In the bunfight for Christmas leave, it's never too early to start. I work in middle office, where there is an operational requirement to be staffed to a minimum of 50 per cent at all times. This year there are three working days between Christmas and New Year, and nobody wants to work them. What is the fairest way of divvying up the Christmas leave?
Middle Office Minion, London

Dear Minion,

It is an outrage that you and your colleagues have been placed in this absurd position. Let's review the facts: you place a higher value on your time between Christmas and New Year, but your company's annual leave policy does not place a higher price on these days. Given this pricing policy, everybody wants leave at Christmas, and so a bureaucratic bodge job is duly handed down from on high.