tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post7999495266357333227..comments2023-09-24T01:25:13.638-07:00Comments on Witterings from Witney: Hang on a minute, its not that simpleWitteringsfromWitneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16026875251366365154noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-29920473789644087362011-10-11T11:13:50.540-07:002011-10-11T11:13:50.540-07:00Anon Carswell no doubt means well, but I do think ...Anon Carswell no doubt means well, but I do think that times his compass forgets where it should be pointing........<br /><br />PC: Which is what I thought I said, albeit without your eloquence?WitteringsfromWitneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16026875251366365154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-50889662094026810862011-10-11T08:50:39.777-07:002011-10-11T08:50:39.777-07:00I am sure we have all watched 'Yes, Minister&#...I am sure we have all watched 'Yes, Minister' and read innumerable political memoirs. Quite clearly senior civil servants often did see themselves as the masters and weak ministers were routinely side-tracked or manipulated. Strong ministers were also undermined should they not heed secretaries' advice, either being misled or flooded with too much paper. That is however the past, though there is no doubt many would like to reinstate it. Prime ministers and ministers have long been fully aware of that and most employed their own 'independent' advisers. Blair, of course, took it to extremes and first effectively cut the civil service right out of the loop then made sure the ones let back in were suitably 'on message', party politicised would be the appropriate term.<br /><br />Carswell may say <i><b>"..... it is precisely because we have such a smug, insulated technocracy in charge that voters are left complaining that no matter who they vote for, things rarely seem to change.</b></i> but he is wrong. Things don't change because the smug, insulated technocracy is in charge, it is because the leaderships in the three main parties are a smug, insulated technocracy of social deocrats with effectively the same policy.PeterCharlesnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-37859886713992872312011-10-11T08:19:13.549-07:002011-10-11T08:19:13.549-07:00Carswell is becoming an enourmous disappointment. ...Carswell is becoming an enourmous disappointment. If politicians were genuinely independent of vested interests and the EU and possessed of character, intelligence and honesty, no amount of civil srevice obsfucation would get in their way.<br /><br />Carswell is already polishing his excuses for the failure of the government only 18 months into their term. he knows they will fail as they are all EU stooges and he needs somebody to take the blame. If Conservative cabinet ministers can' even tame Sir Gus O'Donnell how on earth can they be expected to " re-negotiate with the EU"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-37190595007318225852011-10-11T08:14:23.678-07:002011-10-11T08:14:23.678-07:00TGM That does not make it right, nor acceptable. T...TGM That does not make it right, nor acceptable. They should be sackable, same as anyone else and llike politicians are there to do the publics bidding.<br /><br />TT: powder kegs and tinder boxes - perhaps the idea could catch on here.WitteringsfromWitneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16026875251366365154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-46345588419365979832011-10-11T07:12:24.023-07:002011-10-11T07:12:24.023-07:00German Poverty
Huge increase in people unable to ...<a href="http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article13654041/Wenn-Heizung-und-warmes-Essen-zum-Luxus-werden.html" rel="nofollow">German Poverty</a><br /><br />Huge increase in people unable to pay for heating and housing - Berlin is the main centre for children in poverty.<br /><br />At a time Germany is lavishing money through EU SIVs to bail out banks, its cities face increasing populations unable to afford basic living......<br /><br />Poweder kegs and tinder boxes are very seasonal as we approach NovemberTomTomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861279106331108648.post-67682473738116586182011-10-11T05:54:32.895-07:002011-10-11T05:54:32.895-07:00Actually he does have a point. No matter how much ...Actually he does have a point. No matter how much the Civil Servants screw up or cost us - they can't be fired. And they DO control policy and determine what happens or doesn't happen. <br /><br />Ministers are only there to take the falls.<br /><br />I'm not a politician, never have been and never will be - but I did work alongside the Civil Service and have had ample opportunity to see how Ministers are manipulated, sidelined or disposed of by the unelected "Permanent Secretaries" who are rarely actually qualified to do the jobs they supposedly manage!The Gray Monkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13243748164095781725noreply@blogger.com