While the office Christmas party may just be a distant memory for some (apart from TS, which is still waiting with baited breath for the Accy Age bash - sometime in Feb probably), and a hazy one at that, others will find it a little more difficult to forget.

David Budge, managing director of Manchester-based Catering Design Services, for instance will have trouble forgetting his company do, after receiving a four-month suspended sentence for beating up accountant David Jones in an unprovoked attack at the party.

Jones was stamped on by his boss as he lay groaning on the floor, according to this story, and received £500 in compensation from his assailant for the trouble.

Now TS knows that accountants, despite being in what is regarded as a boring profession, can still arouse violent actions in others, but even this seemed over the top to us. Perhaps we should start a campaign to protect the accountants, or they could soon become an endangered species.