Today’s papers are all claiming that “the fizz” has dropped out of Majestic Wine as its profits have fallen by 25% on last year as champagne sales have fallen by a fifth. No great surprise: people don’t have that much to celebrate right now. But you’d be wrong if you read the headlines and wrote Majestic off: you must remember that some of these new profit figures that companies are reporting are down on last year, but that’s just because last year (and the few proceeding it) were so ridiculously good. The fact we’ve  run into Majestic recruiting at the Reading Uni Graduate Fair and the Brighton Uni Placements Fair: as far as they’re concerned, its business as usual. With well over £5m in profits to play with. Retail is facing a tough Christmas: The British Retail Consortium has revealed that October was the worst month for retailers since April 2005, with total retail sales down by (shock horror) 0.1%! Tim Clifford, a retail partner at KPMG, said: “In non-food, it is going to be some of the toughest trading that has been seen in the last 20 years.” Thanks Tim! I remember 1988 and it was alright as I recall.

Ryanair has got to be an employer of choice right now; when they aren’t misleading customers with false claims in advertising; or crash landing in Rome, they’re asking their staff to take their clothes off and fellate the top-up tube of a life jacket. It’s okay though; its all for charidee. The firm is once-again selling a children’s charity calendar on flights that shows real Ryanair staff in bikinis posing in various locations around an airport and on-board their planes. The Girls of Ryanair Calendar 2008 will be available on board all flights from Saturday November 17, with money going to Angels Quest, which provides respite care for special needs children. Nice.

Toyota is next on the list to train 1,500 members of staff to attain an NVQ qualification in business improvement techniques over the next year. Toyota’s bosses made the Skills Pledge at a meeting at the House of Commons, confirming its ongoing commitment to providing its 4,700 staff with skills and development opportunities. Skills secretary John Denham said: “It has never been more important for manufacturers to develop the skills of its people, as those that utilise the potential of every employee to the full will be best placed to weather the challenging economic conditions, and to capitalise on opportunities for growth.” In other words: if your staff aren’t skilled, the work will go abroad. Hats off to Toyota for making the pledge at a time when Ferrari in the UK reportedly sold just ONE car last month!