Dear friend,

Talk about deja vu all over again.

Only on Friday was I reminiscing nostalgically about the pre-megabroker days gone by and then the Willis-HRH bombshell detonated.

We all knew Willis was limbering up for an acquisition of some sort, but the news that is is taking out HRH is pretty interesting, not least for the 150 employees of Glencairn, the London market broker it bought only last year.

I have personal experience of working in the relatively small London operations of an acquired broker when the acquirer has comparatively vast London operations. It's like being stepped on by an elephant.

The broker I worked for was taken over by Aon and out of that office only a single emloyee is still working for the acquirer.

I'm eternally grateful - I left to pursue a career in journalism and here I am today.

My advice to Glencairn employees (and that includes those in the Russian, South African and Australian offices) worried about their future is to keep working hard and run a tight ship.

Good people always do well, whatever the circumstances, (present company excepted).