Three weeks and counting......

Everything is going SO well! As you can see the new SAP system is already on target for complete installation. The links to Warwick are coming on a treat and all that remains is for me to persuade Ministers that Warwickshire should be part of Somerset so that my original promise that SouthWestOne would provide local jobs for local people can be realised. I am on the case. The arrival of the nice young men from Bangalore to assist with training has also encouraged my dedicated team to think outside the box. There are indeed many boxes outside of which to think. I am confident that we will show those idiots in Parliament how excellent we are

A FIRMAMENT OF STARS

Tremendous news from the Audit Commission! Somerset has at last gone way beyond excellence and achieved five stars. You can see them displayed in the photograph taken outside County Hall. Do not be disturbed by the men in white coats on the left hand side of the photograph. They were simply on hand to keep the staff in order. I don't know how the Viking warrior got into the picture (he is wearing a horse blanket and carrying a pole) I believe he may be a senior IBM executive. I have commissioned a film to celebrate this wonderful event. All staff were invited to participate. The late Peter Sellers would have been proud. I know you will all enjoy it. Sit back and watch my loyal team forming a star for the cameras.

Spike Jones

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.

Professor Bananas

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.

Up the Summit

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.

Robinson's Golly!

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.

Dragons Dont Cry - except for Me!