Each Friday, www.Punchline-Gloucester.com editor Mark Owen is joined by leading Gloucestershire business figures from a range of backgrounds to debate the main news and issues from the previous seven days. 

Taking their places on the business briefing panel this week were:

• Simon Ford - CEO of Allstone Group (including Speedy Skips) the family firm employs over 120 staff - they are famous for their brightly coloured red 5,000 + skips, the company achieves 98 percent recycling at their Gloucester HQ.
• Neill Ricketts - CEO of Versarien PLC has an amazing personal following in China, the Cheltenham based company has eight subsidiaries operating under two divisions. Neill started the business in his garden shed with a friend and has grown it to be one of the world's leading companies in Graphene.
• Simon Firkins - managing director of S F Planning, the company has two offices in Gloucestershire, Cheltenham and Gloucester and has just recently opened a third in London. The company has been involved in some of the county's biggest regeneration and planning projects.
• Geoff Burch - Is a business guru, author of six books and TV presenter as well as a internationally renowned motivational speaker. His work includes BBC Two's business programme: Go It Alone.

It's a lively informative chat and a blast through the papers before getting behind the nitty gritty of their own businesses and market place - this week they cover the shortage of labour and materials, council planning officers that don't like to leave their homes, the BBC's top stars (not always top people) furloughed staff and perhaps their unwillingness to return to work.

It's a zip through lots of subjects from the people who are at the sharp end of business.

If you want to learn something about the business environment we're all living and working in at the moment - tune in.

The panel also selected their top stories from this week's www.punchline-gloucester.com.

It's fun informative business news - something for anyone whose generally interested in business.