Rumours that Clifford Chance has hired a battleship for its next press party are, as yet, unconfirmedThe Diary has been finding it extremely difficult to keep away from the subject of Clifford Chance of late – given the sustained drubbing it has received in the media after the leaking of the now notorious New York ‘padding’ memo.

So when we embarked on a trip down the Thames to see the fireworks on 5 November, courtesy of Norton Rose, we were determined to come up with something a little different.