One of the more conspicuous features of British life nowadays, writes Booker, is how many people who are, in one way or another, found seriously at fault, such as by failing to do their job properly, are nevertheless allowed to get away with it without having to pay any penalty.

That much I hinted at in my own piece but Booker takes the theme much further. We see almost daily examples, he tells us, such as when the head of a major news organisation, forced to resign in what should be disgrace, walks away with £11 million; or a senior council executive fired for incompetence is then given a grotesquely inflated pay-off, such as the former head of Haringey social services compensated with £1 million for her wrongful dismissal after the Baby P scandal.

Even more familiar are the cases of people who make every kind of mess of a job they are overpaid for and never get sacked at all, such as those "quango queens", who move effortlessly from one post to another, hopelessly out of their depth in every one. "What does it take to get sacked", we may ask, "if you are at the top of an organisation in modern Britain?"

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As an example the 10 o'clock news just now has been completely shameless on blaming the Christmas getaway problems regarding the weather on climate change. It, and the rest of the establishment, are making a leviathanic rod for their own backs...

BBC staff including Helen Boaden, its director of news (who, after a brief absence from work following her involvement in the Savile fiasco, last week waltzed happily back into her £354,000-a-year job as if nothing had happened).

I dunno, what does she do? What competencies does she administer to - that could not be ably performed and dispensed by a reasonably well educated monkey?

Edited by user 24 December 2012 00:18:20(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

This climate change crap is beginning to wear on the populace. More and more people I speak to are switching off and seeing it for what it is - 'a catch-all excuse' for everything in order to direct peoples attention away.

e.g The government fails to build water reservoirs to meet both current and futures demands. We get a dry winter and a warm spring, (not summer) and we get a hosepipe ban. Whose to blame ? Answer, simple, its that climate change malarkey.

And so it goes on.

But you can fool some of the people most of the time, but you can't fool all the the people, all of the time.

The “No blame culture” is rather selective, as we have the concept of Corporate Manslaughter that can be used against directors of private companies. We also see gas fitters charged if their work leads to someone’s death. No doubt an electrician who did not adhere to the latest regulations and as a result someone was harmed would end up on criminal charges.
I can’t understand why if a gas fitter’s or scaffolder’s negligence leads to someone’s death they can be charged with manslaughter but if a social worker’s negligence leads to a child’s death, such as in the case of Baby Peter or Victoria Climbie they never are. And they are ‘Professionals’: or so we are told.
We also don’t seem to ever surcharge officials when their misconduct leads to the loss of public money. Is no one ever guilty of Wilful Misconduct? Has the District Auditor’s powers been removed in this area?
Why can’t local authorities be forced to sue officials for the costs of “Inquiries” when they are the result of misconduct?

But even the Peter Principle does not allow for promotion to meet a quota, even if you failed in the last job.
The Inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s murder found social workers had “literacy and numeracy problems”—(the full report in on the Net) No one suggested looking at Haringey’s recruitment and promotion policies.

Remember to be fit enough to go into hospital and be careful not to fall between the grate in social services - otherwise they forget you are in the system or worse.....................



I am gonna conflate, because these cases highlight something disturbing and a shameful and deeply unacceptable face of public services. I would go further, some of these cases illuminate a deeper malaise, where adherence to political correctness and dogma's transcend the needs of the patient or 'client'...case. Plus, a darker side, in some cases there is a wickedness to the malfeasance at work here.

Why aren't our supposed 'caring' politicians bouncing up and down about this ignominious state of affairs? Always, always, pols demonstrate that they can 'do' something about a nebulous threat [AGW] but things they actually could immediately affect - they do not touch, oh yeah and gay marriage.

Climbie and Baby P, social services all of 'em - seemed as if they had a common sense bypass - doing the right thing and using ones' nous ignored or numpties incapable of individual sapient thought - this is why these types of tragedy happen.


And think on, the neglect, even deliberate cruelty in Staff's and Redditch Hospitals - people can turn the other cheek because the 'boxes have been ticked' and the QCC is satisfied.

FFS corporate manslaughter on an industrial scale.

Then, the social services kidnap children from capable and loving parents and allow them to be systematically groomed, led into child prostitution and gang banged by groups of Pakistani men - all given 'on the nod' by police and those same social services who are supposed to be protecting their charges.

Not fit for purpose NHS+ Social services, not fit for anything but looking after the care of young children, or the sick - that should be the last thing they're allowed to administer.

Enough of the cowards in Westminster................What about the Unions?

All we get from the unions is - cuts, cuts, cuts - why don't the unions stick up for the people [patients, clients] supposedly in their care?
Same thing again, public sector unions more concerned with political agitation, toeing the Cultural Marxist line, money grubbing and power = public sector Unions are part of the blumin' problem.

But panem et circenses marked the end of the Roman Republic and a return to autocratic rule. You can't fool enough of the people enough of the time for long enough and you can't keep reality at bay indefinitely.

It means we're gonna have to take power back.



I was reading an article, can't remember who it was but he or she was ruminating on the banks, saying that the banking lobby for 66 years banged on about the Glass/Steagal act, until it was repealed by that idiot Clinton and the rest is taxpayer mutualisation.

In the past MPs would take up a 'cross' - a campaign if you like..... and keep making noises until he or she was heard in the executive and changed things for the national good - we do not have this type of MP because responsibility has been passed over to the faceless Brussels nomenklatura - or so they make out - when responsibility is negated or Westminster washes its hands - where does that leave us?

Can the NHS be turned around? I don't know but I'd like to think so.

What I do know is that the politicians - with a coherent alliance could make an immediate difference by privatising the local health authorities and hospitals to make them compete with each other.

Politicians, could also castrate the unions and bin all the HSE and diversity, equality reg's. Put an end to the HRA and make it easier for Hospitals to sack bad cleaners, poor management and surly staff who would rather gather round their work station than patrol their wards, not forgetting showing the door to doctors who can't read and speak decent English.

It all adds up to accountability and the means of achieving this, lies in the hands of national bodies to change the ethos and rules at the top and allow real people [at the bottom] to make accountability the watchword.