It's appointments time in the world of Denis O'Brien. Hot on the heels of his nephew Emmett O'Neill taking the top job at Topaz, O'Brien's forecourts play, Independent News & Media, where he is the largest shareholder, has a new sheriff in town for its human resources function. Declan Carlyle is due to step down soon as its head of HR. He hasn't being replaced on like- for-like basis but Celine Doyle, who once soldiered for O'Brien's Digicel in Burma, is coming on board as a senior consultant in his wake.

Ah, outsourcing – it's of the zeitgeist. Another recent INM appointee, chief executive Robert Pitt, joined in the summer from Tesco in the Czech Republic. In the supermarket giant's disastrous results yesterday, Czech was actually one of the few bright spots. Every little helps.