one of the things I never understood. Both in the NHS and local government, I came across a coterie of middle level administrators who saw it as their mission on life to explain why things could not be done, rather than to fond ways in which it could be done. The very worst example I encountered was when Surrey's health and welfare departments were combined. I inherited responsibility for the office accommodation for Surrey's Registrars of Births, Deaths and Marriages. As he handed over the files, he assured me I had nothing to worry about - hadn't needed to spend anything on them in years. I did a tour of the offices - none of which had ever seen my predecessor - and was appalled at what i found. The very worst was in Cranleigh in SW Surrey - once identified as the largest village in England. The office was a partitioned space on the local pub. Just imagine it - you come to register the death of your nearest and dearest in a wretched little cubby hole rocking to the noise of the pub's inhabitants. It took me nearly a month to find somewhere more suitable, and every bloody day I cringed at the thought that folk would identify me with what had gone on before
Mike