KNOCKING SHOPS KNOCKED BACK

"Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest, has been hit by the global credit crunch so badly that it has issued a memorandum to senior executives telling them that brothel visits and adult channels in hotel rooms cannot be claimed on expenses. ...A Deutsche Bank insider said: "In the good old days, you could pass off a trip to a knocking-shop as a restaurant if the name wasn't too obvious. But we're in an uptight, locked-down new Puritanism now, not helped by sub-prime or VW." (Independent, 23 April) RD