Overheard

Invitations have been coming in thick and fast to the PB team. Last month we managed to blow a fortune at Ascot courtesy of Towergate, have drinks with R&SA in front of the bizarre Dali exhibition, take lunch with staunch West Ham supporters the Russell boys and watch a revitalised Chelsea with Norwich Union. Such is the busy life of journalists we still didn't have time to make it to drinks with Axa or wine tasting with Moore Stephens - but we appreciate the invites! Showing that corporate hospitality can sometimes be a bit too good, the second goal at the Chelsea game was missed thanks to the "drink you order for half time before the start of the game". Hence, Overheard is starting a petition that a buzzer be sounded to warn such pampered spectators that the game is about to begin again! In a mad dash to Weston-Super-Mare for our south-west Roadshow we managed to arrive in time to watch the England team collapse from a comfortable lead to lose 2-1. It appears our ambitions for qualification to the 2008 championship rests on Israel beating Russia. However things are not quite as bad as the goings on in Austria where a fan petition has been launched to remove the co-hosts because of the recent poor performance of their team! "The performance of the Austrian team is an insult to our sense of aesthetics," the petition said. "Their participating in the Euro 2008 is a contradiction in itself." However, things are looking up after Austria recorded their first win in 11 months - a 3-2 friendly victory over the Ivory Coast. 10,000 signatures have already been collected for the campaign - if successful it could prove the best route for England to enter the competition.

Congratulations go to to Simon Kutner, who has been promoted to external communications manager at R&SA and whose wife has given birth to Matthew Seth, weighing 5lb 14oz. Also, congrats to PB's ex-editor Richard Adams, now at FWD whose wife Claire gave birth to their second child, Thom.