Look at the men around you. What colour shirts are they wearing? According to Tim Stocks, partner at law firm Taylor Joynson Garett, the colour of men's shirts is as sensitive a barometer of the economic climate as is the length of women's skirts.

Stocks (wearing a white shirt) recently expounded his theory to Financial News. More people have been wearing blue shirts of late, a sure sign of flagging morale. White is also conservative,although a bit more assertive, he elaborated. Pink, meanwhile, is disappearing, consigned to more confident times or to thinking about holidays. As for yellow? 'That would be very bad form in a recession.'