Top barrister to steer pub trade reform

http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/ViewArticle?R=83693

It's rumoured that Ted Tuppen and Simon Townsend are thinking about paying for it as a magnanamous gesture because they aren't attending.

Sorry Russell, that's a flippant repsonse, I'm sure you guessed.

Means of funding are being discussed. The suggestion is that all involved parties contribute according to their size. There is obviously an issue of 'ability to pay' when it comes to the non pubco side of the process.

Understandably there is a LOT of scepticism about the mediation process and what can be achieved by it. It is worth pointing out that the mediation process, once proposed by ALMR, had a logical inevitability to it. Getting the different parts of this industry to communicate with each other is akin to bringing like poles of magnets together. Doesn't happen. Mediation is a controlled process which enables polar opposites to begin to come together.

Whether this mediation will lead to anything substantial is a moot point but reality dictates for the moment that mediation makes a lot of sense given the relationships between various factions of an industry in a terrible mess with no effective means of discussing or exchanging views across different interest groups.

It may well be that mediation proves just to be part of the bumpy road to regulatory reform and removal of the privilege of block exemption this industry has from European law.