Imagine a clock designed for meetings. It tells the time, which is handy. But it also keeps a running tally of the cost of the meeting in staff salaries. As the minutes tick away, so the total sum rises.

It’s a thought that must have occurred zillions of times to people as they see highly-paid staff trapped in interminable, unproductive discussions.

A US company has done something about it, and is marketing a portable timer that calculates the cost. With Bring Tim, you key in the number of people at the meeting, and a guesstimate of the average salary. And watch the dollars mount up.

What’s it like working in the new cabinet? Ringless, apparently. Prime minister David Cameron has told members they cannot have their mobile phones and Blackberrys with them during cabinet meetings.

You can see the sense. Though having 25 or so very busy people handing them in somewhere and collecting them afterwards sounds a bit of a palaver. Do they all have lockers? Or write their names on their Blackberrys so they can find them quick?

Or is looking after a cabinet minister’s mobby a task now assigned to eagerly ambitious parliamentary private secretaries?