I’ll bet some of the law’s City types were at home last night tapping away frantically on a calculator, and I’ll bet that 50% figured in most, if not all, of their equations. Yes, the taxman will be pocketing more of their take home pay – and all in the face of a predicted drop in fee income across London’s biggest firms. It never rains but it pours.

Alistair Darling knows that those on the outside, peering into the City bubble, will be thinking: ‘You lot (the top echelons of the financial and professional services industries) have made me lose my money/my house/my job (delete as appropriate), so you should pay for creating this mess.’

In breaking with New Labour tradition, Darling hopes to raise £5.5bn a year this way. Labour will also accrue political capital with the left ahead of the looming general election.

But today’s politicking isn’t important when you look past tomorrow. The UK will be grappling with the debt albatross for years, and one wonders how keen David Cameron will be to cut taxes for the wealthy as one of his first acts should he make it to number 10.

Meanwhile, law firm salary freezes are spreading through the City like a new ice age. In this week’s Gazette, David Willis, managing partner at City giant Herbert Smith, opines that salary rises could be off the agenda for years.

Oh well. They say prosecco is a fantastic alternative to champagne.