In the early 90s I was a senior manager in local government in England.
We had a reputation for innovation in trying to respond to community needs. I sometimes sailed ‘close to the wind and on one of these occasions I was disciplined for breaking the rules.
Towards the end of the financial year I realised there was money underspent in one of our budgets that would be lost.
Rather than lose the money as it couldn’t be carried over the year end, I identified computer equipment we could buy for a new project we were setting up to promote access to computers and training for disabled people.
I quickly contacted three companies that could supply the equipment to get verbal quotes . Chose the best price and company got a formal written quote and agreed, we could go ahead.
In my rush, the mistake I made was not to get formal written quotes from all the companies.
I was investigated and at ‘the hearing’ I was put on ‘final warning.’I completely accepted I’d broken the rules and should have been punished. As public servants, responsible for significant budgets, providing quality services and the health and safety of our service users and teams we are and should be fully accountable.
Why do I share this with you now?
I can see political personal and institutional corruption at the highest level in the U.K. and I wonder how the guilty will be held accountable.
Just look at this.
Me and MYCycle 
I had the absolute pleasure of working with Steve at that time, and I remember clearly, the ” incident ” described in the post. Well, all i can say is, Steve, you were a maverick visionary, gifted, passionate, swimming against the tide. Most definitely not cut out for the shackles of local government! You trod a path before most people had even thought to dig out the shoes. Good on you.
Thank you Karen. I really appreciate that reflection and feedback. I have such fond memories of that time. I often relay such stories even to the young Indians I meet here in Mysore. But of course, as you well know, we were very fortunate to have the resources and latitude with appropriate support from our senior colleagues to take action. But most of all we had a wonderful team of people who were willing to take risks and focus on prioritising meeting people’s needs in flexible ways that suited them. It wasn’t just us managers but the whole big team of 150 people (known to be a magic number) that worked to make a difference. Now (as I’ve just posted) my action is to turn MAnjula and my car a beautiful radical red. Fond memories as I say, thank you. But what keeps me lively is the very limited support we’re able to give young people here. If you’re up for it come and experience the mysore mayhem. Peas and love, Stephen. X
Been exploring my archives and visited Jill this week. Were your ears burning? 🤔🤭
oh wow, I’m immediately transported back through all those years, to the days of Zetland Street! Jill was very kind to me, please give her my very best wishes if you’re back in touch x