Reply to: Public Sector

[wendigo100]

At my local station it is not uncommon for some of the ticket offices to be unattended despite huge queues. The ticket machines have also not been accepting credit cards. Now if there were two competing companies who got paid a commission for the tickets that they sell then you would see an astonoshing change in performance.

The railways will always be an expensive basket case.

[DodgyAgent]

Anyway, moving swiftly on...............

As I said to the missus last nite

[shaunbhoy]

Not related to beasts of a feline nature then, eh?

It was a play on words.........ish. Poetic licence and all that.


Anyway, moving swiftly on...............

[DodgyAgent]

Care to explain the origins of "Kit and Caboodle"?

As they say in the army "Kit off and Canoodle"

[Churchill]

Something to do with the Yank Army apparently. Is there a point to you asking, or were you just being a pedant as per?

Not related to beasts of a feline nature then, eh?

[shaunbhoy]

Care to explain the origins of "Kit and Caboodle"?

Something to do with the Yank Army apparently. Is there a point to you asking, or were you just being a pedant as per?

[Churchill]

Dead right churchill, I sure am!

Care to explain the origins of "Kit and Caboodle"?

[shaunbhoy]

Some fecking ex-squaddie you are.

Dead right churchill, I sure am!

[Churchill]

Spot on Dodgy. The whole system is riddled with inefficiency and deadwood from top to bottom. "Why employ 1 person when 3 can do the job equally haplessly?" ought to be the Civil Service Motto, if it isn't already.
Root and Branch reform long overdue for the whole kitten caboodle.

Some fecking ex-squaddie you are.

[shaunbhoy]

Spot on Dodgy. The whole system is riddled with inefficiency and deadwood from top to bottom. "Why employ 1 person when 3 can do the job equally haplessly?" ought to be the Civil Service Motto, if it isn't already.
Root and Branch reform long overdue for the whole kitten caboodle.

[DodgyAgent]

.

When you damm so heavily those in the public sector you're not merely damming paper pushers.

That is exactly how defenders of the public sector try to block criticism, Polly Toynbee is a prime example of a slavish defender of the services. The fact that she and the other apologists never utter a single word of criticism , shows in itself that they know just how poor they are. You/she et al trot out some anecdotal example of someone in the public sector who does something well, or a piece of (one in a million) legislation that is good, or a department even that is brave and efficient and you use this to stifle criticism or justify the huge waste and inefficiency that is endemic in the rest of the public sector. It wont wash here. If we are paying for public services then we are entitled to expect EVERY part of the public sector to perform as efficiently as the most effective businesses.
The only way to achieve this is to introduce consumer choice.

It is interesting that over 1 million children did not go to school yesterday for a variety of pi** poor excuses. Had the schools not been paid for that day then I would bet good money that none of them would have been closed. This showed just how good the public sector is at shutting off a service.

At my local station it is not uncommon for some of the ticket offices to be unattended despite huge queues. The ticket machines have also not been accepting credit cards. Now if there were two competing companies who got paid a commission for the tickets that they sell then you would see an astonoshing change in performance.

[HarryPearce]

They're not very good (generally) because at least with the Civil Service they all have to start as an AA on £8K per annum (may be a bit more now) and the chances of moving up the career ladder are slim and it takes a long time, therefore not really an incentive to employ good people hence the only ones that will do it will be those that can't get a job elsewhere.

Speaking from experience I assume. It is certainly true that base pay is atrocious, though only when you're talking about administrative areas of the Civil Servic, but the rest is not true. Promotion is possible and does occur but under a fair and equal system. The Peter principle is not the overriding means of climbing the greasy pole.

The Civil Service covers a huge gamut of careers besides the admin side which seems to get all the attention. Try http://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/Page7.html http://www.dstl.gov.uk/careers/profile01.php or http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ for example, all are part of the Civil Service and most of whom are back-office boys and girls.

When you damm so heavily those in the public sector you're not merely damming paper pushers.

[BigPhill]

Public Sector / Civil Service

They're not very good (generally) because at least with the Civil Service they all have to start as an AA on £8K per annum (may be a bit more now) and the chances of moving up the career ladder are slim and it takes a long time, therefore not really an incentive to employ good people hence the only ones that will do it will be those that can't get a job elsewhere.

[DodgyAgent]

Dodgy,



Tell that to the ambulance or fire crew who attended 7/7. Talk to the wife of Lance Corporal of Horse Matty Hull or stand at the grave of L/Cpl Mathew Ford of 45 Commando Royal Marines.

My point exactly. Amongst the cr*p in the public sector there are the occasional fantastic workers in the front line of the public services. It is off the backs of these people that our leaders cynically exploit and use as reasons to waste money and hide incompetence. The worse thing is that the true heroes of the public sector end up being treated and rewarded in the same way as the vast numbers of incompetents. In the private sector (and I am not referring to monopoly private sector businesses such as rail and others) these people would be promoted/savoured and rewarded according to their deeds, whereas in the public sector incompetence is ignored.

[DodgyAgent]

Some sense at last! Civil Sepents are not just there to push paper around meaninglessly. I won't defend them all but who do think sorts out the bird flu incident, keeps you safe in bed while terrorists plan, etc? Some don't see their families for months on end if they're deployed out in Iraq or Afghanistan, mind you one who came back was made a CBE (MBE?) for work in Iraq organising the Iraq poice force immediately after Bagdhad fell, aged mid thirties. How many contractors can come home from work at the end of a day and know they've done something worthwhile beyond earning a wadge of cash.

If you envy the pension then save the cash you earn and take a sensible salary.

The more I look at this the funnier and sadder it gets. Either this guy is a NL stooge or it just shows how we have all been brainwashed into acceptance of this Orwellian state. It is interesting how we are made to thank our wonderful and glorious state for saving us against these evil terrorists and Iraqis, yet one important point is missed. Who is it that has created this (and so many of the other) problem in the first place???. Immigration and multiculturalism have been encouraged for no other reason than to please the leaders of our political parties. And I am pretty sure that the recipient of the CBE is a labour donor rather than a hero.