Under the counter

Bagged and taggedI imagine you won't be surprised to learn that I will be using my column this week to talk about the number one talking point of international derivatives week in London last week: the rather excellent meat pies on the Rolfe & Nolan stand. I'm joking of course. What I'm really talking about is the, frankly, pathetic standard of freebie on offer at the Barbican show. With the hall full to capacity and more stands than ever to attract punters' attention away from one's own offering, I would have thought that firms in our industry would be going out of their way to bring in the proles with the offer of a clock shaped like a bar of gold, vodka miniatures or those clocks that open up in a manner reminiscent of the Terminator. But no - instead we saw a genuinely tragic collection of mediocre pens, misshapen...