This week’s motif seems to be all about revenge. Christians are of course famously forbidden to seek revenge, a fact that I’ve always found quite distressing as I believe I’d be spectacularly good at it. So before we go on, remember- ‘Vengeance is mine’ saith the Lord, ‘I will repay’. If you are tempted to ignore that, remember the old Chinese proverb- ‘Before setting off on a journey of revenge, first dig two graves’.

The first story of the week of course concerns Lord Ashcroft and the PM. I won’t go into the details of the former’s revenge-fest book as it is unseemly to intrude on other people’s private pain. Suffice to say, Lord Ashcroft sent out his revenge wrapped around a cluster bomb. Response from Downing Street? ‘This sees like just an act of revenge’ and ‘This was a stab in the back’. You don’t say? Two weeks before the Tory conference where the PM should have been basking in the rapturous adoration of his party; 4 months into a 5-year election term. Pal, if 700 million people across the world are reading about your alleged peccadillos, you can safely conclude that you have been stabbed in the front, and stitched up like a kipper by a master tailor.

Which brings us to the second story of the week. David Tepper worked under Jon Corzine at Goldman Sachs. When Jon refused to promote David to senior partnership, David quit and went off to start his own hedge fund. 20 years later, David is worth $8 billion and Jon’s post-Goldman Sachs company is bankrupt to the tune of $45 billion losses and Jon is being investigated for fraud by the Futures regulatory body. The house in the pictures? David bought Jon’s former home from Jon’s ex-wife and razed it to the ground before building a Master of the Universe-style mansion on the site. Talk about your scorched earth policy; I’m surprised he didn’t salt the earth.

The kicker? When questioned about these swings of outrageous fortune, David Tepper said ‘ I guess you could say there is a little justice in the world’ Isn’t that hilarious? Divorce, bankrupty, the threat of jail, and he considers that to be “a little justice”. There’s a man who knows how to hold a grudge. I get the distinct feeling that until he personally gets a chance to give Jon Corzine a smart tap on the Occiput with a lead pipe, David isn’t going to feel his wrongs have been righted.

These are prime examples of the people who are in touch with their Inner-Berserker. You cross them at your peril. They never back down from a fight, and all fights are conducted in ‘last man standing mode’. When you are tempted to humiliate or bully that unassuming person who just seems to smile and take it, be careful. You may be dealing with a Berseker in sheep’s clothing, and he’ll be waiting for you in the tall grass. I leave you with a splendid story from Grace Jones’ new autobiography.Told by one of the fashion movers and shakers in New York that she was wasting her time trying to be a model in Paris because a black model in Paris would be like ‘trying to sell them an old car nobody wants to buy’, our Gracie replied with the words ‘I hope you die of cirrhosis of the liver’. Berserker, through and through.

London Fashion Week and its intoxicating  mix of inspiration, craziness and verve is upon us. The manner in which the London branches of the design shows have accrued respect and influence over the last two decades is truly amazing. This has given a real fillip to the quality of work being produced by artisans and craftspeople in the UK. Today’s blog features the excellent collection of pocket squares from Rampley & Co. Find them at www.rampleyandco.com

It is wonderful to be able to showcase a quintessentially British company whose products are manufactured in the UK; Macclesfield to be precise. The re-invigoration of traditional industries in areas such as Shoreditch, Hackney and the textile-producing areas of Northern England has been nothing short of miraculous. Not only do Rampley & Co manufacture in the UK, their designs are often based on the work of British artists such as J.M.W Turner and William Swainson. We are particularly keen on the Harris Tweed collection which utilises the fabrics made by another example of a resurgent industry. Those wonderful muted and sludgy colours are deeply gorgeous.

You know how dear to our hearts art is at AlaraApothecary, so our love for beautiful silk squares printed with images from paintings in the National and Tate Galleries will come as no surprise to anyone. It is about time the British male re-acquainted himself with his inner dandy. The nation that gave the world Regency fashion and Beau Brummell has been reduced to dressing in toddler-wear and trackies. It is truly distressing. First impressions count, and if you don’t believe that to be true then we have a lot of work ahead of us. Below are pictures of some eye-candy rocking pocket squares. I rest my case.

Obviously an obsession with one’s image is not an attractive trait. However, once you decide that looking the best you can given your resources is a public service, giving the rest of us something fabulous to look at, it all begins to make sense. For all would-be nonpareils and nonesuchs out there, get thee to Rampley & Co. You could also demand their squares for birthdays, Christmas, Bar mitzvahs. There’s even a handy guide for the multifarious methods of folding your pocket square. Who knew? This confirms our suspicion that men are just as vain as women are. Fact.