Nothing to celebrate here.

King Pyrrhus of Epirus gained such a victory over the Romans in 279 BC at the battle of Asculum in Apulia. The battle was fought between Pyrrhus' army and the Romans, commanded by Consul Publius Decius Mus. The Epiriotic forces, although they won the battle, suffered severe losses of the elite of their army.

The phrase 'pyrrhic victory' is an allusion to the battle. John Dryden's translation of Plutarch's Pyrrhus, 75 AD reports that:

"... they had fought till sunset, both armies were unwillingly separated by the night, Pyrrhus being wounded by a javelin in the arm, and his baggage plundered by the Samnites, that in all there died of Pyrrhus's men and the Romans above fifteen thousand. The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one other such would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders; there were no others there to make recruits, and he found the confederates in Italy backward."

I have used the above reference just to bring closure to the whole redundancy/unfair dismissal situation which reached closure this week. A financial settlement was agreed, based on economic and commercial grounds i.e the payment to the ex-employee was only £1,000 compared with a cost of attending the hearing of around £20,000. It made sense financially if not morally and the whole sorry affair is now closed. The sad thing is that the other party could have walked away last September with a cheque for £4,000 but for his obsession with one female member of staff, his lack of ability to tell the truth and also the lack of evidence when requested to provide some by ACAS. It comes at a good time in many respects, the Easter/Holiday break, the finalisation of work for the first quarter and generally the practice finds itself in general good health.

Fortunately in my thirty three years of working I can say I have only really worked with four or five people whose attitude to women I found utterly objectionable - the last one was some twenty years ago so by the time the next one arrives I should be deep into retirement.