Dearest Gentle Reader, This Author's pen has been most busy this day, for the realm offers a banquet of follies - a Chancellor insisting all is well whilst the wheels fall from the carriage, a Secretary declaring war upon the very rollercoaster he rides, and a most intriguing audience at the Palace that has set tongues wagging on both sides of the Atlantic. One would hate for you to be the only person at tonight's supper without the particulars.

Dearest Gentle Reader, This Author's column today concerns golden handshakes of a most platinum variety, warnings ignored with breathtaking audacity, and a confession from the nation's physicians that will have every employer raising an eyebrow. The fuse, it seems, has been lit - and only a fool would look away before the spark reaches the powder.