Shop talk

PLANET BUSINESS:When Christmas is just around the heavily tinselled corner, media stories about chocolate tend to be divided into two soft-centred camps: columnists reflecting on which particular Roses sweets were left at the bottom of the tin in their family on the one hand, and scientifically vague articles about the health benefits of eating disappointingly minuscule amounts of dark chocolate on the other.

This year, there's a third category: a profit warning from the chocolatier Thorntons.

On Wednesday, the British company said profits for its current financial year would "fall short of current expectations". Thorntons is due to issue another trading update in January – a month that is expected to see much upset in the retail sector as shops realise Christmas indulgences can't offset swollen rents.

Dictionary corner: Binology

Search for “binology” on Google and all you will get is “did you mean biology?”. But binology has proven an intriguing subject in its own right at the Leveson inquiry into press conduct, where it refers to the practice of newspapers using information “sourced” from the rubbish bins of public figures, celebrities and random press targets, via the special talents of such Fleet Street figures as Benji the Bin Man.

Former News of the Worldand Mirroreditor Piers Morgan this week said he had not heard of the expression "binology" prior to Leveson. He was, however, of the view that it was merely on "the cusp of unethical" and he had certainly employed Benji, buying from him some no doubt all-important bank statements belonging to Elton John.

The question: Will next week be another crunch week for the euro?

Surely the only thing that will be crunching next week is the sound of pine needles underfoot. And yet . . . it’s been a “crunch week for the euro” pretty much every week now for the past six months, and summit captives have seen their Christmas spirit wane a little with every all-nighter.

This quote given to news wire Reuters by a Brussels bureaucrat identified only as a “drained official” could be telling: “I’m on standby over Christmas and you just don’t know the surprises that might be sprung on us.”

For their part, stock markets finished up at lunchtime today and are only open for two-and-a-half days next week. But what used to be dead trading time could, this year, be a valuable, investor-free breathing space for diplomats who still think it’s possible to find the trillions necessary to fill the euro zone’s economic chasm.

Indeed, some crisis veterans have given up on getting out of town at all. One official wearily told Reuters: “I’m not going anywhere over Christmas. I just couldn’t face being delayed in an airport or a train station.”

"A few years ago it was all, 'oh, let's f***ing fly to the moon', and maybe all people really want now is a log fire and a freshly baked cake." – Westlife's Mark Feehily sums up the effect of recession on consumer expectations this winter

 STATUS UPDATE

Twitter royal:All Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal – News Corporation's second-largest shareholder – wanted for Christmas was a $300 million stake in the Tweet Machine.

Change of scene:The former headquarters of Arthur Scargill's National Union of Mineworkers in Sheffield is to be reinvented as a 24-hour casino with a rooftop bar.

Give the dog a bone:UK pet shop chain Pets at Home says owners are spending less on buying festive gifts for their pets this year – though advent calendars for dogs are still popular.