Friday 26 August 2011

Why am I in the Philippines?

Somehow I have wangled a free trip to Manila on the premise of me being an expert on social enterprise. I was described as a leading UK social entrepreneur by the Manila Star so it must be true. Even though it isn't.

Why did they ask me to go when my deputy chair Hillda Ogden-Newton&Ridley is eminently more qualified. And nicer to look at. Perhaps because she was busy doing her job and things.

On reflection, though, if it refers to my uncanny and enterprising ability to go to as many social events as possible while pretending to do my job then fair enough. Otherwise I am not sure how I am representing the interests of my members, some of whom aren't even arsed about the social enterprise bandwagon that I wholeheartedly travel in while presuming to speak on behalf of the whole brolly sector about it.

Not sure there is anything I can teach people who have been enterprising enough to sell products about social entrepeneurialship. It's a self fulfilling movement in many ways.

Just a shame I missed a chance to have a ding dong with Paxman on Newsnight about something of far more relevance to most of my members - government plans to force young people to volunteer to use umbrellas in the hope they won't be as naughty in future. I expect Hector Rule did a good job though. I must stop leaving the country in the time it takes someone to say "free foreign beano" or people will assume that it is him really running BUBB.

4 comments:

  1. The Gloves are off !

    Sir Robin, like you I have mocked the appalling behaviour of Sir S. in the past for his shameless self serving attitude and flaunted use of his position as CEO of ACEVO for self promotion and pretentious self aggrandisement. However the latest postings are beyond belief ! That he should choose to lecture us with what seem to be stock phrases lifted from promotional literature gained during his tour of Manila is really scraping the barrel - why is he there ? who is paying ? how much is it costing ( First/ Business or economy class)? who is paying his salary during this time ? are all questions I would be interested in having the answer to. As You point out they seem to have been managing pretty well before he got there and what knowledge does he have to preach to them on social enterprise ? theory just maybe - but practical - nil !! As for the promotion of Donald Holding and his resort I find that astounding - surely this is completely incompatible with his role as a "leading figure" in the voluntary sector ? Is the word independent not in his vocabulary ? Once again I ask who is in control of the Board at ACEVO ? If this was any of the Charities I have led in the past 15 years it would be considered to be a serious lack of control by Trustees. ( Perhaps they don't see that the tail is wagging the dog ?!) Is this really what people are paying their fees to ACEVO for ?
    If their silence indicates that they are totally happy with all of this then they should be aware that as a former ACEVO member - who once felt I gained benefit from membership - I ( and others) will never renew my membership whilst this buffoon is at the helm, as I would not want to be associated with such a shallow entity.

    Perhaps Sir S needs to set a clear divide between personal and professional life.

    Maybe once he descends from 30,000 feet he might manage to understand and get to grips with the needs of (all of) the sector here at home - who I thought he was supposed to be working to represent ??!!

    Sir Bumble of Heep .

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  2. Bubb gets a free beano to the US, Far East and Balkans each year on some thin pretext or another. The members or grant payers (like the Govt/taxpayers) pay for this, so the joke's on all of us I'm afraid.

    So long as Bubb heads up ACEVO and 2,000 odd (are there really thta many?) charity CEOs are prepared to pay their subs, this joke will continue and show the charity sector for what it is.

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  3. Well Sir Robin, have you received your flyer for the ACEVO conference in November yet ? "Interesting" choice of speakers, but hang on what's this ? Stephen Hester - CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the 3 keynote speakers and the conference is part sponsored by RBS ?? Is this not one of the "Bankers a'lootin" which Sir Stephen castigates in his blog ? Surely this is the same Stephen Hester who according to the press is now earning more than he did before the financial crisis began and wasn't RBS the bank that needed the most bail-out money from the public purse ?
    Perhaps Sir S wants to keep the door open for topping up the pension as a non-exec director when retirement beckons ? Who knows ?
    Will I (or my oganisation) be paying around £2/300 to attend the conference - plus another £100 if I want dinner - I think not !

    I will put money on Sir S having something to say about tonight's Panorama though - that's a cert !

    Sir Bumble of Heep.

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  4. A good spot. I have made the point many times that bankers are all evil except when they are sponsoring stuff that BUBB does. I see no conflict of interest or hypocrisy in my statements around this.

    I will blog further on this later.

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