Smack down

The Gorse Fox attended a seminar at Starfleet's headquarters. The subject was the proposed changes to the pension scheme and the meeting was intriguing, following the pattern of so many similar sessions:

• Attendees spread themselves out across the auditorium
• The presentation started and question were asked. The people at the back asked for the questions to repeated as they couldn't hear - good practise for the presenters, but they kept forgetting. The people at the back kept complaining, but were evidently unable to move forward to an empty seat closer. (The room was only half full).
• Every statement made was forensically examined and attempts were made to pick holes with hypothetical cases and situations. (It reminded the Gorse Fox of sitting in class watching the clever boys trying to catch out the teacher). There was a degree of satisfaction when they failed to find a case that hadn't been thought through already.
• The meeting over ran

But unlike most meetings - no mobile phones interrupted and nobody was tapping away at their laptops. The Gorse Fox would guess that people were actually interested in their pension provision. He expects to see a lot of very good colleagues leaving over the next few months.