Picture of a judge's wigThe Judge RANTS!Picture of a judge's wig



Date: 17/03/13

Don't Enquire!

I have a little tale to tell.

It's a story which sums up the fundamental dishonesty at the heart of our system of administration today.

A large, publicly-funded...

(Wait a mo! Should it be 'publicly', or 'publically'? Neither looks right, dammit!)

...anyway, a large organisation which is a key part of the central Civil Service decides at its highest level (that's 'highest' as in smells) that having facilities where the public can come in and seek advice is a burden they no longer want.

However, just closing those facilities outright immediately would be, to say the least, impolitic. Or, to say the most, cause a ginormous shitstorm. So the All-Highest hatch a plan by which they hope that people won't notice. They:

As you may have guessed, O perceptive reader, this is all the work of my own dear Depratment.

I don't know which I find more insulting: the way in which what a colleague of mine used to call 'Top Shop' have connived at a policy deliberately designed to produce the result they wanted (but didn't dare admit to); or that they now expect not only the public but the staff to believe that any connection between the policy and the longed-for consequences is just one of those happy coincidences.

This is just the latest kick: coming as it does on top of real-terms pay cuts (spun as 'pay rises', as if a 'rise' of one per cent when inflation is officially nearly three times that, and living costs not far off twice as much again, can be counted as a 'rise'); having to pay more for our "gold-plated pensions" (© the Mule, the Scum, the Torygraph - and every other corporate media outlet you can name), get less out and have to wait longer to get them; office closures which mean more people having to travel further to work; and even the effective removal of the time given to our elected union officials to do the job we have elected them to do...

...and all of this without the slightest attempt on the part of the régime to discuss or negotiate in good faith...

...As I say, coming after All Of The Above, then perhaps you might have a greater understanding as to why I and tens of thousands of my colleagues will be on strike next Wednesday (30th March). It's a pity that the other major public-sector unions - or, to be more accurate, the leaderships of same - don't seem to want to do anything very much at the moment, but at least we will be standing up and being counted (possibly by MI5).

Of course, you could just prefer to believe the bollocks being churned out by the régime and its embedded corporate media, and carry on thinking that we're just a terrible drain on The Nation's Wealth™, dahlings. In which case, ultimately, you will deserve all you get, although that won't be what you thought you were wishing for.

(* Yes, I know the 'joke' doesn't work written down. So sue me)

Graphic saying 'Back The Budget Day Strike'