A few days ago, when I attended that most important conference in London about transformational change, a young man in nerdy glasses who said he was from Computer Weekly canvassed my professional opinion about the progress of SouthWest One. I was bullish, but not brash. It is never good to brag even if bragging seems the appropriate reaction. I told the man - and I watched his biro scribble my comments into his notebook - that SouthWest One was definitely going to succeed even if, as yet, its customer base was small. I referred to the "spike" - a sum of money extracted from potential new clients to allow them to join us in this most exclusive joint venture club. It is not a derogatory term. The spike is the traditional iron fastening for railway tracks. It may be a humble hero of the industrial revolution but it has become a small cash fee for membership of the international digital society. The spike may have deterred some clients but I confidently predict that as soon as the new dawn of IBM's SAP computer solution begins to prove SouthWest One's mission on April Ist the clients will be flooding our way. Mark my words.
Willem Buiter is wheeled out ad nauseam by supposedly impartial tv companies whenever an "expert" on the UK financial system is required to make a half dead story stand up. So it was last week, when the talkative Professor appeared on Channel 4 News to tell its gullible audience that Somerset was unlikely to get any money back after our intelligent investments in Iceland. Buiter is a charlatan, a trickster and a foreigner to boot. He masquerades as a Professor. He knows nothing. My own team of financially astute experts calculated all the risks and are still convinced that not only will the money return to Taunton intact, it will also have been enhanced by the excellent and generous arrangements we were able to achieve. I have instructed the County's legal locum to write to Buiter in the strongest possible terms.
Tomorrow promises to be a very fruitful day. I like the buzz on the breakfast train to London - familiar faces from industry and commerce; useful contact with the right people; a decent breakfast and - when we arrive at Paddington - just a gentle stroll to the Royal Lancaster Hotel. As someone who has reached the summit in Somerset I relish the opportunity of passing my wealth of experience down to others less fortunate and also to spot new peaks for my next ascent. This Public Sector Summit is bound to be special, coming as it does midst the gloom of a recession. But am I gloomy? No way. Positivity is the only way to climb. Excellence was yesterday. Beyond it are pinnacles of unimaginable splendour. I am on my way.
Steve Robinson and I are old friends and I am utterly delighted to see that he is emulating my excellent example by performing two jobs at once. He was recently hired as Chief Executive of the new Cheshire Unitary authority, but will carry on as Chief Executive of Stoke on Trent City Council until a suitably able replacement can be found. Good on him. Incidentally the pay deal for his successor is likely to be close on £200,000 a year - that well beats Gordon Brown's salary! Stoke is currently an aspiring three-star council. They will certainly need a four-star personality to lift them even higher. Which reminds me - must give Steve a ring this week.
I am following the High Court hearings against Christine Laird, Cheltenham's former Chief Executive, with great interest. Ms Laird is being sued by her former employers for £750,000. Cheltenham claims she falsified her CV in order to get the job - some people in County Hall Taunton have muttered darkly about my qualifications too, but as anyone at the Universities of Kent and Liverpool will avow my Masters degrees are totally correct. And Plymouth University will confirm I am still a familiar face among the qualified expert staff there. In Cheltenham, however, the council is also angry at the amount of time Ms Laird took off (on full pay of course) when relationships between her and the council's ruling Liberal Democrats reached a low ebb. In fact Ms Laird was brave enough to report more than a score of allegations against the Council leader to the Standards Board. It takes true grit for a Chief Executive to face up to a politician and I should know. Stress is a real and enduring condition for we men and women at the top. It deserves proper recompense. I am therefore throwing my weight behind the raven-haired Ms Laird. I believe that Chief Executives forced out of office by small minded politicians deserve every penny they can extract. Good on her and she is welcome on my team at any stage. I have already consulted her on the advisability of Cheltenham joining the super soaraway success story that is SouthWest One. Fingers crossed!
There are several important things to remember about Napoleon. He was diminutive but had huge ambitions and a libido to match. Those who liken me to the great emperor are flatterers. He also went bald when young. But in the practise of warfare it was one of his officers who surpassed him - Nicholas Chauvin. Chauvin was so devoted to his country that he may have damaged Napoleon's chances of victory. This was the point I was trying to make in my comments to the Local Government Chronicle last week. I referred to the "instituional chauvinists" of Devon and Cornwall who have, so foolishly, chosen to reject the growing empire of SouthWest One on the grounds of seeking to keep local jobs for local people. What blinkered fools they are. Just like the institutional terrorists who lurk within our great organisations. In this new year I intend to campaign against all these accursed "ists" - the psychiatrists, protagonists, pragmatists, reflexologists, therapists, timpanists, materialists, sentimentalists, dermatologists and institutionalists. You have been warned.
