In a high profile gathering, the CEO of a major corporate company stood up and gave a speech outlining his vision for the future. It was designed to counter suggestions from critics that the methods he employed were, at best unpalatable, at worst downright immoral. He stated the following;
"The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save ******** ****, but that other malfunctioning corporation called **** *****."
The speech highlighted above will be familiar to some of you; it was made by Gordon Gekko, a screen tycoon played by Michael Douglas in the 1987 movie 'Wall Street'.
It exemplifies much of what the corporate world is all about and provides an insight into the cause of the problems besetting our industry today.
The big players in our industry are the Gordon Gekko's of this world. They pursue profit with the same degree of ruthlessness, demonstrating similar disregard for those who question their ethos.
Fergus McMullen, trade director at Hertford brewer McMullen and Sons intimated as much when he recently likened the big pubcos to an 'unwieldy beast', one who displayed little interest in either tenants or their pubs.
In this respect he is right. We have a predator in our midst.
Can we trust the beast?
Peter Luff (BISC) made it clear that the beast is not to be trusted. Nor will it ever change; its primeval instincts too deeply embedded in its psyche.
When cornered it responds in the only way it knows; Giles Thorley, then Punch Taverns CEO, demonstrated this all too clearly with his Brulines gaff.
Those infamous 'slips of the tongue' highlighted in the BISC report are symptomatic of an industry not accustomed to accountability. The predatory wolf has few qualms about resorting to whatever tactics it sees fit to ward off prying eyes.
Take the latest pronouncements by Brigid Simmonds in the light of the OFT's decision to give the tie a clean bill of health. In truth, it's not so much what she said, but what she didn't say that gave me cause for concern.
After expressing her delight at the verdict, (no surprise there) she went on to express her hope that we could all draw a line under this episode and move on.
She went on to stress that there was a great deal of work to be done; the industry needed to "come together" she said, to tackle "critical priorities" and "vital issues".
Let's start with the 'coming together' bit shall we?
Is this not tantamount to the wolf sitting down with the remnants of a flock of sheep it has spent years ravaging and solemnly declaring its intention to become a vegetarian?
Can you not forgive them for being just a little sceptical?
And let's be honest about it, there's about as much chance of our industry coming together as there is of me being elected the next Pope. It's just not going to happen, is it?
Oh yes, and those vital issues she talked about? What might they be?
Unsurprisingly, the issues that Brigid regards as "vital" are not at the top of my list. Brigid it appears, is preoccupied with all things government; regulation, taxation and red tape.
Classic ploy, isn't it? Find a scapegoat and who better to shoulder the blame than a newly formed government?
The problems our industry faces today are the product of one thing and one thing only, corporate greed.
Consequently the primary focus must be the relationship between pubco and tenant, not pubco and government. Peter Luff acknowledged as much when he talked of the need to "rebalance the relationship between pubcos and lessees".
He also intimated that pubcos could not be trusted to implement meaningful reform voluntarily. He is of course absolutely right. Let me give you a couple of examples.
In 2004 pubcos were urged to remove the tie on AWP machines, they have steadfastly refused, coming up with a number of ridiculous reasons to justify their stance.
They have been asked to grant guest ale provision to tenants; again they have resisted.
The reason I give these two examples specifically is that they are not what many would consider the 'big issues', important yes, but much less so than the price of beer for example, or inflated rental premiums.
Given this, would not the granting of these relatively minor concessions go a long way to convincing us that pubcos are not oblivious to the plight of their tenants?
Given such intransigence, what prospect is there of more substantive issues being addressed any time soon?
And there are issues, aren't there?
Let us not forget that in a survey carried out by the BISC, 67% of lessees confirmed they earned less than £15,000 per annum. Even where pubs had a turnover of more than £500,000 a year, over 50% of lessees earned less than £15,000.
There is something Dickensian about statistics such as these don't you think?
Meanwhile the beast continues to gorge, oblivious to the misery it causes.
In December it will be summoned before MPs to explain itself. We all know what it will say; it has said the same thing so many times before.
The truth of the matter is that the beast was trusted, accorded a privileged position. It abused that trust and now it must suffer the consequences.
The time for talking is over. We have all talked for far too long. The time has come to act, before it is too late for all of us.
The beast cannot be allowed to prevail.