The Civil Justice Council (CJC) 'Big Tent' forum was convened to discuss its report on the future of funding, authored by former Law Society President Michael Napier, Senior Costs Judge Peter Hurst, CJC chief executive Robert Musgrove and Professor John Peysner of Nottingham Law School. As part of their research, they undertook an exhaustive comparative study involving visits by various members to an impressive list of locations: Scotland, Northern Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, the US and Canada. Some fun was had at the four's expense in producing a report that Prof Peysner said is 'sometimes rudely referred to as "What we did on our holidays"'. He later chastised those delegates who jokily volunteered for further fact-finding missions to examine Ontario's contingency fee system, so long as they had their golf clubs in tow, by recalling that it was freezing cold during his visit there. Mr Napier, with the hint of a smile Obiter fancies, described it as 'a very demanding global tour' after which a real holiday was needed - and in fairness, despite the laughs this provoked, the team had pretty busy schedules on their excursions, and most lawyers who have travelled abroad on business know such trips are far from being all-expenses-paid jollies. But intriguingly Mr Napier told delegates that a version of the report exists that includes a photograph of Prof Peysner in shorts. This copy, sadly, has not been made available to public scrutiny.