In another chilly week (hence our cold-weather oriented pic) national hero Gordon saved the World whilst the rest of us merely struggled on. So with the world saved can we just kick back and wait for a new dawn of prosperity to greet us in the new year? We don’t think so but the gaffe certainly brought some levity to the rather grim state of affairs that is our economy at the moment. If you are still employed and heading for a winter break somewhere warm this Christmas or maybe for a bit of skiiing, we hope you swapped those pounds early.

Thankfully there does seem to have been some small respite on the redundancy count this week with no new consultations announced. A bit of an exception to this is the twenty four fee-earners who have now left Wragge & Co; however, this was following a redundancy consultation launched in September. Have we seen the last cullings before Christmas? Lets hope so.

Although many small firms have been feeling the pinch in the last few months with insurance premiums exploding and work thinning, size isn’t everything. Legal services don’t come much bigger than Clifford Chance who seem to be having a tough time of it at the moment – fee income at the magic circle firm is down by 5%-7% for the first half of its current financial year. Meanwhile its US associates will see their bonuses cut back as the firm halves its year-end payouts. At least they get to keep their jobs though.

Then there are the last of the big spenders. One lucky partner at Linklaters has received £3.4m in the last financial year, according to the magic circle firm’s first set of LLP accounts. So if you’ve lost your bonus and no one else can help you and maybe you can find him, see if he will buy you a drink . Addleshaws meanwhile appears to have spent nearly £5m on its new building this year…

In a bit of slightly glamourous legal news, Hollywood film star Josh Hartnett accepted £20,000 in libel damages this week over allegations he was caught engaging in "steamy shenanigans" with a woman on CCTV cameras in a London hotel.

The payout comes following the Daily Mirror , MGN Ltd’s, acceptance that their allegations about the actor “are entirely false”. The actor, currently appearing as Tom Cruise’s character in the stage adaptation of Rain Man , will donate the money to charity.

How’s that for a bit of Christmas giving.