Time to play by the rules?

• Proposed changes to the solicitors’ Code of Conduct which highlight ‘choice of providers and consumers as to the services they want’ may be the first steps on a longer journey in the pursuit of regulatory clarity.

The recent bout of World Cup fever reminded me of the film Mike Bassett: England Manager . Mike wasn’t one for prescriptive procedures and was proud that he wrote his England team selection on the ‘back of a fag packet’. On the appearance of Ron Benson and Tony Hedges (two overweight, unknown, superannuated lower league players) in the squad, he remonstrates with the Football Association’s administration who, no doubt following the rules to the letter, had issued the baffling call-up to the unknowns. ‘Where does it say Benson and Hedges on that?’ he demands, waving the branded cigarette packet. He plays them anyway so as not to lose face—as so often in the past, it doesn’t go well…