Compiled by LAURA SLATTERY

Shop talk

Mary Portas, ex-Queen of Shops, has been hired by David Cameron to come up with a plan to reverse the fortunes of the UK’s retail sector, resolving such familiar problems as escalating vacancy rates, the proliferation of “clone towns”, the failure of independents and the retreat of chains such as Mothercare and HMV.

Portas wants to build a model town where she can put her recommendations into practice, which should be worth a visit. Note: The Irish TV equivalent of Mary Portas is Feargal Quinn of Retail Therapy, Superquinn and Seanad fame.

Does the financial sector have a prostitute problem? 

The work-hard, play-harder reputation of high finance spilled over into the headlines in stomach-churning detail this week. No, not that case – this one: Munich Re’s 2007 dabbling with 20 colour-coded prostitutes, or “eine rauschende Sex-Party” as the German newspaper Handelsblatt reported it. Ergo, a unit of Munich Re, threw a party in Budapest in summer 2007 to reward the insurer’s best-selling agents, according to Handelsblatt. The hired women wore colour-coded armbands, with red for hostesses, yellow for those available for sexual favours and white for women reserved for executives and top agents.

After each trip to four-poster beds draped in towels, the women would be stamped on their forearms, like claim forms in an in-tray.

Munich Re is far from being a cultural anomaly. BusinessInsider.com has a dozen-strong list of banker sex scandals, and it’s prostitutes, escorts, lapdancers and porn stars a go-go.

Inside Job, Charles Ferguson's Oscar-winning Wall Street documentary, features an illuminating interview with Rikers Island veteran Kristin Davis, convicted of acting as a "madam" to countless bankers who used corporate credit cards to pay for $2,000-an-hour prostitutes.

Meanwhile, lower City bonuses in 2008 and 2009 reportedly prompted a recession in the attendant London strip clubs.

So how much fun is all this for the odd woman who dares to work as a banker? Not much at all, judging from the testimony of the six female Dresdner Kleinwort employees who sued the bank in 2006 on the grounds they were bullied by male executives who entertained clients at strip clubs and brought prostitutes back to the office. But these male executives didn’t objectify their colleagues, surely? Um, well, one of them said her boss had dubbed her the “Pamela Anderson of trading”.

The case was settled out of court.

“ When you invited me to this event, I thought that my office had made a mistake and it must instead be an important anniversary of the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce. I said it can’t possibly be the beginning of it

- William Hague is surprised to find he’s the one doing the launching

Dictionary Corner: Reprofiling

When is a restructuring of sovereign debt not a restructuring of sovereign debt (and definitely not, in any way, a default)? Answer: when it’s a “reprofiling” of the debt.

Euro group head Jean-Claude Juncker has declared that he is “strictly opposed” to a large restructuring of Greek debt, but wouldn’t exclude “a kind of reprofiling”, or rescheduling as it’s otherwise known.

It’s been interpreted by investors as an extension of the maturities on the debt, rather than a haircut for bondholders. Good news for bondholders, then, but not so great for Greece.

Status update

Issue forth:The co-founder of The Big Issue, John Bird, says he intends to allow unemployed people, as well as homeless people, sell copies of the magazine.

Skype connection:Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has been talking up the company's takeover of Skype, promising that video conferencing will "get so much better than it is today".

Glossy tenant:Magazine publisher Condé Nast is to lease one million square feet of office space at 1 World Trade Center, giving Ground Zero its first corporate anchor.

$1bn

The drop in Hewlett-Packard’s 2011 revenue forecasts, after a 23 per cent plummet in first-quarter sales of consumer PCs.