Monthly Archives: September 2010

The public sector has been hit by merger-mania. The London Boroughs of Camden and Islington are to share a chief executive, as are a number of district councils including Christchurch and East Dorset and West Devon and South Hams. Some … Continue reading →

As inevitable as the clocks going back and those interminable M&S adverts, the dark nights will feature another series of The Apprentice.  The candidates’ profiles, for what they are worth, are already up on the BBC website. Alas, we will never know how … Continue reading →

A tweet from Michael Carty this morning reminded me of the demotivational slides series which I posted about in this blog’s early days. Despair Inc have added a few more since then. This one is absolutely spot on. When the winds of change blow hard … Continue reading →

There seems to have been a rash of new public sector blogs appearing in the last couple of months, probably in response to the massive upheaval the sector is facing. The Redundant Public Servant I mentioned last week and he seems to have … Continue reading →

Suffolk County Council summoned up the ghost of Nicholas Ridley yesterday when it announced its plan to contract out almost all its service provision to external organisations. Older readers may remember Mr Ridley’s vision of local government – a council meeting once … Continue reading →

A couple of months ago I reflected on the potential clash between the Big Society and our litigious culture. How, I wondered, will small organisations taking over local services cope when faced with legal claims, once the support of the … Continue reading →

If you haven’t read the Redundant Public Servant’s Blog yet, you should. I loved this bit: HELLO! HE’S BEING FIRED. I’M BEING FIRED. WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THE FILING SYSTEM. IN FACT BEFORE WE GO WE’RE GOING TO SWITCH ALL … Continue reading →

Hang on a minute! Can I get some royalties on this?

Peter Ridell had an article in Public Finance a couple of weeks ago in which he warned that the rush to cut public spending may prevent reform of the public sector. His observation is similar to point I made in this post last … Continue reading →

According to Ed Balls, our last prime minister’s apprentice, Gordon Brown was a blubbering wimp who was terrified of the tabloids and rolled over at the first sign of aggro from the Daily Mail. It’s a good job the Labour Party got … Continue reading →