The Diary is still recovering from the crimes committed against the noble art of punditry during Euro 2004, so your correspondent was heartened to find that you can still count on corporate lawyers to give a reasoned commentary on current events.

Casting his net recently to gauge the mood among corporate cheeses, The Diary was particularly impressed with the senior M&A lawyer who deftly moved to express the lack of float work around.

"How many IPOs have there been this year?" he said. "You can't even count them on one hand."

And it's difficult not to feel humbled, or even awed, after that.