Estonia.

Know where it is?

Well, with a fair few Latvians sharing our Island these days I guess some people may be able to place their neighbouring country up there in the Baltic.
 
Apparently they have a really good approach to emerging technology and a couple of our ministers want to go and have a look.
 
Nice to get out of the office occasionally and away from all of those other problems which you can’t quite solve at the moment.
 
Why not get a grip on how to use emerging technology by say, using somewhat less than emerging technology?
 
Get your minions to do some on-line research.
 
Get them talking to their counterparts in the Estonian government by telephone and email.
 
Get them to set up a Skype conference so that you can talk to their ministers if you want to feel important.
 
Better still, get someone who actually knows about computers and infrastructure to talk to them.
 
Not very glamorous or Press friendly but it might actually result in something without you having to divert your attention away from the day job of improving things on this Island.
 
The “Blue Sky thinking” and the “Research for the future” still gets done but by people that actually know what they are talking about in the realms of technology.
 
We do have a few of those knocking about in the States don’t we?
 
Or do I begin to see the root of a lot of our problems?
 
Then there’s that other problem.
 
Money.
 
Whatever you find, it will cost money to implement in Guernsey. 

No doubt a lot of money and a lot of money which we don’t actually have spare at the moment what with cost cutting and having to close schools and hospital wards etc.
 
Then there will be those recommendations which might turn out to be a bit unpalatable to folk who you’d rather not upset.
 
It’s called politics and we all know it happens.
 
In short, why bother starting something unless you already know that you have the budget and political determination and support to see it through?
 
If you’re any good at your job, you already know the shortcomings of our systems and what needs to be done to fix them. You don’t need a trip to Estonia.
 
Mind you, Tallin is rather beautiful.