Terence Blacker: We are all debased by this seeping vulgarity

The executive elected to prove his seriousness by showing his private parts in public

Published: 06 September 2005

At times when the news on the front page is particularly depressing, a useful diversion is to concentrate the mind for a few seconds on some idiotically trivial story, a small horror of modern life caught in a tiny paragraph on the inside pages. The familiar spasm of irritation that follows can, under the right circumstances, be an energising and life-affirming thing.

So it was with two recent items that touched glancingly on matters of business etiquette and on the Tory leadership race. In the first it was revealed that, in order to secure a deal, a manager had taken off his clothes and walked into a meeting stark naked. This event, it hardly needs to be added, took place in a publishing house.

Article Length: 843 words (approx.)