Civil servants' leader attacks 'utterly dysfunctional' government

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Maybe, but a Union criticising a (New) Labour government is a bit of a break from tradition, albeit that this criticism is well merited.

My point is that this is not a Civil Service leader, but a union leader.

[shaunbhoy]

A union citicising a government is not really staggering news.

Maybe, but a Union criticising a (New) Labour government is a bit of a break from tradition, albeit that this criticism is well merited.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

This is somewhat disingenuous. The phrase "Civil servants' leader" makes it sound as if it is the head of the Civil Service who is criticising the government. In fact it is a union leader who is doing so, it just happens that the union he leads is a union for civil servants.

A union citicising a government is not really staggering news. And outright support for a union leader by CUK political posters is so rare that I can't help but see it as opportunistic, i.e. suppport only on the dubious grounds that your enemy's enemy is your friend.

[threaded]

Civil servants' leader attacks 'utterly dysfunctional' government



God, even the Civil Service can barely function with this utterly useless mong as PM.

Nah, this is easily translated to:

Civil service leader grovels and on his knees with his raised hands clenched in supplication pleads with the Tories not to sack him when they get in power.

[Zippy]

The Civil Service are accusing others of being dysfunctional?

[TimberWolf]

You think they could have been any worse?

Maybe, by being slightly better.

[AtW]

What you and I meant is that if they were any worse or any better, they would have done less damage.

You think they could have been any worse?

[TimberWolf]

Being actively destructive is not the same as dysfunctional, even though the latter can also lead to destruction in a passive way.

What you and I meant is that if they were any worse or any better, they would have done less damage.

[AtW]

Yeah, they were maximally dysfunctional by being less than maximally dysfunctional.

Being actively destructive is not the same as dysfunctional, even though the latter can also lead to destruction in a passive way.

[TimberWolf]

One can only wish Brown's (and Blair's) Govts were dysfunctional - they would not have caused so much damage this way.

HTH

Yeah, they were maximally dysfunctional by being less than maximally dysfunctional.

[AtW]

God, even the Civil Service can barely function with this utterly useless mong as PM.

They are just trying to score some brownie points with the upcoming Govt.

One can only wish Brown's (and Blair's) Govts were dysfunctional - they would not have caused so much damage this way.

HTH

[OwlHoot]

Civil servants' leader attacks 'utterly dysfunctional' government

Gordon Brown's government has become "utterly dysfunctional" and needs a major reorganisation to prevent looming spending cuts shackling any future administration, according to the man who represents the most senior civil servants in Whitehall. In a damning critique of the Brown years, Jonathan Baume, head of the FDA union, claimed there was gridlock at the heart of government, with mandarins meeting indecision in Downing Street, ministers who have "given up", and a culture of "government by announcement".

"We've got to learn from this," he said. "At the moment No 10 is seen as a blockage. There's almost a mood where civil servants try to keep No 10 out because you can't get clear decisions. It's not sustainable in the longer term. The next government has got to work more clearly, it's got to take decisions at the centre, because you don't have that now.

"The dysfunction is partly political and partly organisational. No one is clear how the Treasury, the prime minister's office and the Cabinet Office actually loop together and come up with a coherent policy initiative. When Gordon Brown became prime minister no clear direction ever emerged from him." Pressure has grown on the government – and the opposition – to declare how they will achieve the major cuts needed to reduce public debt. Steve Bundred, head of the Audit Commission, warned this week that spending cuts would be the toughest in a lifetime and that it would be "insane" to protect schools and hospitals when they have been most generously funded in recent years.

...

God, even the Civil Service can barely function with this utterly useless mong as PM.