The biggest drama of the week involves the fate of Southern Co-op, which felt compelled to issue a letter to members this week about the proposed merger with Co-op Group. “Concerned that some of the conversations being shared online did not reflect the full picture”, Southern CEO Ben Stimson and chair Janet Paraskeva didn’t sugarcoat it: “If the merger does not go ahead, the most likely outcome is that Southern Co-op will enter insolvency through administration,” they wrote. “This would put jobs at risk, lead to the loss of stores and negatively impact our suppliers.”