Last night, I did what I always do when I'm feeling jaded. I got out my boxed set of Mad Men and immersed myself in the hedonistic, glamorous world of Madison Avenue in the 1960s, when all women were a 38 DDD cup, all men drank scotch from lunchtime until bedtime, everyone chain-smoked and fornicated whenever they got the chance.

The show is delightful because of its contrast to the dreariness of modern, strait-laced office life. In the past 10 days, two things have happened that make me think the laces are now pulled too tight; so tight, in fact, that they are cutting off the oxygen to people's heads.

The first was the sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of Mark Hurd as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. As sex scandals go, this one was scandalously unsexy. Indeed, according to news reports, there was no sex in it at all. There was no harassment, no hanky or panky, yet the “close personal relationship” between Mr Hurd and a female consultant nevertheless breached the company's rules and action therefore needed to be taken.