It is with mixed feelings that I have to report that I lost my 100% success record as a mediator the other day, having failed for the first time to bring the parties to an agreement.

It was always a somewhat improbable-sounding record, redolent more of Perry Mason than real life.  I feel content with a score up there in the 90s.

Note for the young: Perry Mason was a fictional TV lawyer, famous for never, ever losing a case.