It's the 1990s, you're a top entrepreneur and you get home. There's a note, "ring Richard", and a telephone number. Don't know any Richards but you dial anyway. "Hello." You recognise the voice immediately; that's no Richard, that's Tricky-Dicky, the Minister for Quick Fixes! You guess why he rang, and suspect it may be slightly illegal. You hang up without speaking.

Fast-forward to the tribunals, and boy are you glad you never had that conversation. You swear you never spoke to Tricky-Dicky, let alone promised him an election donation of £500,000.

Why is the judge hooting with laughter? Why is there a copy of your phone bill on the overhead projector? They have a record of your call to Tricky Dicky! You are going down. If you'd recorded the non-conversation, you'd be able to put the record straight. And if you'd had the new, Dutch-made, digital Retell 954 IP, with its hard disk memory of almost 4,000 hours and the large LCD display showing the time, date and duration of each call, you'd be the one laughing.

Retell phone recorders, from £150 to £1,263 sterling, are available from www.retell.co.uk or 44 1932 779755.