A mad Irishman, Garth has unique insight into the curious ways of the French:

FRENCH TRADER WAS FORCED TO WORK 30 HOURS A WEEK

FRIENDS of rogue trader Jerome Kerviel last night blamed his $7 billion losses on unbearable levels of stress brought on by a punishing 30 hour week. Kerviel was known to start work as early as nine in the morning and still be at his desk at five or even five-thirty, often with just an hour and a half for lunch.

One colleague said: “He was, how you say, une workaholique. I have a family and a mistress so I would leave the office at around 2pm at the latest, if I wasn’t on strike.

“But Jerome was tied to that desk. One day I came back to the office at 3pm, and there he was, fast asleep on the photocopier. At first I assumed he had been having sex with it, but then I remembered he’d been working for almost six hours.”

Last night a spokesman for Sócíété Générálé denied that Kerviel was overworked …