Left a good job in the city

I was planning on spending this morning preparing for a meeting with a big client. Unfortunately, he cancelled yesterday, citing a previous appointment, and re-scheduled for two weeks hence, blaming a full diary. One of the things I wanted to talk to him about, which now has a certain irony, was the fact that he and his senior colleagues are unable to do their jobs properly due to the demands placed on their time by piddling issues. They are continually having to get involved in the kind of things that somebody else should be doing, because there aren't enough people with the right skills to cover all the things they want to do. As I see it (and I'm the consultant, remember) the solution is a permanent access to the type of skills that we can provide. The result of this would be that the senior people would be called upon only to make the kind of decision that ought to be their job, and the rest of the time that they currently spend fixing problems not of their making could be spent running the company. There is a dearth of vision at a level above what can loosely be described as "project manager". This is perhaps a result of a shallow talent pool, in that anyone who is any good gets promoted quickly, but tends to leave a void of competence beneath themselves as they move upstairs. That's where we come in. The attraction to us is that it would give us, as a small firm, some certainty of income for a reasonable period. It's called win-win, I believe.

Anyway, Wednesday was budget day, which has traditionally been done rather stylishly by our current finance minister. He dishes out meaningful presents to the assembled MPs - saplings this year to represent the growth potential of the country. It all sounded vaguely familiar: increased taxes on booze, fags and fuel to cover spending on worthy projects. The numbers are not bad though: there was an average of 1% growth per annum in the 10 years to 1994, and 2.8% a year in the 10 years since. Not bad for a bunch of socialists that came to power in league with the communists.

Listening to: Deacon Blue, Raintown