THERE must be an international default setting for cabbies all over the world.

As a guest of German carrier Lufthansa to report on the delivery of its latest Airbus A380, below, Trading Gossip was whisked from Munich airport to a nearby hotel where journalists from all over Europe were billeted.

The trip was probably 2km but, nevertheless, rewarded with a generous tip from the euro coffers of our Lufthansa hostess, who momentarily sported a stunned look as the airport-bound taxi disappeared into the distance.

Her payment had been met with a gruff, Teutonic: “Thanks for the tip, but not the ride.”

We wondered aloud whether he had a Liverpool cousin, but was assured by a Danish colleague that no, there are plenty of his ilk in Copenhagen, too.

TO SALFORD Quays, where Liverpool academics and developers took part in a conference organised by support agency Vision + Media.

Spectators donned high-tech 3-D glasses to see screen-bursting extravaganzas from Sony and BSkyB.

But the event proved so popular that it ran out of one magic ingredient.

At the start of the conference, Enda Carey – the snappily-titled sector lead for games, digital and creative services at Vision + Media – announced: “If you don’t have your 3-D glasses, you’d better get them.”

To which a plaintive voice at the back cried: “We’ve run out.”

A short-sighted omission, we feel.

AS IF things weren’t bad enough for graduates, now North West accountancy firm Haines Watts is saying we should be recruiting more “street-savvy” entrepreneurs.

“A degree does not a businessman make,” was the conclusion from its latest survey.