Stay sceptical. End the lockdown. Save lives. The Covid Civil Servant 18 August 2020. Updated 20 August 2020. please log in to view this image The man in Whitehall does not know best Having spent nearly half my career working as a civil servant delivering complex projects, on time and within budget, it is saddening to see the debacle that the Civil Service is making of what is now a crisis. There are various causes of the management failure, a number of which I will briefly expand on below. Lack of accountability and responsibility This has been a feature of the Civil Service for many years. The Senior Civil Service (SCS) are responsible for managing development of policy and its delivery. Whilst it is convenient for politicians to blame Ministers for failings, the real issues and causes of failure generally occur within the various teams. In a number of areas the problem is further complicated by the cross-departmental nature of much of the policy setting and delivery – further allowing Ministers and their SCS to spread the blame. This is exacerbated by the relationships between Ministerial Departments and the plethora of arms-length bodies (ALBs), who notionally report to a Minister, but in practice operate with a significant degree of autonomy within the policy framework set by the sponsoring department. If we add to that the regular changes to the machinery of Government, i.e. creation, merger and disestablishment of Ministries, ALBs, etc., there is plenty of potential for things to fall through the cracks – intentionally or otherwise. Basic knowledge and competence It is fashionable for civil servants to claim that you do not need specialist knowledge to solve a complex problem – so for example the Head of Ofqual does not have a background in education management but instead was until 2016 the head of Crown Commercial Service (CCS). The lack of accountability and responsibility This issue persists in many policy setting areas and is compounded by the policy developers’ ignorance of how their sector or specialism actually operates. For example, when the PPE shortage hit, the NHS providers and supply chain seemed unaware that many of these supplies were sourced from China, i.e. there was minimal existing indigenous manufacturing of PPE, again hardly a surprise given the purchasing at lowest cost – a common theme in public procurement. Lack of numeracy and scientific understanding There are few among our political elite and the supporting SCS who have STEM degrees and the consequence of this narrow pool is a failure to understand basic concepts, e.g. they believe “the science is settled” when it comes to climate change, and that they’re “following the science” regarding COVID-19. What they fail to appreciate is that science is rarely settled. By its nature, it is about investigating and challenging assumptions, collecting and evaluating evidence to test hypotheses, and seeking to avoid bias and misrepresentation of results. The current narrative regarding testing and ‘cases’ is a classic example of this lack of numeracy and statistical knowledge. If you test more you are likely to find more occurrences and they may be actual positives or false positives. Poor data/information management The Government goes on at length about data, e.g. open data, data as the new oil, data dashboards, sharing CSV and JSON files of the published data, etc. But look below the surface and what you find is tantamount to fraud, aided and abetted by the mainstream media. The daily death totals were not for deaths that occurred the previous day as oft reported, but were reported the previous day, i.e. deaths that had not previously been reported, and the period covered by these totals could extend back up to 60 days. The misleading figures reported by PHE, which sanctioned the misleading calculation method exposed by Prof Carl Heneghan, is another example of poor information management. In both cases, the numbers publicised are official information (statistics) and it appears that the relevant individuals in the SCS have been either negligent or naive. Project delivery Successful project delivery is typically based on a clearly articulated goal and an understanding of the metrics that will be used to assess achievement of the goal. Regarding an issue like COVID-19, successful project interventions require clear policy objectives, something we have not seen throughout, and a risk-based appraisal of the project delivery plan. One would expect a project to consider alternative implementations, weighing up costs, benefits and risks with a view to seeking optimal delivery. This optional appraisal should allow a project sponsor to assess the project business or funding case with a view to achieving best value for money. So if we look at the Nightingale Hospitals – great delivery, but at what cost and benefit? Given that the one at Excel has not been used, was the project really necessary and did it represent good value for money? The above factors demonstrate serious management failings in the UK response to COVID-19. While it is easy to blame Ministers, and they have been shown in a poor light, it is their officers (the SCS) that have singularly failed the public. It is this largely anonymous body of well paid public servants that develop the policy options, advise on outcomes and manage delivery. If this is what “taking back control” looks like, then we are in for a few really difficult years.
Don’t even think about cancelling Blazing Saddles HBO Max has put a trigger warning on the Mel Brooks classic. The philistine buffoons. please log in to view this image Brendan O'Neill Editor 18th August 2020 [img width="726" height="435" class="fullWidth bMar10 hidden-sm" alt="Don’t even think about cancelling " src="https://media.spiked-online.com/website/images/2020/08/18152332/blazing-saddles-1-800x480.jpg" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 600px, 800px"> Share Blazing Saddles"> Topics Culture Free Speech Politics USA So they’re finally coming for Blazing Saddles. The literalist, humourless scolds of the woke mob finally have the Mel Brooks classic in their censorious sights. It was only a matter of time. After all, this is a movie that contains copious utterances of the n-word, and that is always bad, regardless of context, right? So smack a trigger warning on it. Surround it with yellow tape warning off the easily offended. Remind people that they watch this film at their peril. That is what HBO Max has done. It has soiled its streaming version of Blazing Saddles with a worthy three-minute intro – three minutes! – designed to put the film in its ‘proper social context’. Just as it did with Gone with the Wind a few weeks ago when the world went completely mental and started tearing down statues, defacing war memorials and memory-holing comedy shows from the 2000s. The ‘proper social context’ is graciously provided by Jacqueline Stewart, a professor of media studies at the University of Chicago, and thus cleverer than you and me. She informs us that ‘racist language and attitudes pervade the film’. But that’s okay, everyone, because ‘those attitudes are espoused by characters who are portrayed here as explicitly small-minded, ignorant bigots’. ‘The real, and much more enlightened, perspective is provided by the main characters played by Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder’, says Stewart. This is the dumbest thing I have seen in a very long time. Aside from being a spoiler, this ‘contextualising’ lecture is artless, patronising and ridiculous. Blazing Saddles is one of the great satires on racism. Everyone knows this. Set in the American frontier in the late 1800s, it tells the blackly comedic story of a town, Rock Ridge, getting a black sheriff (Cleavon Little). The townsfolk hate him, to begin with at least. ‘Up yours, ******!’, as the old lady says to him when he wishes her a good morning. The sheriff looks to an alcoholic gunslinger called Jim (Gene Wilder) to help him out. (‘My name’s Jim, but most people call me… Jim.’) The idea that we need a professor to tell us that the racists are the bad guys and the black sheriff and his hapless buddy are the good guys is deranged. Blazing Saddles was one of a handful of VHS films I had when I was a child. We watched it constantly. I must have seen it a hundred times. Even as a nine-year-old I knew what the film was about. We knew that the scene in which a man shouts ‘The sheriff is a n….’ as the sheriff arrives on horseback – his use of the word ‘******’ being constantly drowned out by the ringing of the town bell – was joyfully hilarious and also a send-up of backward folk who refer to black people by the n-word. If you need to go to college to understand this, there’s something wrong with you. Sure, Blazing Saddles hasn’t been cancelled (yet). But the philistine buffoons at HBO Max who have defaced it with a mini-lecture effectively saying ‘Here be dragons’ are nonetheless committing a crime against culture. They’re adding a fog of suspicion to Mel Brooks’ masterpiece, implying that it is potentially dangerous, that without the guiding words of the gods of media studies it could pollute viewers’ minds and make them think it’s okay to say the n-word. It implies that Blazing Saddles is something to be wary of. Approach with caution. Bollocks. The thing we should be wary of is the scolding culture of wokeness and its treatment of art, entertainment and debate as ticking bombs liable to blow up in your face and wound you for life. Who do these people think they are? How dare they interject in an artistic work and declare that it is okay for us to watch it so long as we do so with the right mindset? That is insulting to Mel Brooks, who I’m pretty sure did not plan for a three-minute lecture to be automatically added to the start of his movie, and it is a massive slap in the face to HBO Max’s viewers. It’s tempting to say they are being treated like children, but it’s worse than that – as I say, even children know Blazing Saddles is comedy. Stream it or don’t stream it, HBO. Do you trust people to engage with art or not? What next? A warning on 12 Years a Slave telling us it contains the n-word, ‘but the characters who use it are slave-owners and they are bad’? A context lecture at the start of Mississippi Burning? An ‘outdated attitudes’ flag on every old film that contains words you’re not meant to use any more, from ***got to the n-word, tranny to Paddy? The cult of trigger warnings – or the provision of proper social context, as we must now call it – is antithetical to art, culture and discussion. It treats art as potentially dangerous and audiences as vulnerable – an ideology of paternalism that grates against the openness and willingness to take mental risks that make engaging with culture such a pleasurable part of human life. That’s enough of this shrill, suspicious literalism. The context in which the n-word is used, in fact the context in which all words are used, is incredibly important. In Blazing Saddles it is not used to demean black people but rather to poke fun at people with crazy racist views. That context is provided by Mel Brooks himself, in the story, the dialogue and the gags, and that context is perfectly well understood by us, the viewers. That’s the relationship between artist and audience – we don’t need HBO Max or anyone else butting into this relationship. Trigger warnings and mini-lectures are an unsightly carbuncle on the world of art and letters. Cancel them.
please log in to view this image Steve Laws @SteveLaws19 14 Illegal immigrants landed at St Marys Bay a couple of hours ago on a Priti dinghy. The fact a dinghy filled with 14 people can land on our shores is a an absolute outrage. These people could have been dangerous. What's the point of even having a border force?
bloody fake social media news Mass General Hospital verifies viral Facebook user is not an employee Wednesday, August 19, 2020 please log in to view this image Facebook Angry social media users flooded the hospital's switchboard and social media accounts after a cruel post went viral on social media. The post identifies the user as Brittany Jill Michael, a nurse at Mass General. The post features a meme that shows gun violence victim Cannon Hinnant. The meme reads: "Free Bike! I got this bike from my neighbor who don't need it no more. Has some red stains on it." please log in to view this image Cannon, 5, was shot in the head at point blank range while riding his bicycle in his own yard in Wilson, North Carolina on Aug. 9. Police arrested 25-year-old ex-convict Darius Sessoms a day later at a private residence in Goldsboro NC. He was charged with first-degree murder and ordered held without bond. The Facebook post fired up conservatives who called the hospital demanding to know if the Facebook user was a nurse on staff there. Mass General updated the hospital's Twitter account to confirm the Facebook user is not a an employee, and they are working with Facebook officials to identify the user. The Facebook account has since been deleted. "This individual does not work at Mass General. We recommend that you report the profile to Facebook, as we have done. We are working with Facebook officials and the appropriate authorities to identify the person or people who are responsible for this hurtful message." please log in to view this image
Well we've had some fun and games over here in last 24 hours or so....... After barely a couple of months in government the 2nd minister of agriculture has resigned......the first one to go after only a few weeks in the job was because it came out that a few years ago he was convicted of a drink driving offence but didn't tell the prime minister about it when he was appointed........it also transpired that he'd been driving on a provisional licence for nigh on 30 years and was on his 10th or 11th provisional licence at the time......apparently too busy to take a driving test!!!!!!!! His successor who had complained bitterly about being over looked for a cabinet post has also fallen on his sword........on Tuesday the government issued revised covid guidelines on numbers allowed to meet in doors for social gatherings, maximum number is 15. On Wednesday this minister was amongst 80 others at the joint houses of parliament golf society shindig at a Galway hotel hence breaking government restrictions on numbers.....there were also high court judges, meps, public representatives also present.... so far the minister of agriculture is the only one to resign although alot of others have had the party whip withdrawn......there will be more blood on the carpet...... File under the couldn't make it up folder......
HE’S BACK: Murdoch Teams Up With Farage, Neil To ‘Launch British News Channel in 2021’ By Jordan James Posted on August 21, 2020 please log in to view this image Share Tweet RUPERT Murdoch is reportedly launching a brand spanking new UK News Channel in the new year and is planning to take on the network he launched thirty one years ago. Since Sky’s takeover by NBC News parent group Comcast – the former news heavyweight Sky News has lost thousands of viewers and its reputation for unbiased news. Sky has been in decline for many years and the UK market has a huge appetite for a right-wing outlet to take on the left-wing rhetoric in the broadcast media. please log in to view this image The new network planned for 2021 is going by the working title of “GB News” and is reportedly set to sign former Brexit Party boss Nigel Farage and ex-BBC political pundit Andrew Neil. Australian-born Murdoch, who also owns The Times and The Sun and also talkRADIO has allegedly pumped £20m into the venture and plans to launch in early 2021. Former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie tweeted the move: “Hear that Discovery (alongside a £20million investment from Murdoch) are launching a TV news station in the New Year called GB News.” please log in to view this image “Andrew Neil and Nigel Farage due to sign. Taking on the quite dreadful Sky News” “More people see my rear end than watch Kay Burley at breakfast.” please log in to view this image Murdoch is no stranger to right-wing news. In the United States, Fox News – also owned by NewsCorp is the number one rated news channel and is a favourite of President Trump. A new media outlet ran by Murdoch can only be good news for Brexiteers and those sick and tired of the London media elite.
Only Rupert Murdoch can save us now from Sky. There’s definitely a market for 24 hours a day of shouting at dinghies and crying about how you’ll be arrested for celebrating St George’s Day so it sounds like a shrewd move.
She is awful and SkyNews has really gone down the pan. Sky is okay if you are some liberal/anti-Tory remaining woke.
The week in Tory, courtesy of some bloke on FB.... (probably some liberal/anti-Tory remaining woke) 1. The govt announced quarantine for people returning from France 2. It waited until everyone had made travel plans, then brought the policy forwards 24 hours 3. And then an MP using the name “Grant Shapps” helpfully told everybody the wrong date for the start of quarantine 4. Irony’s own Bermuda Triangle, Priti Patel, said migrants were only coming here because the French are all racist and Germans torture people 5. Days after MoD said Patel’s plans for channel protection were “completely potty”, the Navy refused to send warships into the Channel 6. And the UN said her ideas were “very troubling” and would cause “fatal incidents” 7. The govt proceeded with plans to end the furlough scheme, after think-tanks predicted would cost 2 million jobs 8. Universal Credit requires £11bn extra investment to make it cope with current levels of claims, and here come another £2m 9. So naturally, the govt made applications for Universal Credit “online only”, after removing 4000 computers from libraries and job centres since 2015 10. The govt claimed 90% of homeless people were helped off the streets, but data actually showed rough-sleeping rose sharply 11. So govt will scrap the ban on evictions in 5 days’ time, predicted to cause 220,000 extra people in England to become homeless just as winter starts 12. The National Residential Landlords Association said the ban on evictions was “an unnecessary hindrance to our members” 13. 28% of Tory MPs are landlords, and I'm going to mark that down as "an incredible coincidence" and ask no further questions 14. News of unnecessary hindrances brings me to top fireplace salesman Gavin Williamson. He started the week modestly, with a cheery pledge to starve 175,000 children of immigrants, by stopping their free meals while their families cannot legally work or claim benefits 15. All the way back in the mists of time (in May) the govt instructed Ofqual to tell teachers to spend hours per-pupil creating estimated grades, which were reviewed and approved by headteachers 16. But then toothsome mantis Gavin Williamson decided teachers know less than quickly-written and badly-tested software does, and commissioned an algorithm to invent grades for this year's students, based largely on totally different students from different years 17. The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) offered to help assess the outcome of the algorithm after staff at Dept for Education raised concerns. But the govt put barriers in the way which would prevent the RSS from operating properly for 5 years. So they couldn't help. 18. Gavin Williamson is on record instructing Ofqual to design a system that could not allow grade inflation 19. But this week, in a wildly unpredictable turn of events, he blamed Ofqual for - brace yourself - designing a system that did not allow grade inflation 20. But private schools did get grade inflation, an average 8x the increase state schools got 21. On average, 40% of state schools results were downgraded, and in Northern England it was as high as 84% 22. In some subjects, 98.9% of results from private schools were inflated 23. The Times reports the govt still plans to use the algorithm for GCSE’s, but will not downgrade any results, only upgrade them: which only benefits private schools 24. And then a maelstrom of policy changes began: first, students were barred from appealing against results 25. Then they were permitted to appeal results, at a cost of £113 per exam 26. Then it was announced schools would pay the fees, even though schools are not only closed, but broke, having had £7bn cut from their budget by Tories 27. And then it was announced the appeals would be free, even though Ofqual has no facilities to handle that number of appeals 28. And then they cancelled the appeals program completely 29. All that appeals stuff happened in just 48 hours 30. When Scotland used the algorithm, it led to a crisis and had to be abandoned, and Tories called for the Scottish Education Minister to resign 31. Regardless, the UK govt implemented the algorithm that had just been proven to fail, and seemed surprised when it failed 32. The Minister of Innovation said A-Levels don’t matter as much as “grit and determination”, and his failure at Harrow “taught me how to hustle”. He is the 5th Lord Bethan, and “hustled” his way to a hereditary peerage as a result of his Dad dying. Good hustling, dude! 33. Gavin Williamson said there would be “No U-turn, no change”, which I think he got from a sign outside a toll-booth on the M6 34. Boris Johnson said, “be in no doubt about it, the exam results that we've got today are robust, they're good, they're dependable for employers” 35. The Daily Mail – yes, even them – reported the govt only changed its mind after the headmaster of Eton – yes, even them – complained about the unfairness 36. The UK Equalities Watchdog warned it would intervene because the algorithm results were discriminatory 37. Gavin Williamson claimed he only spotted the flaws “at the weekend”, but hours later it was revealed the Commons Education Dept warned him of all these flaws and dangers, in person, and then in a report sent to him on 10th July 38. On the steps of Downing St the day he became PM, Johnson said “My job is to make sure your kids get a superb education, wherever you are from. I will take personal responsibility. The buck stops here”. 39. Boris Johnson is busy “glamping”, so in his absence it was decided the buck stops at the head of Ofqual, who simply followed ministerial instructions; and at Gavin Williamson’s permanent secretary, who was unceremoniously sacked for doing what his boss told him 40. Meanwhile, Williamson felt the best use of his time was to pose for a photo with little on his desk but a cup, a seemingly empty file, and a whip (for reasons that bewilder, but are in keeping with his apparent background as a mildly disturbing minor Addams Family character) 41. Winston Churchill’s grandson, a Tory MP, said of Gavin Williamson “what could have been in the Prime Minister’s mind that led him to appoint so mere, so unreliable, so wholly unsuitable a man to one of the most important jobs in Government” 42. A Tory MP said “It was as clear as day that there would be an issue, given what happened in Scotland, yet they ****ed around” 43. A poetic Tory MP said the govt was “****ing into the void”, and if that’s not the name of a band by midnight, what’s the point of anything? 44. There are now calls for Ofqual to be abolished and replaced with something that will probably be worse, but as yet no news on which unqualified but vaguely aristocratic Tory MP’s wife will run it. I'll keep you posted. 45. Meanwhile, Gavin Williamson had promised to provide laptops to disadvantaged students during the lockdown, but only half the required laptops were delivered, and 27 Academy Trusts got just 1 laptop each, to be shared between over 2000 students 46. After the stunning success of this bit of Artificial Intelligence, the govt announced plans to boost Whitehall AI spending by £200m. The money will go to Faculty AI, which has links to [checks notes] a Mr Dominic Cummings, resident of Whitehall and Specsavers in Durham 47. Rumours that the govt has an algorithm that turns every minister into Chris Grayling are unfounded 48. Chris Grayling – I mean, Gavin Williamson - now has to persuade parents that he’s competent enough to make schools safe for their kids to return. Good luck with that, Gav. 49. The govt had 5 months to plan and execute one exam policy affecting 335,000 students 50. The govt now has 4 months to plan and execute over 2000 Brexit policies affecting 67 million of us, and every business in the country. Brace, brace. 51. On the subject of Brexit, this week Boris Johnson said there would only be a customs border in the Irish Sea “over my dead body”. 52. The same Boris Johnson signed the Withdrawal Agreement that creates a customs border in the Irish sea 53. Trade Secretary and part-time punchline Liz Truss promised “I will consign these unfair tariffs to the bin of history” when she makes her stern demands in a trade deal between USA (world’s biggest economy) and UK (2% of global trade). I bet the USA is ****ting itself. 54. Meanwhile, after Liz Truss sang the praises of a potential deal with NZ (value: 4% of the trade we will lose with a No Deal Brexit) the NZ deputy PM said “Britain is not match fit for trade talks” and was “beset with inertia” 55. Boris Johnson promised “lower costs and a bonfire of red tape” as a result of Brexit 56. So imagine my shock when this week the govt pledge £355m to help companies in NI deal with “a new wave of red tape” 57. The govt scrapped Public Health England in the middle of a pandemic. Cos that’s what we need. Not testing. Just a new sign over a door. . 58. It then appointed Dido Harding to the replacement organisation, even though the replacement organisation didn’t exist at the time 59. Some notes on Dido Harding, in case you're unfamiliar with her impressive record of failing upwards 60. The Evening Standard – a Tory-supporting paper – wrote of her “Dido Harding's utter ignorance is a lesson to us all” 61. She ran the programme that spent 15x the worldwide average building a tracing app that she was told wouldn’t work, unsurprisingly didn’t work work, and which it then scrapped without publishing accounts of where that £13m went 62. She runs Test and Trace, described as “not fit for purpose, let alone world-beating” by the chair of NHS Providers 63. Her £100m Test and Trace programme traced only 56% of cases, compared with Blackburn council, who traced 98% without a penny of new funding 64. She is a Tory peer, married to a Tory MP, who is adviser to a group that campaigns for the defunding, break-up and sale of the NHS; and if you wanted that, putting somebody famous for "utter ignorance" in charge would be a good first step 65. She’s on the board of The Jockey Club, which is based in Matt Hancock’s constituency and gave tens of thousands in donations to Matt Hancock, and then coincidentally got dispensation to stay open for 180,000 unwitting fans when the Covid 19 outbreak began 66. A major Jockey Club sponsor is Randox, to whom her husband is an adviser, and which coincidentally got a £133m contract to produce testing kits without any other providers being allowed to bid for the work 67. Her husband – get this – is a “Govt Anti-Corruption Champion” 68. More govt anti-corruption, and Serco got a £108m contract, just months after it was fined £2.6m for buggering up a previous contract. The minister awarding the contract? A former Serco lobbyist. Chief exec of Serco? A Tory MP. 69. Meanwhile, Medical Examiners have been instructed not to make public the results of investigations into hundreds of deaths of NHS workers who didn’t have PPE 70. The value of utterly useless PPE rose from a mere £50m last week to £300m this week 71. And who got the contracts for useless PPE? A company part-owned by a friend and advisor to Liz Trust. Did I say Trust? I meant Truss. Definitely not Trust. 72. Meanwhile, Sajid Javid, employed full-time as an MP, also took a job at banking giant JP Morgan; cos if the last 10 years has taught us anything, it’s that there’s no danger in MPs or bankers not fully concentrating on what they’re doing 73. The Royal Society issued a report saying relaxing the lockdown early would “inflate deaths and deepen recession” 74. So obviously, the govt relaxed the lockdown in Leicester 75. The Chief Exec of the care home charity CIC said the care sector was “being left to prepare for a second wave alone” as it has received no advice or assistance from govt 76. 10% of care home residents died of Covid in the first half of this year. Not laughing now, are you 77. Weeks after it was proven Russia was regularly attempting to pervert UK democracy, a report found “an ongoing risk of cyber security incidents within Cabinet Office due to the vulnerability of legacy IT systems”, and Michael Gove is directly responsible for fixing it 78. Michael Gove was found to use an insecure email account under the name “Mrs Blurt” (and boasting of blurting as a way of deterring spies is, shall we say, novel) to discuss govt business with Dominic Cummings. So I don’t have terribly high hopes 79. The govt continued to focus on the big stuff, by converting a privy council room in number 9 Downing St into a TV studio it dubbed “the best in the world” – but then again, isn’t everything in this list? 80. The “best in the world” studio isn’t big enough to fit socially distanced journalists, the PM hasn’t even got an official spokesman, and Civil Service regulations prevent one from being appointed but the govt hadn’t realised that It’s Tuesday. We have 3 more days of this week to go. I'll be here again in a few days, and in the interim I will accept gifts of good single malt whisky, or heroic doses of laudanum
I couldn’t be bothered it was a load of anti Tory rubbish made up by some bloke on FB and regurgitated on here.
