UPC held its annual Christmas lunch on Wednesday, the first festive media outing for its new chief executive, the genial Magnus Ternsjo from Sweden. Everybody was well fed at Medley, the restaurant of telly chef Andrew Rudd.

As the Christmas classic movie It's a Wonderful Life played away in the background, Tensjo gave a rather endearing talk about the fortunes of UPC, which is in a three-way scrap with Eircom and Sky for new customers this year.

Declaring UPC ready to meet any competition, Tensjo declared: "Our parent company's chairman [John Malone of Liberty Global] is one of the top 150 richest people in the US."

So there. Mind you, the chairman of Sky's major shareholder is Rupert Murdoch, and he's richer than Croesus.

The festive spirit didn't stop UPC's chief information officer, Henry Minogue, from doing a spot of canvassing.

He's apparently running for Fine Gael in the local elections next year, in the Castleknock area close to Leo Varadkar's home base. Minogue quietly slipped out a few political cards at the lunch.

Might a future run at the Dáil be on the cards once the telco executive has conquered local politics? “I think I’ll try the junior hurling first,” he replied.

Quite right, too.