Premier Foods, the maker of Hovis bread and Bisto gravy, is expected to use today's announcement of full-year results to detail a £400m rights issue. The group will also confirm that the private equity firm Warburg Pincus is to take a stake in the company, which could be as high as 10 per cent or 20 per cent, depending on the success of the capital raising.

If ever there was a time when Sir Humphrey simply sat at his desk cooking up devilish schemes to frustrate his minister, the first published list of hospitality accepted by senior civil servants shows it to be long past. But is that list really as shocking as some self-appointed guardians of standards in public life want us to believe? How strong, really, is the whiff of corruptibility? On this evidence, we are relieved to say, not very.

Anyone looking for a neat illustration of the Two Britains would find the polarity starkly showcased in the Shoreditch area of east London. Just off Shoreditch High Street, where Brick Lane market peters out into a grungy warren of warehouses and strip pubs, are hidden some of the capital's most opulent palaces of entertainment.

Forgive the Newport Gwent Dragons coach Paul Turner a pang of envy last weekend. After seeing his side give Toulouse a run for their considerable money, he retired to the Rodney Parade clubhouse to watch on TV as the equally cash-rich Stade Français were kicked to death by Harlequins' Nick Evans in the immediately immortal move of 29 phases. Turner's Dragons were offered the All Black at an eye-watering £325,000 a year last February but, like Leicester, who plumped instead for South Africa's Derick Hougaard, they declined. Eventually Quins announced Evans' signing in May – and at a decent discount, to boot. Turner, a richly gifted Wales fly-half in his day, had the consolation of one fan piping up that "Paul could have back-heeled that drop goal over the bar".

I'm all for an alternative to turkey on Christmas Day and this year once again I will be cooking a selection of small game birds. A couple of my guests from last year – the artist Anya Gallaccio and her partner Kelly, who now live in San Diego – booked their places months ago for this year's feast!