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One of the most heavily criticised men behind the NHS's IT fiasco has been made a director at High Speed Two, the similarly under fire ?50bn railway linking London with the north.
Opponents of HS2, who claim the project is a waste of money and will ruin the countryside, reacted with fury this weekend to an appointment they claimed was a "whitewash" and "hysterical". Patrick O'Connell's appointment comes at a time when HS2 is preparing a public relations charm offensive to spell out the benefits of the project, which will cut journey times between the capital and Birmingham to 49 minutes.
HS2 staff were told late last week that Mr O'Connell will soon join them as their programme and strategy boss, but the only part of his resum? that was referred to was his role as chairman at the Oxford Institute for Megaprojects. Up until the end of last year, Mr O'Connell was a senior figure at Serco, the government contractor that has been forced to go through what it calls "corporate renewal", after failing on a range of taxpayer-funded projects.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-history-of-wasting-public-money-9117106.html
Opponents of HS2, who claim the project is a waste of money and will ruin the countryside, reacted with fury this weekend to an appointment they claimed was a "whitewash" and "hysterical". Patrick O'Connell's appointment comes at a time when HS2 is preparing a public relations charm offensive to spell out the benefits of the project, which will cut journey times between the capital and Birmingham to 49 minutes.
HS2 staff were told late last week that Mr O'Connell will soon join them as their programme and strategy boss, but the only part of his resum? that was referred to was his role as chairman at the Oxford Institute for Megaprojects. Up until the end of last year, Mr O'Connell was a senior figure at Serco, the government contractor that has been forced to go through what it calls "corporate renewal", after failing on a range of taxpayer-funded projects.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...-history-of-wasting-public-money-9117106.html