What next? IOUs?
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has notified the Law Society that it will be delaying payments to solicitors due in March until the start of the next financial year in April. This is due to the ‘cash position’ in which the LSC finds itself due to obligations demanded of it by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
It’ll be interesting to see whether this is just an isolated case of mismanagement by our betters, or whether it’s the beginning of something ominous.
If I was trying to persuade the Germans to back a bailout of my two-bit banana-republic nation, I’d try to choose my words more wisely than the following example:
Theodoros Pangalos, deputy prime minister, said Germany had no right to reproach Greece for anything after it devastated the country under the Nazi occupation, which left 300,000 dead. “They took away the gold that was in the Bank of Greece, and they never gave it back. They shouldn’t complain so much about stealing and not being very specific about economic dealings,” he told the BBC.
I’d also refrain from following it up with an attack on everyone else too;
Twisting the knife further, he said the current crop of EU leaders were of “very poor quality” and had botched this month’s crisis summit in Brussels. “The people who are managing the fortunes of Europe were not up to the task,” he said.
My take on the above: Greece has been told that their will be no bailout from other Eurozone countries and that the Prime Minister is just venting.
Apparently, British taxpayers cannot know what obscene amounts of money their local councils waste on inflated salaries of their bureaucrats…’cause we might get upset and do something rash.
Council bosses refused a Government order to reveal the salaries of thousands of senior staff over fears it would lead to a public backlash.
Last year it was announced that councils would be forced to reveal the full extent of their pay, bonuses and pensions under sweeping changes to Government rules.
It followed a public outcry after it was revealed council bosses across the country earned more than the Prime Minister, while householders struggled with rising council tax and, often, poor quality services.
In December it was announced that councils would only have to disclose the full details of staff earning more than £150,000 a year – believed to be about 114 staff across the country.They will now only have to list the number of staff and job titles of those earning more than £50,000, without naming them.
Personally I don’t feel any animosity towards overpaid bureaucrats filling all sorts of unecessary positions on my local and county councils – it’s not their fault if they get themselves a good gig with great pay, guaranteed pension and a relatively light workload. What does wind me up is the thought of the spineless and unprincipled local and county cretins councillors who voted these positions with their exorbitant salaries and generous perks into existence in the first place.
Just to give you an idea how far out of line the wages paid to local bureacrats are – the average wage in this country is about £25,000 per annum. The Chief Executive of my local council earns four times that. Runnymede Council has a population of about 84,000 so it’s not as if it is a huge jurisdiction. The chief Executive of Surrey County Council is probably earning close to double that – and Runnymede and Surrey are relatively well-governed, fiscally conservative Tory-run councils – the thought of the waste to be found in Labour or Lib-Dem run councils boggles the mind.
A fellow blogger, and acquaintance of mine, Stephen Allison, is fighting a battle with the Hartlepool Council executive over their penchant for keeping even the most minor matters secret from non-Labour councillors.
Steve, a UKIP councillor sent a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
The response is a laundry list of minor issues, the type of local concerns dealt with by local governments across the UK every week, but which the Hartlepool Labour leadership think is of such a sensitive nature that it should be kept from the elected members of the council. A few examples:
4. Procurement Of Specialist Outdoor Play Equipment For Exmoor Grove (Para 3) – Director of Child and Adult Services…
6. 19 St Columba’s Parish Centre, Dryden Road (para 3) – Assistant Director (Procurement and Asset Management)
9. Sale Of Garage Land At Victoria Place (para 3) – Assistant Director (Procurement and Asset Management)
16. Dial a Ride Service Review (para 3) – Assistant Director (Transport and Engineering Services)
This is silly, even by Hartlepool standards which is saying something. Try as I might I just can’t see how selling council garages or purchasing playground equipment can be matters the details of which are so sensitive that they shoud be withheld from elected councillors.
Well, actually I can see a scenario where this information might be deemed too sensitive to be released – it begins with a “K” and ends with an “S”
I doubt Steve will get anywhere pursuing this matter on behalf of the good burghers of Hartlepool, but he could, I suggest, take a more direct line of action:
At the very least it would make the council meetings go quicker and get him a great deal of media coverage.
You could say that the countdown has begun begun on Greece days as an ndependent nations…
The council of EU finance ministers said Athens must comply with austerity demands by March 16 or lose control over its own tax and spend policies altogether. It if fails to do so, the EU will itself impose cuts under the draconian Article 126.9 of the Lisbon Treaty in what would amount to economic suzerainty.
Of course, some might say that the very fact that the EU can take action in this manner would suggest that that particular train left the station long ago.
From Eric Fehrnstrom, senior strategist for Scott Brown in today’s senate election in Massachusetts.
People are tired of that kind of partisan politics and Scott is ready to engage in a recount if one becomes necessary and also to fight to be seated as soon as possible. Right now, the seat is occupied by an interim senator (Democratic Sen. Paul Kirk) with a constituency of one — Gov. Deval Patrick (D., Ma.), the man who appointed him.” Think about it, he says: “If they had just left the law alone, they wouldn’t be in the situation they find themselves in now.”
Them ejimucated Liberals – too smart by half methinks.
The Telegraph (which already has the best collection of bloggers of any major media outlet) has just recruited Norman Tebbit, a former Tory cabinet minister – and keeper of the Thatcherite Flame – to blog for it.
Anyone who gets over three hundred comments on his very first blog post has got real drawing power. I’d say that that this is a bit of a coup for the Telegraph.
Ok, so the guy in question is myself, and I don’t actually have “everything” – but my birthday’s this coming Tuesday and…
Oh I know.
Howzabout a Republican Senator from Massachusetts!
Why?
Because evil shouldn’t be awarded.
I long ago ceased to be amazed at the utter uselessness of the police in this country. Apparently they’ve decided to respond to my cynicism by plumbing new depths of asshattery.
I’m guessing from her response that Miss Klass won’t be calling them the next time someone decides to trespass on her property. You go girl!
HOT!
NOT!
UPDATE This sums our predicament up nicely:
And if the cops do show up, just remember that your statement is not about speaking truth from a position of innocence, it is about not giving the state any pretext to arrest you. Stay nothing about what happened until your lawyer arrives.
Just remember that arresting you for daring to defend yourself is easier than looking for some criminal who attacked you because the police know where you live and getting any arrest shows up as a positive result in their statistics. Ideally just defend yourself and do not call them at all afterwards.
Yup, pretty much says it all.