One internationally renowned French bad boy may, it seems, play another in a film next year.

Rory Bremner wishes, as do many of us, that someone would commission a new series of ‘Bremner, Bird, and Fortune’, but meanwhile he’s found a more oblique conduit for his talents.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn may make a brief French TV appearance in the next few days but refused to make any comment on his return to France yesterday.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn returned home to a mixed welcome in France for the first time since attempted rape accusations by a New York hotel maid unleashed an international scandal that dashed his chances for the French presidency.

Christian Woolfenden, unveiled yesterday as Paddy Power's new marketing director for the UK and Ireland, is a good hire for the bookmaker, having worked wonders at Bacardi, where he is currently employed. But will he have anything to do? Earlier this year, Paddy Power hired Imogen Thomas, the model formerly famous for her stint on Big Brother and latterly better known for her links to Ryan Giggs, to front its marketing campaigns – despite some scepticism about the strategy, the bookie says she's been a huge success, helping it to boost sales.

He has successfully made his apologies to his former colleagues at the International Monetary Fund, but it is not clear how soon Dominique Strauss-Kahn will return to Paris. The former director was spotted making a "personal" visit to the IMF's headquarters in Washington DC on Monday. He had served there as its director until his arrest in May on charges of attempting to rape a New York hotel maid forced his resignation.

Ker-ching. Is that the sound of cashing in we hear? Not that Jim O'Neill, the Goldman Sachs economist, is in need of the money, but presumably Penguin is chucking him a few quid for a new book on the Bric economies. It's a decade since O'Neill came up with the Bric idea – the acronym stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China – and his prediction that they were about to become the world's economic powerhouses looks ever more prescient by the day. Penguin's Joel Rickett crows: "Jim O'Neill is one of the world's most influential economic thinkers – no wonder he has been described as Goldman Sachs'rock star."

Notebook

A kiss is never just a kiss. François Hollande, more than ever the favourite to be the Socialist challenger to Nicolas Sarkozy next spring, planted a very public smacker on the cheek of his nearest rival, Martine Aubry, at the party's summer school at La Rochelle this weekend. A kiss of death? Or a kiss of friendly rivalry? Or perhaps a kiss of triumph, in the knowledge that an opinion poll was about to give him a comfortable 10 per cent lead in the Socialist primary?

Former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been given back his passport by prosecutors who dropped a high-profile sexual-assault case against him.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was evidently enjoying his freedom yesterday as he strolled around Manhattan wearing shorts and trainers.