Even in these gender-fluid days I have to confess to being entirely male, as far as I know. This means that I will never truly experience what it feels like to be a women patronised by a man. I will never know what it’s like to be treated as a second class citizen by a financial adviser or mortgage broker.

I attended last week’s CISI / IFP Paraplanning Conference at Hinckley in Leicestershire. It was a big success and yet...something is still missing from the burgeoning Paraplanning profession and something quite big. It needs a new direction.

We're a tough breed in journalism but the death of Succession founder Simon Chamberlain shocked and saddened me deeply recently - as it did many readers who contacted us. Despite this I believe Simon's death teaches us all many lessons but perhaps not the obvious ones.

It’s not a merger but it is a step forward for the Chartered adviser bodies and the Financial Planning profession and it’s long overdue.