Safety in Numbers?

Today, along with a number of other Newham colleagues, I was at the funeral of Paul Bull, our Printing & Reprographics Manager who had bravely fought cancer for the last 14 months. Gary Sussex gave a eulogy, mentioning Paul’s vision for the Council’s printing service that has now been realised at Newham Dockside. Paul and his wife Evonne, who worked alongside him at Newham, shared a love of Ballroom and Latin American Dancing, Gary said, as well as of travel. Paul will be sadly missed, and our thoughts are with Evonne.


On a more cheery note, there will be at least a 400% increase in public sector representation at this year’s Byte Night London Sleep-out in aid of Action for Children, as Geoff Connell, Gary Sussex, Shane Mills and John Friend will be joining me in a Team.


Private sector companies’ work on behalf of the public sector will become subject to FOI, Legal experts have warned.


With the publication of this story – IT leaders oppose large-scale outsourcing – I feel I, too, can finally speak openly. I agree with David Tidey and Phil Pavitt, and would go further; I don’t think it’s possible to identify any successful IT outsourcing (when compared to the same operation run by an efficient internal service)! “I’m a serial insourcer”, says Phil; “I run things cheaper than any outsourcer can”. He should know, as he was involved in setting-up ITNet (now part of Serco) when at Cadbury Schweppes!


Well, the sun’s out, and the forecast for the weekend is great. Have a good one.