Dig, I am really sorry to hear of the proof failure. Any chance this is just coincidence or was it a sound barrel?

I have spoken to others about this matter in the last day or two and it would appear that Birmingham have not been suffering the same rash of failures as London and neither were they aware of London's problems.

Another significant member of the gunmaking community smiled ruefully and commented that nothing much has changed. What he was apparently referring to was the history of a lack of communication and some fairly childish one-upmanship over the centuries between our two august institutions.