It's nearly 10 years since I ventured back to these shores, and to celebrate, I decided it was time to reveal to the many unsuspecting Americans what we British really mean when you think we're being nice and polite...

For those of you who think they've escaped being outed as a public irritant, it's time we put you back in your place... Here are the latest irritations plaguing our world today

I would argue that it's actually time to "de-social" our behavior to regain the effectiveness and quality of our interactions and relationships.

The IAOP has announced it's 2013 "best outsourcing advisors", and kudos to my former employer, Deloitte, for coming top. Credit has to go out to Peter Lowes and his Outsourcing Advisory Services group for their achievement. In addition, KPMG's Shared Services and Advisory Group, led my Cliff Justice, finished in second place - a strong showing and justification of their 2011 acquisition of EquaTerra. The biggest surprises, however, are the absences of ISG, the largest transaction advisor of outsourcing contracts, and PwC...

Most of the big analyst personalities have seemingly fled the analyst industry... many for the riches on offer from their vendor clients, clearly seeing more ROI from employing them, as opposed to purchasing their firm's services. However, this hasn't prevented the remaining legacy purveyors of analyst services from making a living.

Step-up Madelein "Mads" Smit, head of both IT and F&A outsourcing for CEVA Logistics