What they want to do involves rearranging some of the stands. And some people started off with the view that they really didn't want to move.

A little persuasion, however, seems to have worked magic.

That, plus the very obvious fact that if something isn't done with the show, it will continue down that very slippery slope into oblivion.

Americans call this a no-brainer.

There are some details NBS doesn't want to make public right now, but, suffice it to say, what I've heard brings a glow of pleasure to my jaundiced and sceptical journalistic heart.

Many of the things we have all been complaining about since that blockbusting first ExCeL show in 2004 will, if the exhibitors agree, be seen at the next show in January 2007.

Our thoughts are with Duncan McDougall and his family, with our wishes for a speedy recovery from his horrific accident.

Could Pains Wessex have got the recall out earlier? The incident happened on Wednesday April 5 up in Wiltshire. News got out on the Thursday and, on Friday afternoon, Charlie Mill of Ocean Safety drove up to see what was going on. He identified the flare as a Pains Wessex.

He called Glyn Foulkes at Aladdin's Cave and Foulkes took every pyrotechnic off his shelves immediately.

Pains Wessex took a bit longer to verify the flare and the batch number, then issued the batch recall on April 12. These things take time.

PW carried on testing its flares. They built in defects and test fired the flares with those defects. They concluded a total recall was necessary. Serious stuff.

Now it's up to the retail outlets to ensure they tell their customers.