Last week I pointed out that McKinsey was offering to take a bullet for Wall Street by suggesting that it might not be a bad idea for investment banks to spend less on consultants.

Now the Sydney Carton of the consultancy world has a new insight likely to please bankers. A couple of its directors have co-authored an article declaring that the best companies view downturns as a good time to make acquisitions.

McKinsey isn’t suggesting that every company will be in a position to find the funds to purchase rivals. But for financially-solid businesses its advice seems plausible - and it certainly won’t hurt the flow of M&A fees into the investment banking industry.

Elsewhere:

1. How to drink vodka on a business trip to Moscow (including vomit advice);
2. The fundamentals of marketing;
3. Anxious CEOs must resist the urge to become secretive and control-freaky;
4. Five monkeys and a banana: a clever workplace parable;
5. Managing foreign postings in a downturn.

Many marriages buckle under the pressure of a foreign posting. The expat life often involves one partner slaving away miserably while their unemployed “trailing spouse” - what a soul-destroying label! - flounders in the absence of friends and workplace routine.

I mention this because my colleague Richard Tomkins has written about divorce, London-style in this weekend’s FT. He argues that the divorce system in England is “uniquely favourable” to the lower-earning partner, usually the wife. This is partly because pre-nuptial agreements are currently unenforceable, he says.

What really caught my eye was a quote from Sandra Davis, a partner at Mishcon de Reya, a London law firm. She expresses surprise that more companies posting staff to England do not warn them about the risks of being ordered to fund a massive settlement if their marriage implodes over here, pre-nup or no pre-nup.

Should companies provide divorce advice to expats alongside tips on tax planning? Have any readers been given such guidance?

Personally, I think financial advisers to expats are more likely to be bridesmaids than divorce strategists. In France, for instance, the tax benefits of being married or joined in a civil partnership called a PACS can be substantial. A decent tax adviser would at least lay those options on the table. They might even get a secret thrill if their clients wed.

1. Leadership psychoanalysed.
2. Why innovative companies aren’t so great.
3. “Times are good”, according to Donald Trump
4. Why admitting to a weakness upon meeting someone for the first time makes you more persuasive in the long term.
5. You can get the staff: what expatriate workers love about going abroad.

Japan is seen as a tough place for foreign women to work. Yet new research suggests that female expatriates posted there may actually have an advantage over their male counterparts in sales and marketing.

Yin Tongyao tells how Chery became China’s leading car exporter by accident. McKinsey Quarterly has further background on the global ambitions of China’s companies too.

Elsewhere, executives are being urged to treat their poor middle managers better. Ambitious middle managers might like to know that if they covet the chief executive’s job, they should be a company lifer and a chief financial officer first.

Freek Vermeulen favours spurious reorganisations that serve no logical purpose but which nonetheless break down barriers between employees.

BV Krishnamurthy is railing against the new Bangalore International Airport, declaring: “A city that prides itself on being the Silicon City of India deserves better.”