Rick

In general, I think there is significant and increaing demand for regulatory services, particularly on the Continent. The attached
list should give you some idea of my current and planned activities. Markets remain under-developed and there are still 
signficant battles to be fought to establlish the appropriate framework for our business. 

A few thoughts for your pending budget discussions

1. I believe we have already given back a considerable sum. (in excess of $ 2 mn)
2. We have been husbanding some resources to fight big continental battles and now have the green light to 
move ahead on some on these.
3. We remain at about 2/3rds of the level in terms of head count that we had planned to be at this time, and
this despite rising demand from our clients. 
4. We have lost and only partially  replaced several regulatory staff over the past year (Tom Briggs, Philip Davies,
Kyran Hanks, Stephen Jones, Chris Day, Fiona Grant)
5. I believe any further cuts would start to have real effect on our ability to deliver.
6. If Michael insists then we must also agree on clear reduction of our regulatory effort and have buy-in
from Eric and Richard on this.
7. Letting PAs go is a false economy and should not be done.