'' on its website. The launch is this month. When CBD asked what the launch may entail (an F-18 flyover, a 100-gun salute, a new tax crackdown or gala ball?), an Tax Office spokesman explained: ''Basically, February was just the time of year we would tell people it was our centenary year.''

There will also be a commemorative stamp released in July.

There was no mention of when the Rudd government planned to release the Henry Tax Review.

Got a tip or new nickname for Andrew Forrest? Use our online tips box or email srochfort@smh.com.au