First blog of the New Year so we'll make it a gentle one till we get up to speed.

A variety pack of breakfast cereals produced by Nestle has a multicurrency money-off coupon on the back of the little boxes. Buy a full-sized pack of cereal and you can save 25 pence in the UK -- or 50 euro cents in the Republic of Ireland. Our pocket calculator tells us that's an exchange rate of EUR 2 to the pound - slightly out of date given that the quid is approaching parity...