"The thing about pubs is they are one of the few places you can walk out of feeling better than you did when you walked in If you don't, it's a bad pub. It would be an ideal move for Laurel, accelerating its growth plans and ensuring that its owner, Morgan Grenfell Private Equity, could get out of the business on a high note.It is a lot for any chief executive to have on his plate but if Payne, 50, appears unfazed, that's because he's an enthusiast. Bidding with Japanese bank Nomura - which is providing the debt finance - Laurel will find out if it goes through to the next stage of the auction in the next couple of weeks. The deal would transform the company into the UK's biggest managed pub business, with an estate of more than 2,000 houses. All in all, your stereotypical pub landlord. It is not, however, what you would expect from the chief executive of a 635-strong pub chain that has serious growth ambitions and is a hopeful purchaser of brewer Scottish & Newcastle's £2.3bn retail estate, which includes Chef & Brewer and Bar 38.

Even his looks, a slightly disturbing mix of Tony Soprano on a good day and Barry from EastEnders, fit the part. By the time he sits down, he has already handed out, for one reason or another, five pints to surprised but grateful customers in a City branch of the Laurel-owned hog's head. Everything about Ian Payne, the chief executive of pub chain Laurel, smacks of a publican. His easy-going manner, the endless stories, his appearance - no tie, short sleeves, and sporting a gold chain. In other words, "don't expect any agreements or progress, folks", just an update.The Yanks may simply be managing down expectations, but you feel they are preparing the ground for years more of deadlock, which can only be glum news for the developing world.j.nisse independent.co.uk. War on Want described it as "like expecting a PlayStation 2 for Christmas but getting a Fame Academy CD".And to add insult to injury, the US last week played down the importance of Cancun, describing it as a "major stock-taking of negotiations".

However, while the tariffs proposal is interesting, the farm deal is pretty limp. Last week the US, EU and Canada announced not only a plan for cutting industrial tariffs but a deal to reduce farm subsidies This would appear to be a case of hurrahs all round. In the past, Mr Weinberg has strongly hinted that it would not be such a loss if the Gucci stars left, but he is bluffing. PPR needs them to stay.It needs them to stay because it is up to its neck in debt, and if its bankers feel Gucci's value has been impaired, they could put the squeeze on PPR.

The group has already sold its builder's merchants business to appease the money men, and the rumour is that it may now have to sell Christie's, the auction house that it bought for £750m in 1999. What with the art market scandals, tighter financial strictures and a fall in the price paid for prestige assets, the auctioneer would almost certainly have to be knocked down for substantially less.The word last week was that Mr De Sole had stormed out of the negotiations This was strenuously denied. But any twist and turn in these talks will bring sweat to the brow of one of France's leading businessmen even more quickly than the 100F temperatures in Paris.All talks and no actionThere's less than a month to go to the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun (a resort best described as Mexico's answer to Torremolinos), and the developed world is getting its retaliation in early. It was always going to be difficult to square this particular circle, particularly since Mr De Sole and Mr Ford have made so much money during their reign at Gucci that they need never work again.So, in the sweltering heat of this most sticky of European summers, the two sides have been trying to strike a deal that will give Mr De Sole and Mr Ford the autonomy they desire within the PPR empire, while giving PPR the reassurance it needs that its investment is not out of control.