June 2010 - Rick

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How long can you spend in the ZOUD?

Zoud sounds like it should be a middle-eastern city but it is actually an acronym for Zone Of Uncomfortable Debate. It’s another of those pithy little terms, like Lemon Dropping and Marmite Employee, that conveys a lot of meaning in … Continue...

Published 10 Jun 2010 1:23 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Spending cuts will hit jobs outside the public sector

Unless it’s all a joke and George Osborne is just messing with us, he will be announcing big public spending cuts today. Some of the first people to notice will be those working in the public sector. According to the ONS, … Continue reading...

Published 22 Jun 2010 10:21 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Government sets up efficiency hit squad – and warns HR to prepare for a storm

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has set up “a strong but streamlined group to drive efficiency across government”. The team, known as the Efficiency and Reform Group, is to be based in the Cabinet Office and will include Peter Gershon...

Published 16 Jun 2010 9:21 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Rose Gibb’s payoff was legal after all

Remember Rose Gibb? She was the hospital chief executive who was given a payoff to quit her job after a Clostridium difficile (C.diff) outbreak in which 90 people died. After she had signed what she thought was a legally binding agreement, … Continue...

Published 25 Jun 2010 5:37 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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John Redwood caught talking rubbish again

John Redwood proves today that having a Cambridge degree and a background in banking still doesn’t stop you from talking bollocks about the economy. “Why are there cuts when spending is going up?” he asks, “Running all the key...

Published 28 Jun 2010 7:53 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Can the government really stop the compensation culture?

David Cameron has declared war on the compensation culture and has asked former cabinet minister Lord Young to review health and safety laws. And, as Daily Mail writers and blustering bloggers know, the chief cause of the compensation culture is NuLabour...

Published 14 Jun 2010 7:27 PM by Flip Chart Fairy TalesFlip Chart Fairy Tales

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How bad will the cuts be?

Hey, the good news (or not, depending on your point of view) is that public spending is going to rise from £696.8bn this year to £757.5bn in 2015-16. (See Page 45 of the budget report.) This seems to have caused confusion … Continue reading →...

Published 24 Jun 2010 9:34 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Bow-ties and management

We’re off to a posh do tonight and this random thought occurred to me as I was getting my stuff together. Managing people is a bit like tying a bow-tie. The theory is beautifully simple. It’s the execution that’s tricky. … Continue...

Published 19 Jun 2010 10:51 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Are people starting work earlier?

Is it just me or are people getting up earlier these days? Over the past year I have been working on a project which has involved a slightly longer journey than usual so I’ve often been on the road or the train … Continue reading → Read...

Published 11 Jun 2010 4:55 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Leave the Cabinet in Bradford

No, I’m serious. We should send the rest of the government, Parliament and the Civil Service up there with them. There must be an old castle or country house around there that the Queen could use too. The government has said … Continue reading...

Published 29 Jun 2010 3:46 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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For every public sector job lost, one will go in the private sector too

Today’s Guardian reports on some unpublished Treasury documents which estimate the impact of the government’s planned spending cuts. According to these projections, for every public sector job lost at least one will be lost in the private...

Published 30 Jun 2010 7:16 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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British company looks east for its IPO

I’ve written a couple of pieces before about our obsession with London being the world’s pre-eminent financial centre. It’s a useful shroud for the financial services industry to wave and it plays well in the British press. We used to...

Published 29 Jun 2010 9:46 AM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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It’s an ill wind that blows no cash to IT consultants

Remember the Conservatives promising to scrap government IT projects? Well this should cheer the IT consultants up: Systems will have to be redesigned and reports written to ensure the information can be extracted from finance systems, and this has to...

Published 11 Jun 2010 6:22 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Cameron tries the old it’s-worse-than-we-thought ruse

A month before the election Manchester University’s Colin Talbot pleaded with the future government not to use the old it’s-worse-than-we-thought trick. I suspect that anyone who has been around for as long as Professor Talbot would know deep...

Published 7 Jun 2010 1:54 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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Would splitting up the banks protect us from a re-run of 2008?

I really want to believe all this stuff about the benefits of splitting up retail and investment banks. I’d love it to be that simple. Split the sober stable retail banks from the crazy greed-driven investment banks and our economy and our savings...

Published 17 Jun 2010 8:16 PM by Flip Chart Fairy Tales

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June 2010 - Rick

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How long can you spend in the ZOUD?

Spending cuts will hit jobs outside the public sector

Government sets up efficiency hit squad – and warns HR to prepare for a storm

Rose Gibb’s payoff was legal after all

John Redwood caught talking rubbish again

Can the government really stop the compensation culture?

How bad will the cuts be?

Bow-ties and management

Are people starting work earlier?

Leave the Cabinet in Bradford

For every public sector job lost, one will go in the private sector too

British company looks east for its IPO

It’s an ill wind that blows no cash to IT consultants

Cameron tries the old it’s-worse-than-we-thought ruse

Would splitting up the banks protect us from a re-run of 2008?