An anonymous ex-employee of a CTN chain (of some 30 years) rang up after my story in the last issue about a lady delivering papers in her village from her home, after the shop she had worked for had closed. I had wondered in passing where she was getting her supplies from and raised the issue of whether it was legal.

My caller says she’s undoubtedly getting the papers from a CTN chain (“although they will deny it”) and not from a news wholesaler. Not only that, but it will have been the chain’s idea in the first place.

He says it protects its delivery system so fiercely that when a store closes down, it makes an offer to an ex-employee to take on the service.

I don’t know what I think about this. What’s your view on the subject?