Out with the old and in with the new. We've slammed the door on 2010 – a year of quantitative easing, cuts, oil slicks and eurozone crises. As austerity tightens its thorny grip, it promises to be a tough 12 months. So here are a few suggestions to the movers and shakers in the business world for new year resolutions to make 2011 a little happier, more harmonious and more prosperous.

Bankers

Halt your threats and turn on the charm. We've heard enough dire warnings that JP Morgan, HSBC and hordes of hedge funds will quit the square mile in favour of Hong Kong or Geneva if higher taxes and bonus restrictions come into play. The public, for the most part, doesn't care – in fact, there are plenty of volunteers who would pay bankers' taxi fares to Heathrow in the hope of seeing the back of them.

If you want an end to "banker bashing", change tactics. Make the case persuasively for the contribution that finance makes to Britain's economy. Explain how you're helping business to grow. Teach us about how you can put our savings to work. Give us lessons that you've learned from the credit crunch. Tell us why we should love bankers. Nicely.

British Airways cabin crew

Yet another strike ballot is under way at BA. But it's time for Unite to settle with the national flag carrier. The public long ago lost sympathy with the union's epic dispute at British Airways. The airline showed this year that it could operate a tolerable service even on a strike day. Reductions in staffing levels on aircraft aren't going to be reversed. During an age of austerity, it's difficult to sympathise with workers who are protesting that they no longer get as many cheap staff travel allowances as they used to. Unite's leadership should be pragmatic and sue for peace. And BA's management should tone down its rhetoric to allow the union to withdraw from the battlefield with dignity.

UK Uncut

Keep up the good work. Your non-violent protests outside high-street chains have shoved tax avoidance on to the political agenda. Sir Philip Green is under pressure to explain why Topshop is registered in the name of his wife, Cristina, who is a tax resident in Monte Carlo. Boots is struggling to justify its domicile in an obscure canton of Switzerland. UK Uncut's adoption of David Cameron-style language is a masterstroke – the group's members call themselves "Big Society Revenue & Customs". The business world is facing a long overdue question – aren't elaborate tax-avoidance gymnastics just as morally repugnant as tax evasion?

Warren Buffett

Go back to Cherry Coke and Y-fronts. The so-called Sage of Omaha is revered by small investors around the globe for his homespun wisdom and razor-sharp stockpicking sense. Traditionally, he specialised in straightforward, everyday investments – Fruit of the Loom underwear, Coca-Cola, Dairy Queen cafes, car insurance. But the 80-year-old has veered alarmingly towards Wall Street. He's a staunch backer of Goldman Sachs, for all its ethical failings. He's a top shareholder in the flawed credit ratings agency Moody's. And he's lobbied Congress to water down regulation of derivatives. Buffett is in danger of losing his reputation as the working man's billionaire.

BP

Remember you're British. In nine days' time, a US presidential commission will deliver its findings on BP's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This will go some way to determining whether BP will be deemed "grossly negligent", which would vastly increase its fines for the disaster. BP has already ponied up $20bn to cover clean-up and compensation costs. And, bowing to the demands of the American public, the company has replaced its British chief executive with an American, Bob Dudley, who grew up near the coast of Mississippi. BP has gone a good way towards eradicating the mess in the gulf, which was partly the fault of its contractors Transocean and Halliburton. While listening, apologising and learning, the company shouldn't compromise any further on its independence.

Angela Merkel

Enough nostalgia about the deutschmark. In the spirit of European unity, concentrate on making the euro work. A collapse of the single currency would cause financial chaos and could tip chunks of the continent into a depression. Resist the temptation to make caustic remarks about Irish profligacy or Greek recklessness. Like it or not, Germany is the strongest economy in the eurozone. Just occasionally, you may have to dig your neighbours out of holes of their own making. That's part of what you bought into when Germany joined the euro.

Visa, Mastercard

Grow a pair. Stop boycotting WikiLeaks. You're happy to process payments for dubious top-shelf soft porn publishers. So why have you stopped handling donations for Julian Assange's iconoclastic organisation? It's depressing to see two international companies bow so timidly to the wishes of the US state department.

Goldman Sachs

Improve your quality control. Goldman sponsored two of the biggest stock market flotations of the year – Ocado and Betfair. Both turned out to be dogs. Betfair is languishing at little more than 950p, a sharp drop from its placing price of £13. The online supermarket Ocado, initially slated for a price of 200p to 275p a share, ended up joining the market at 180p, then slumped by an immediate 10%. Given how much your big-brained executives get paid, we expect better.

Marc Bolland

Take continental Europe by storm. The Marks & Spencer boss wants Britain's best-known retailer to return to the continent by buying back shops offloaded a decade ago in France, Germany and Spain. A store on the Champs Elysées is said to be under examination. It's good to see M&S back on ambitious form after a turbulent few years. Here's hoping Europe will fall in love with Autograph cardigans.

And the rest

Some more that can be summed up in a few words. BAA's boss, Colin Matthews: buy some snowploughs. Conrad Black: you're out of prison – now say you're sorry. George Osborne: stop smirking while you're cutting. Mervyn King: stay out of politics and be discreet when talking to American diplomats.