Who's a pretty boy?

Hello dear readers and welcome to this the 101st edition of the CIOBS blog. Yes, I am back on my perch and delighted to be so. Well done to Raymond for the last two blogs and I can confirm that all issues regarding passwords etc are now sorted.

You may recall a few weeks ago we were talking about business speak, well, I have heard a new one this week" let's keep that in the back pocket" Super!!

It's all go here at CIOBS as we move towards August and look forward to welcoming the many visitors to Edinburgh for the International and Fringe festivals.

I can exclusively reveal that Raymond's one man show will not be taking place this year after last year's unfortunate incident. I believe that the theatre where the show took place is about to re-open, however the management have adopted a new Risk Management policy. He will however, be out and about later in the year.

I have heard that he will be visiting the Belfast area in September. Something for your diary readers in Northern Ireland.

It has been a week for conference calls, taking us to places such as Manchester and the Isle of Man. Conference calls are a bit like comedy, it's all about timing. The pauses are great, then you start thinking has that person finished? Shall I speak? or will I be interrupting?

I am pleased to report that this week's calls have been fine or Braew as they say in Manx.

There are many things on the "Back Burner" here at CIOBS. We are progressing the on-line revision courses and aiming to have some in place by the end of 2008. This is an exciting development and I will keep you "in the loop" on this one.

Finally this week, Congratulations to our Chief Executive, Simon Thompson and his wife Aneta on the birth of their son Alexander on 2nd July. Mother and baby are fine and Simon is recovering.

Michael ( Not a pretty boy)