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I have a question. Why is there so much 'consultation'? Everyone keeps contracting out rather than using their own staff. And bunging huge amounts of money. It's not even always the 'mates'.
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Jan 30, 2021 05:38
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Bloodly posted:I have a question. Because saying 'privatisation' is impolite? E.U. sure buggered things up by slinging Article 16 around with undue care.... politicians gonna politician. 
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Jan 30, 2021 06:04
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Bloodly posted:I have a question. While consulting isn't perfect, with technical consultants (as opposed to the business ones who are often just cover for the management) they tend to be at least somewhat competent. Whereas it's not easy trying to build a competent technical team, especially without prior institutional knowledge or management experience with the sort of work. fe: ^^^ I've been talking about the private sector, but yes that's another angle
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Jan 30, 2021 06:05
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I wonder if there's ever a misunderstanding where a consultant gets hired as a bung but they show up having actually done the work and giving real advice. Presumably they get fobbed off with the same lines as real input that doesn't align with existing policies, but it's funny to think of Lord Caractacus E. Gomire-Merangue's second son getting a bollocking because he wasn't supposed to actually show up with a folder full of passable research and recommendations.
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Jan 30, 2021 08:42
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An old company I worked at paid McKinsey a million quid to do a report that got put in a drawer because the CEO didn’t like what it said but McKinsey insisted it was right and wouldn’t change it. A lot of the drive behind using consultants/contractors in government is avoiding pensions. It doesn’t matter how eye-watering their day rate looks, it’s still a fraction of the cost of the pension liabilities for permanent staff in government.
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Jan 30, 2021 09:04
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peanut- posted:An old company I worked at paid McKinsey a million quid to do a report that got put in a drawer because the CEO didn’t like what it said but McKinsey insisted it was right and wouldn’t change it. I've got a friend who does high level consultation work, and he says that this happens depressingly often. He writes reports to impprove (genuinly improve, not a euphmism for cut staff) things at companies and government places and they get sent away with a pat on the head and the report gets shoved into a drawer. This might be because when the reports do recommend cutting staff, they're recommending cutting the 'wrong' staff.
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Jan 30, 2021 09:17
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Kin posted:So she was trying to simultaneity gain sympathy for her dad dying from covid and downplay the covid deaths by saying it wasn't because of covid? I completely agree. Using the death of her father to gain sympathy is gross. That doesn’t need defending. It is worth exploring whether he died as a result of Covid or not, as it massively affects our judgment of her statements. From searching it seems that he died of Covid, but it’s not clear. She was careful to make the distinction between dying with and dying of. That strikes me as odd. Even if he died of and not with (from some other cause) she is using his death to characterise Covid deaths in a certain way that is political.
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Jan 30, 2021 09:57
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Can I take a moment to talk about some really dumb local politics? Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole managed to vote out the Tories from its council for the first time in, I dunno like 20 years (BCP Has only existed for a few but before that all 3 individual councils were tory as gently caress) and managed to install a 'Unity alliance' that was headed by the Lib dems in 2019. They had a slim majority over the tories as a whole of roughly 2, depending on which way various independents went. Now last year during lockdown 2 members of the Council died who both supported the Lib dems leaving the majority gone. The Lib dems were still in charge of the council but they could do literally nothing of note, including organising new elections to replace said dead Councillors. Every attempt was blocked by the Tories under safety grounds because of Coronavirus. In June they tried a vote of no confidence which resulted in a tie and the Lib Dems survived by the Chairmans casting vote. So why does this get really dumb? Well a plant pot brought the council down. As everywhere else in the UK, the government gave the council money and told them to do active travel schemes, which of course pissed off motorists and got a bunch of complaints in the paper. In the background you have the chaos of Bournemouth beach which we all saw on the news etc rumbling on too, but its the active travel schemes that brought them down. And one in particular.  This is the Whitecliff road entrance to Poole Park. Its important in that one side of the bridge belongs to a Parkstone councilors Ward, and the other belongs to a Poole councilors ward. You can see how narrow this bridge is and for years its been used as a rat run to avoid 2 busy junctions and the main road into Poole. Hellishly dangerous going through that as anything other than a car and there's accidents there constantly. It was blocked off and people who lived in the park and used said park for park like things loved it. There's a tiny diversion of about 300m to get around it by car, but crucially it takes you up to said busy junction and thus saves no real time. People in Parkstone annoyed, people in Poole happy, you see where this is going? This is the story of how a planter brought down a council, and how its going to happen again. 4 months of constant news releases about how awful these are, councillors werent informed all that poo poo and we get to the 2nd vote of no confidence. Repeated attempts for local elections has been shut down so it rests on a knife edge and is expected to be a draw again. However all the Parkstone councilors vote aye this time, and the council is brought down and the Tories are installed back in. Again no elections, they've just summarily stolen control of a council they lost by refusing to let new elections take place. They have no majority and as such had to bargain choice council briefs with said lunatic local independents to support them and have to get rid of all these active travel schemes to keep said support. So this all circles back to this lone planter at Poole Park. The removal has to follow a process of consultation and then a decision is made. After a 3 day period of the consultation which wasn't advertised anywhere as far as I can see outside of a single line on the councils website the consultation was widely in favour of removing it. Given that it was most likely only broadcast to friends of the council and notable Facebook groups its to be expected. Eventually it gets noticed by the local paper and a lot more people respond and the results are heavily in favour of keeping it in place. Massively in favour, nearly 70%. Well the Transport Councillor just arbitrarily decides to ignore any response received after the paper published it for very flimsy reasons. Saying that the papers information was incorrect and as such people responded without knowing the full information and he pushes ahead with the removal which causes justifiable outrage and as of yesterday has ended up with the decision facing the scrutiny board where it will almost certainly get chucked out. Without the removal of this planter the independent councilors won't vote with the Tories and it will bring down their coalition. And thats the story of how a single plant pot brought down a council, and is in the process of doing it again. Local politics is really loving dumb.
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Jan 30, 2021 10:12
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A Good Post, but this line:serious gaylord posted:This is the story of how a planter brought down a council, and how its going to happen again. really needs a Nine Inch Nails track playing behind it.
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Jan 30, 2021 10:16
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Ms Adequate posted:I wonder if there's ever a misunderstanding where a consultant gets hired as a bung but they show up having actually done the work and giving real advice. It's not in real IRL but there is a very good episode of Better Call Saul that basically does that.
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Jan 30, 2021 10:16
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Guavanaut posted:
Supposedly you can read the redacted bits due to the speed they put put a censored version. https://twitter.com/spignal/status/1355164002138152961?s=19
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Jan 30, 2021 10:22
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goddamnedtwisto posted:A Good Post, but this line: Either that or the arrested development theme tune. Great post.
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Jan 30, 2021 10:35
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kustomkarkommando posted:Seems like the invoking of Article 16 was a whoopsie by whoever drafted the regulation on export controls apparently not fully checking on the full political ramifications and some hasty phone calls from Ireland has resulted in a reverse course on extending the restrictions to include NI they've really shown their collective arse imo. A lot of people in NI are familiar with the consequences of that - you can't just go emperor palpatine with Article 16 the first time you don't get what you want It really does show up how hosed of a situation it is for a country to have basically conceded part of its territory to a foreign entity though  poo poo's completely untenable crispix fucked around with this message at 10:52 on Jan 30, 2021 |
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Jan 30, 2021 10:46
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god do i love local politics 
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Jan 30, 2021 10:47
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i'm with the planter
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Jan 30, 2021 10:47
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Why do the baddies want the planter removed in the first place
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Jan 30, 2021 10:55
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Interesting / depressing how the Guardian is covering the Game stop Reddit story exclusively with opinion pieces condemning the reddit investors and supporting the hedge funds. I wonder if this is to avoid 'undermining and the financial integrity of the UK'.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:05
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The Question IRL posted:Supposedly you can read the redacted bits due to the speed they put put a censored version. no wonder the russian military have switched back to old fashion typewriters
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Jan 30, 2021 11:11
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Also how does the planter relate to the bridge?
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Jan 30, 2021 11:14
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The Perfect Element posted:Interesting / depressing how the Guardian is covering the Game stop Reddit story exclusively with opinion pieces condemning the reddit investors and supporting the hedge funds. I wonder if this is to avoid 'undermining and the financial integrity of the UK'.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:15
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cousin of mine in 1995 drove a van for a company here called mawhinney's that sold sausages and it had a big fibreglass sausage on the roof and he tore it clean off going through a bridge like that. said he forgot he was in the van he's been on the buses about 10 years now and one day he drove the thing up a tiny back street because he forgot he was at work. had to reverse it back a long way
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Jan 30, 2021 11:19
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Maugrim posted:Why do the baddies want the planter removed in the first place It's a bloody war on motorists innit? I might get inconvenienced by a few minutes just to make the local environment more engaging and safe and nicer to use. It's an outrage 
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Jan 30, 2021 11:21
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Maugrim posted:Why do the baddies want the planter removed in the first place
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Jan 30, 2021 11:21
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goddamnedtwisto posted:A Good Post, but this line: This is the story of how a group of people tried to make the world a better place with a planter. They thought that the planter would unite everyone against those who had held power for decades. But it was a fantasy.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:30
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Maugrim posted:Why do the baddies want the planter removed in the first place It's Lib Dems Vs Tories, both sides are the baddies.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:32
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Suddenly both sides wanted atrocity, but one wanted it with plants. Oh dear.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:35
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crispix posted:he's been on the buses about 10 years now and one day he drove the thing up a tiny back street because he forgot he was at work. had to reverse it back a long way Where did he think he was driving to?
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Jan 30, 2021 11:38
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JeremoudCorbynejad posted:This is the story of how a group of people tried to make the world a better place with a planter. They thought that the planter would unite everyone against those who had held power for decades. Adam Curtitchmarsh
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Jan 30, 2021 11:41
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serious gaylord posted:Can I take a moment to talk about some really dumb local politics? This is a great post. Also I immediately recognised that bridge despite only having driven through that route maybe two or three times 
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Jan 30, 2021 11:43
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sebzilla posted:Where did he think he was driving to? it cuts through the middle of town and is the quickest route to get onto the main road for Belfast, where he was going. Also my auntie (his mother-in-law) and his mum live further down that street so that may have been a factor https://goo.gl/maps/yHfGwxqyp4n1G1Z77 he was meant to turn left there but went straight ahead, in a double decker bus
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Jan 30, 2021 11:45
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The Perfect Element posted:Interesting / depressing how the Guardian is covering the Game stop Reddit story exclusively with opinion pieces condemning the reddit investors and supporting the hedge funds. I wonder if this is to avoid 'undermining and the financial integrity of the UK'. Yes I read that last night. Most of the comments under it were good though.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:47
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Maugrim posted:Why do the baddies want the planter removed in the first place I mean the Tories actually don't. Fundamentally its a good idea and has made Poole park a better, safer place for everyone. But they want control of the council, and the Active travel schemes was a way of inflaming issues and taking advantage of it. You've probably seen this argument used all over the country, 'War on the motorist. Active travel schemes causing traffic chaos' etc. Like the one in Kensington which they tore out on the premise of it causing traffic gridlock, and after its removal journey times increased because people were just parking where the bike lane previously was and narrowing the road. Its a handy stick to beat against incumbent councillors, same as saying why they're spending money on bike lanes instead of fixing 'x y z' about the town while knowing full well the money came from central government and can only be used on this. Bobby Deluxe posted:Also how does the planter relate to the bridge? The bridge crossing is very very dangerous as cars come to it blind. From the direction the rat runners come from they cant see whats in the tunnel before they enter it, usually at 30mph. You can guess the results. Blocking the bridge tunnel adds a 300m detour to everyones journey which is miniscule vs the potential lives saved. But as I said, prevents it being used as the rat run for half of Parkstone/Sandbanks/Canford Cliffs getting into Poole. Being serious for a moment, the Unity Alliance council was doomed from the start since it had to get utter loons to agree with other loons throughout the borough. It was just nice to have smashed the Tories faces in somewhere vs what happened everywhere else in 2019.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:48
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sebzilla posted:Where did he think he was driving to? Apparently this is A Thing, I forget the actual name of the phenomenon but I remember watching a documentary about it (or rather about the various ways the brain gets confused when doing repetitive tasks - the main thrust was about the use of checklists by pilots to prevent it), and they specifically mentioned the phenomenon of bus drivers starting to drive home or taking a direct route between stops instead of driving the route.
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Jan 30, 2021 11:49
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i've had it myself where i've driven somewhere i go to a lot, and i only really sort of... come back to myself either if something untoward happens in traffic or when i reach the car park or whatever, and have no memory of a big chunk of the journey by something untoward i mean like... having to slow down or stop for some reason, nothing catastrophic
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Jan 30, 2021 11:52
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crispix posted:cousin of mine in 1995 drove a van for a company here called mawhinney's that sold sausages and it had a big fibreglass sausage on the roof and he tore it clean off going through a bridge like that. said he forgot he was in the van On the Buses - ah takes me back.... the sort of thing that was considered funny when I were a lassie. Mostly very sexist but IIRC there was racism in there too. You know, "harmless fun" racism - "Love thy Neighbour" stuff. 
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Jan 30, 2021 11:52
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i 'ate yoooooou buuuuuuuutlaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!  i think there are still reruns on one of those channels
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Jan 30, 2021 11:55
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Jaeluni Asjil posted:On the Buses - ah takes me back.... the sort of thing that was considered funny when I were a lassie. Mostly very sexist but IIRC there was racism in there too. You know, "harmless fun" racism - "Love thy Neighbour" stuff. Reg Varney officially opened the first ATM in the world (at the Enfield branch of Barclays), which is one of my favourite ever bits of trivia (along with the fact the ATM worked by dispensing a note if you put in a voucher which you had to buy in the bank, which is sort of missing the point if you ask me).
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Jan 30, 2021 12:08
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the comedy of mrs brown's boys is actually not much different from that show lol
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Jan 30, 2021 12:09
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crispix posted:the comedy of mrs brown's boys is actually not much different from that show lol In what way? I mean other than "lowest common denominator, hated by critics but loved by a significant proportion of the population"? I've not watched a lot of Mrs Brown's Boys but I'm fairly sure none of the cast goes "Phwoooar" at a female bus conductor, or for that matter anyone in On The Buses had protracted cross-purpose arguments which is about half of the content of an MBB episode.
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Jan 30, 2021 12:13
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serious gaylord posted:You've probably seen this argument used all over the country, 'War on the motorist. Active travel schemes causing traffic chaos' etc. Like the one in Kensington which they tore out on the premise of it causing traffic gridlock, and after its removal journey times increased because people were just parking where the bike lane previously was and narrowing the road. Kensington and Chelsea Council just hates anything and everything that isn't a 4wd vehicle. There are some absolutely lethal junctions, including one right by a bridge over the Thames (battersea Bridge north side iirc) , because they refuse to put in a proper pedestrian crossing so you're left trying to guess which of the lanes of traffic is going to stop and get to the middle of the road before the next lane turns left and runs you over. They've been doing this poo poo for years.
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Jan 30, 2021 12:22
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