Sweet train

A mixed bag, from the macabre to the subliminal

This week the 25th France Télécom employee committed suicide. A 48-year-old engineer hanged himself, following a shocking spate of deaths at the group over the past 18 months. There have been controversies over management methods promting calls for strikes, and an overwhelming amount of stress for employees. Didier Lombard's spokesman describes the chief executive as "profoundly affected", and the former state monopoly have been forced to review working practices following the introduction of what they describe as "control tools" used to supervise staff. The firm was privatised in 2004 and performance targets, tough management and workplace mobility programmes have been touted as reasons for this awful tragedy.

So this week, we're looking further across Europe for more answers, beginning with our old foe, the euro. It's just rallied to a six-and-a-half month high against the pound, not particularly surprising in the light of the falling pound. Will the euro break above 95 pence? This week's low so far, saw the pound fall to 91.43 versus the euro before coming back in at 91.60 pence, and analysts expect it to fall further before it starts to rise again.