Half Time

We are half way through the Carter briefing mini-tour. It is difficult to describe the general reaction but if I had to I might create a new phrase “resigned incredulity”.
It is difficult to find anyone who is (even privately) vocally pro the proposals. We have however spoken to some who might place them in the “opportunity” rather than “threat” section of their business plan SWOT analysis. Anecdotally I would put this ratios at a “Whiskas” mirroring 9:1 against. Those in the 1 camp are unsurprisingly the larger players in their locality yet they are not without concerns of their own not least that the final scale of the project is very hard to decipher.
If nothing else we do seem to have managed to dispel some of the immediate panic – including some who on the back of this first document have begun seriously to think about mergers.