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Barry was a nightmare for any ‘wicked’council officer
• CAMDEN Council’s website is headed “at your service”.
Put simply, all Barry Sullivan ever expected of them was that they live up to this claim. Therefore their indignant, graceless and sometimes defamatory reactions when he or anyone else has tried to hold them to this were always inappropriate.
I first met Barry when I was asked to act as an advocate for a friend in a housing matter.
An adjective he used in describing some actions of Camden’s officers was “wicked”.
He meant it in the traditional sense, and as much in hurt and disappointment as in anger.
I naïvely thought it extreme, until I had dealings with a few of them, and was at times left feeling somewhat disgusted and needing to take a shower.
The toxic mixture of power, arrogance and a lack of personal accountability can result in complacency and sloppiness.
Barry understood this and probed, with forensic skill, inconsistencies and departures from codes of practice in the treatment of his clients by council officers.
The greatest concern of such people tends to be to avoid getting caught, and I suspect that Barry was their worst nightmare.
I know that his friends in the Camden Town Neighbourhood Advice Centre will continue their work with increasing success, and they all have my heartfelt thanks, respect and best wishes.
Camden Council is failing by its own professed standards. Barry Sullivan was a total success by his.
He possessed the moral courage seemingly lacking in the Town Hall.
Therefore, Barry Sullivan’s life will be celebrated, as much as his parting is mourned.
I have never met a better person.
PHIL BATES
Crockford Park Road
Addlestone, Surrey
A “Farewell Service” for Barry Sullivan will take place on Tuesday September 30 at Golders Green Crematorium, West Chapel, at 3pm.
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