'Why does it require two quarters of economic decline to enter a recession and only one quarter of growth to exit it?'

Has this week seemed especially dark and dreadful to you?  There’s a psychological explanation for that….

From an Internet forum for folk musicians, we've had reports of an ugly bank-details scam preying on people's fear of having a virus on a computer – a scam that would be especially damaging for small businesses.

The recession is widening the gap between rich and poor regions in the country, and making things worse for areas that are already badly off. 

Today's preliminary figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that the economy has experienced 0.1% growth (based on GDP)over the last 3 months of 2009. This means that the country is now out of recession but how are these figures reflected in your business.

The snow earlier this month prompted heated discussions on staff loyalty and motivation, so I thought you'd be interested in a business that gives a bonus to trainee employees who want to quit. 

How much time do you spend surfing on the Internet a day?

Following on from the Sleep Suit – a nifty ensemble meant to make sleeping at your desk easier – we thought you'd get a kick out of this 'urban camouflage' by Sabina Keric and Yvonne Bayer, who are either artists or really scared of snipers. First up, cardboard boxes! (Check your office deliveries carefully, folks.)

After 2 years of training and spending somewhere in the region of £45,000, Mr Trappe used 55 helium balloons to soar to nearly 15,000 feet – by tying them to his Office Chair!

For weeks now British chocolate maker Cadbury has been rebuffing approaches from Kraft – the American company perhaps most famous for its cheese products – only to finally accept a whopping £11.9 billion buyout offer this week.  Big news in the business world, to be sure.  But the burning question on every chocolate lover’s mind is:  Will the taste of our beloved Cadbury’s chocolate change?

When you send in a query to any company how long do you expect to wait for a response. Some company's says that you should hear back from them within 24 hours while other say it can take up to 48 hours to receive a reply. At Euroffice we don't expect you to wait that long.Our current  average response time is 3 hours and 22 minutes and we are always looking for ways to make the query process quicker and smoother for you the customer. Please take part in our poll and let us know what you think is an acceptable time frame to wait for a response from the EurofficeTeam.

Long night? Heavy lunch? Fear not, for Forrest Jessee's Sleep Suit is the answer! Just get in and nod off.

As you probably know, we sell business card holders, although our range could never be described as boring it is not quite as unique as some that I found on the Geek Stuff website

Many of us woke up to even more snow this morning and faced a long and difficult commute to work – again.  You’d think everyone would have figured out how to deal by now.  But no – the airports are still closing, trains are still delayed and children are still delighting in school cancellations. But is all of this really an excuse for not making it to work?

Have you used our contact us section to log a issue/query with us? We are interested in seeing what experience you have had when dealing with our service team. Please feel free to feed back your comments and let us know how we are doing and what you think we can do to improve the service you received.

It's a sign of the times: at home and in the office it is costing more money than ever to sort out your finances and overdrafts seem to be the most expensive way to get 'help' from your bank.

Another bit of stationery spotted in a film folks! In the (really quite good) spy thriller 'Breach', there's a scene where FBI bigwig  Robert Hanssen tells his assistant about his favourite pen, a Pilot Dr.Grip.

Last year we saw the stay cation being born, with a huge number of people opting to stay in the UK and holiday. So we wondered how many of you are planning an overseas trip this year instead of staying here. Let us know some of your stories about staying in the UK for holidays verses going aboard.

No, it's not a typo. Neet is the acronym dreamt up by government bureaucrats for young people who are not in employment, education, or training. There are more than a million 16- to 24-year-olds who fall into this category today.

Since the cold snap is set to last for quite a while – and across Europe no less, not just here in Blighty – we thought it would be a good idea to have a record of what all our Euroffice customers are getting up to during this meteorological peculiarity.

More than a quarter of small business owners are risking their health by putting their work first – a move that could be detrimental to their well-being AND their business.   

Are you one of the parents affected by the school closures due to snow and ice?

With all this snow around we wondered how many of you were finding it hard to get into the office. So take our quick poll to let us know.

Here's some cause for celebration. Britain can continue to use the pint, ounce and mile for its measurements, thanks to the government securing an indefinite exemption from EU laws.

There's a very interesting article from the Wall Street Journal, about why we might have difficulty sticking to our New Year's resolutions. To summarise, it says that willpower, our ability to stick to resolutions, can be affected by other things we have to think about; it's not a question of character, it's a resource with limits.

A new year and new resolutions  - but the question is how good are you at keeping them? The “experts” claim that we should have a list for the year with the year broken into four sections and goals for each section. So I am going to give that one a try and see if I am able to meet my quarterly goals instead of beating myself up when I fail them all.