The Guardian reports that Kat Banyard of pressure group the Fawcett Society told a UK Treasury Select Committee earlier this week that a lap-dancing culture is alive and well in the City.

According to the newspaper, Ms Banyard told the Committee: 'We took extensive evidence from individual women who said that it was becoming frequent for meetings to be held in lap dancing clubs, and I also had women speak to me and say that prostitution was being used in client deals, or in ways to generate business'. One interviewee also claimed that she heard her boss ask colleagues if they knew of a good brothel in Edinburgh, as he was looking to entertain some Russian clients there.

The use of hookers, of course, is said to be a lead indicator for the economy, with many 'economists' claiming that an increasing number of prostitutes turning tricks usually equates to an economy turning the corner. Bloomberg last reported on this subject in May, when Latvian hookers were said to still be having a hard time (or not, as the case may be). And The New York Daily News has reported this week that, as cash it still difficult to come by, prostitutes from South America are flocking to Costa Rica (prostitution is legal there) , where the going is thought to be better. Unfortunately, the huge influx of women has resulted in prices falling by around 50%. One Costa Rican hooker told the Miami herald: 'Business is bad. The problem is competition. Sometimes I don't even make enough to take a taxi home!'.

Finally, The Financial Times reports that Nichola Pease, deputy chairman of JO Hambro , told the same Select Committee that she felt the legislation in place to protect the rights of women in the workplace had turned 'into a nightmare', and that careers had suffered as women were entitled to too much maternity leave. Ms Pease also said that the 'old boy network' that was rife in the City in the 1980s had 'died a death'.

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