As For Emma

Emma's 2018 Hallowe'en costume: she's a Spice Girl (get it?)

I don't tell tales of what it's like to be a bureaucrat these days, mostly because I'm no longer one. But I was recently reminded of a story involving Emma Heffernan, a colleague at the Ministry of Energy.

I used to spend a lot of time pushing back on Cabinet Office efforts to get the Ministry of Energy to de-regulate. This was not because I loved Ministry of Energy regulations. It was because you could take away every last one and no member of the general public would even notice. There would be no political win for the government.

Cabinet Office persisted. That's what they do. They gave all ministries a regulatory burden reduction target to meet, no ifs, ands or buts.

Knowing I was beaten, I acquiesced, and sought to delegate. I shared Cabinet's plan with the other directors in the ministry, and immediately became the least popular person in the room. But, I had a secret weapon. Emma.

Cheerful, competent, and well-liked, Emma charmed reluctant ministry branches to find the necessary sacrificial regulatory deadwood. Thanks to her, we hit our target. Twice over.

We sent our package of propitiatory offerings to Cabinet Office. They complained there were no political wins.

Emma deftly stick handled Cabinet Office until the Premier finally grew weary of his stupid idea that wasn't going to get him what he wanted anyway, and we all moved on.

Through it all, Emma was steadfastly positive, determinedly optimistic. She was fun to work with; clever, proactive, always ready to give and receive feedback. I never asked her age, but I would guess she was in her early thirties.

I am reminded of this story about Emma because I heard she died this past week.

My condolences to her family. This is a shocking loss.

Thanks for reading.

Karen