What happens to personal information when an organisation closes down? One thing is certain. Don’t follow the example of a doctor who, when closing his surgery to retire, attempted to bury his patient notes on a beach. The tides and the wind had other plans and scattered the files along the beach for all to see.

Would you stuff your wheelie bin with letters from your GP, bank statements, your latest pay review notice? Surely not. Who knows where it would end up, if indeed it made it off the street.

"I do not believe it makes sense to say that [Excel spreadsheets]* are inherently evil. In certain circumstances, they can play a positive role-as they have in the past. But clearly they have a power to do great harm." Des Browne, UK Defence Minister.