The Week That Was: 10 December 2011

As politicians, MPs, bankers and leaders of industry, not to mention newspaper editors, grapple this weekend to understand whether Cameron's decisions over a new European treaty set the UK up for success or financial failure, the real talking point hasn't been the behind-closed-scene deals, or the long-term ramifications, but whether Sarkozy snubbed Cameron's hand-shake or not. As with so many things, it's the people and the relationships at the heart of the matter that pique our interest...
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As politicians, MPs, bankers and leaders of industry, not to mention newspaper editors, grapple this weekend to understand whether Cameron's decisions over a new European treaty set the UK up for success or financial failure, the real talking point hasn't been the behind-closed-scene deals, or the long-term ramifications, but whether Sarkozy snubbed Cameron's hand-shake or not.

As with so many things, it's the people and the relationships at the heart of the matter that pique our interest (and if you haven't analysed the footage of Sarkozy and Cameron in Brussels, either you're lying, or you've been far too busy enjoying your office Christmas parties and managed to miss every single news broadcast over the past 48 hours).

Watching the newspaper round-ups across the various TV news stations on Saturday morning, pundits and anchors certainly seemed far more concerned that Sarkozy, Merkel et al will do their very best to stick the proverbial knife into Cameron some time in the future as payback for his actions this week. Turns out no matter how high up the pecking order you climb, it's hard to find friends in all the right places.

If it's all about perceptions, then the annual dissection of the political leaders' Christmas cards shouldn't be missed. (Although for the record, Clegg's child's snowmen sketch Vs Cameron's Royal wedding day snap isn't a discussion I want to spend more than about, um, 8 seconds on.) One does wonder whether, in amongst everything else going on, why they couldn't just send someone in the office along to Paperchase or, for some real feel-good factor, Oxfam to pick up a bumper pack of cards.

From Christmas cards to Christmas parties, and the news that a quarter of Brits will end up snogging a colleague at the work Xmas bash (surely the word 'snogging' could only be used in a sentence that also contains the word Brits). Bizarrely those in HR are the most likely to get frisky under the mistletoe - or maybe they're just more honest when quizzed about it for it-must-be-that-time-of-year surveys.

While on the subject of office gossip, women across the UK are being offered free morning-after pills this December in an effort to curb the number of unwanted pregnancies, while an entrepreneurial banker has hit upon a novel way of turning baby prevention into big business.

Former Goldman Sachs employee Joe Nelson has just ended a nine-year stint with the bank to launch the world's first custom-fit condoms called, appropriately, TheyFit. On sale for the first time this week, the condoms come in 95 different sizes, all with a different random code (so as not to offend any sensitive souls purchasing the smaller versions) and a 'FitKit' to help men decipher which code they need. Reportedly Nelson's online store is already doing brisk business amongst men, and their girlfriends and wives.

And if you wonder how on earth I've managed to go from a blog that started about Europe to condoms in less than 500 words, consider Joe's explanation for swapping The City for prophylactics: "I looked at the banking climate - the euro is probably going to collapse," he told the Evening Standard. "If you are going to take a punt, now seemed a good time."

I wonder if Cameron was thinking the same thing.