DIARY: Warning: a career in public relations can seriously damage your sex life

Ruse's wife, Charlotte, told the paper about their efforts to overcome 'DINS - Dual Income, No Sex' syndrome, that is, being far too busy working to find time to make sweet love.

According to the piece, Ruse's 'pressurised career as a PR manager' has meant that he and Charlotte often collapse into bed, thoroughly knackered, with making love 'the last thing on their minds'.

Two days after the article's publication, Ruse laments that his 'wonderful colleagues have been merciless' in their merriment, anonymously depositing an issue of top-shelf magazine Razzle, a batch of Viagra pills and a copy of the Kama Sutra on his desk.

Ruse insists the article was 'an almighty stitch-up' between Charlotte, whose 'lust for self-publicity knows no bounds', and the author, Diana Appleyard.

But what of the 5am starts, described by Charlotte in the piece? Is this evidence bosses are turning the screw at Freud Towers? 'No,' replies Ruse.

'It was during our work on Birmingham's European Capital of Culture bid, I had to get up early to catch the train.' How the media twists things, eh?