An unlikely hero - for me at least!

I came to local government in 1979 almost the same time as Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister. As she found her cause in what was to be a long period of Tory rule it became clear that the deep seated philosophy of public service was to be undermined and vilified. Comparisons between local government and industry would tell those of us in the former that we were inefficient, beauracratic, and costly. The private sector was focussed on the market, ruthlessly efficient and should be the model as to how local government should operate.
We took all this and started to try and imitate what we thought was the way the private sector operates.
It was about this time that Troubleshooter series fronted by the rotund and ebullient John Harvey Jones was launched by the BBC. It didn't seem like my cup of tea. John had been a stalwart of commerce and held high position in ICI.
I missed the first few episodes but once I had watched one I was hooked. Not only was John Harvey Jones's approach brilliant and incisive but it also gave a lie to the stereotypes being traded about the private sector. Yes, they too were inefficient, set in their ways, and in some cases hopelessly mis-managed. My view of the private sector became a little more balanced!
John Harvey Jones became one of my unlikely heroes.