SOME of you will have already read an article entitled “The Big Gamble”, by Tom Lamont in The Guardian, and if you haven’t, I recommend that you do.

Tom’s lengthy piece deals with the issue of single-manning in betting shops, and tells the harrowing story of Andrew Iacovou, murdered as he managed a branch of Ladbrokes in Morden, south London. Iacovou was alone, as is the norm these days in quiet shops, and lay undiscovered by customers playing on the shop’s FOBTs despite reportedly pressing the panic button behind the shop counter as he was being attacked.